Toronto is poised to become a producer of tech startups • Hacker News Board

Re: Toronto is poised to become a producer of tech startups

#301

Post by jacques_chester » Wed, Jun 15, 2016, 6:39 PM UTC

goatforce5 wrote: post #291

jacques_chester wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll amend my plan to include flying back to Perth.

To be clear, I haven't had to deal with E3 related issues for 7 or 8 years and the subtle details of it have probably changed. Hopefully you never find yourself in a position where your E3 becomes invalid unexpectedly but if so, speak to a lawyer to find out the current gotchas and how US Immigration interprets the laws. (Or look at http://www.expatforum.com/expats/america-expat-forum-expats-... - it tends to be an e…

My parents are in Perth, so Emirates via Dubai is a slightly better option. Emirates are typically cheaper and their stock is nicer. Plus each of the legs is shorter than the trans-Pacific marathon.

Mind you, living and flying in the US brought an unexpected phrase to my lips: "I miss Qantas".

Re: Toronto is poised to become a producer of tech startups

#302

Post by sndean » Fri, Jun 17, 2016, 1:35 AM UTC

seanp2k2 wrote: post #292

sndean wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, in some place like San Fransisco the cost of living is going to be 2x or more, so that 2-3x higher salary will end up translating into maybe 1.2x. This is a pretty important point... Currently it looks like a ~100k salary in San Fransisco is required to maintain the same standard of living that 55k gets you in Atlanta, Dallas, Raleigh, Pittsburgh, and essentially every other big city I've looked at. So about…

I've heard this argument often and it's somewhat valid, but it doesn't take into account that the amount left after expenses are paid is still a lot more in the Bay Area, and that can be saved or invested or used to open up other options which are not available to the person making half as much with half the expenses somewhere else. Cars cost basically the same across the US. So do flights, vacation homes, stocks, et…

> For many, the idea is to pay the high cost of living here, save up, then move to somewhere much cheaper after an early retirement, career change, etc.

I can definitely understand why this is attractive. Maybe I'm on the other side of the argument because I'm not really an engineer and don't plan on being one. So while there are jobs I'd consider in the Bay Area, there's a similar number of similarly paying jobs in NYC and DC, where rent is less.

> Cars cost basically the same across the US. So do flights, vacation homes, stocks, etc.

Yes, but the cost of living calculator should be resulting the same amount saved, after all expenses are paid.

> Edit: let us not also forget that the ceiling for pay as an engineer in the Bay Area is currently around half a million a year in salary

This is the most convincing argument, I think... If that's true, that the ceiling (after adjusting for cost of living) is higher in the Bay Area, then yeah it's a pretty clear choice for engineers.

Re: Toronto is poised to become a producer of tech startups

#303

Post by mabbo » Sun, Jun 19, 2016, 2:20 PM UTC

gabbo wrote: post #212

mabbo wrote: post #89

Odd they didn't mention Amazon Toronto or IBM. Amazon has 300+ SDEs here (myself included), room for 800 developers in the new office that just opened. Not sure how big IBM is, but I've heard it's fairly big operation here. It's not that Amazon is a startup itself (what, 100k+ employees worldwide doesn't count?) but that when you have a big company like that you often see people leave to make startups. Young guys spe…

How is the pay at Amazon Toronto and what are the projects like? I work in tech (not Amazon) and live in Seattle, and given the reputation I don't think I'd really want to work for them in this city given the other options we have here. But if they paid top-notch salary and had great work, I'd seriously consider it as an option when moving back to Toronto. The employment options seem quite limited and I have a hard t…

Re: pay- It's less than in Seattle, it's "competitive" for Toronto (ie: few companies pay this much, but then few companies need to here). Never heard of anyone leaving for better money unless they were headed for Seattle or the Bay.

Re: projects- there's lots going on in Toronto. Depends what you're interested in.

Toronto: housing is overpriced. Just a fact of the city. No one under 30 is ever going to own a house in the city, but there's lots of decent condos going up. Find a place on the subway or Go lines and your commute is pretty painless. And the Amazon office is 200m from Union station, don't need to go outside. That was nice in the winter.

Re: Toronto is poised to become a producer of tech startups

#304

Post by mrgordon » Tue, Jun 21, 2016, 6:18 AM UTC

acchow wrote: post #286

mrgordon wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rents can vary widely but I think $3000 is probably a more reasonable estimate. The transit estimates also seem too high - I spend almost nothing because I can walk to work and take a Lyft Line for $5 or a bus for $2.25 if I need to. Many people bike. Overall it would be fairly easy to only spend a few hundred a month on transit for many people if your apartment isn't too isolated.

You cannot get a 1BR+den for $3000 in SF. It'll be just over $4k since it'll be similar square footage to a 2BR but discounted for not having the proper second bedroom.

I pay less than $3000 actually and see similar listings