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U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

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Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#351

Post by Scoundreller »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #101
amatecha wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In some ways, perhaps. The fact we frequently have to pay for prescribed medication is mind-blowingly ridiculous. Even with medical insurance (through your employer or paying for the plan yourself), you're usually forced to use generic medications if you want coverage - even when your doctor signs a Special Authority[0] form to have your medication covered. And yes, there can be pretty substantial differences between…

> substantial differences between name brand and generic I was under the impression generics are molecular identical? How do they differ when the name brand version says on the pack, for example, temazepam 10mg , and the generic version says the same thing?

Pretty much nothing most of the time.

There are optical isomers and such that could make a difference. But even the brand names may change this up from time to time.

Then there's the whole 99% pure thing, but that 1% could be made up of highly carcinogenic nitrosamines in the microgram doses that aren't as closely tracked as they should be. But buying brand may not protect you from this, or could be worse.

Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#352

Post by Scoundreller »

throw63835 wrote: post #239
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> substantial differences between name brand and generic I was under the impression generics are molecular identical? How do they differ when the name brand version says on the pack, for example, temazepam 10mg , and the generic version says the same thing?

Lolwut? Two products produced by two different companies, expected to be of the same caliber? Nonsense. Utter nonsense. Look into the "Warning Letters" database for generics producers vs. branded. It's ridiculous the amount of things generics producers get away with (contaminated product, improper facility maintenance, improper purity and potency oversight, poor quality control). They're not the same thing. No matter…

> The only thing generics providers need to do is establish a very loose bioequivalency through self-tested experiments (the FDA doesn't conduct the experiments or oversees them, only reviews the results and methodology)

Though buying brand may not protect you from this. Brand name companies change up plants, processes, API suppliers, etc. without notifying end-users. They just do the same kind of testing a generic supplier may.

They have the same pressures to reduce cost as much as a generic manufacturer does.

Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#353

Post by mring33621 »

what_ever wrote: post #348
unishark wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends how you look at it. The countries with the longest waits are the very ones who get the most green cards. Even if everyone from India was allowed to move to the front of the line, we'd simply end up with a very long wait for everyone.

It's an employment based GC not diversity based. The primary criteria should be how good the person is as an employee and not where they were born.

I strongly agree with this idea.

Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#354

Post by scarface74 »

hwbehrens wrote: post #252
scarface74 wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You quoted that he said he stopped hiring tech workers in the US how did you get out of that he only hires people with Visas instead of he stopped hiring people in the US period.

> because they don’t want to have to deal with this anymore I think it's a reasonable conclusion for the parent to draw, since domestic workers wouldn't have to "deal with this". Thus, stopping all hiring to avoid dealing with visa problems implies a linkage between hiring and visas.

Fair enough.

I read the original post as accusing the employer of only hiring people who were not here on a visa (illegal and I feel immoral).

If he just didn’t want to deal with hiring people in the US because of the current insane political climate with respect to foreigners, I don’t blame him if he has an alternative.

Yes I was born and raised in the US.

Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#355

Post by chrchang523 »

omarhaneef wrote: post #199
jbarham wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also lived in Toronto and Vancouver. Did the obligatory move to work as a software dev in California and now live in Australia. The fact is that tech salaries in Canada are still much lower than the US while the cost of living, especially housing, is still very high, for Vancouver and Toronto in particular. Not to mention the lousy winters. Spend any time browsing /r/vancouver or /r/toronto and you'll quickly re…

I've heard this complaint -- that the property prices are high -- however, isn't there an opportunity to put a tech hub right on the border with Seattle? Make the commute even smaller and set up a whole border town? Just wondering why a developer doesn't make it a great place to live bring cafes, housing etc.

Seattle is too far from the Canadian border.

Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#356

Post by wenc »

deepGem wrote: post #238
jbarham wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also lived in Toronto and Vancouver. Did the obligatory move to work as a software dev in California and now live in Australia. The fact is that tech salaries in Canada are still much lower than the US while the cost of living, especially housing, is still very high, for Vancouver and Toronto in particular. Not to mention the lousy winters. Spend any time browsing /r/vancouver or /r/toronto and you'll quickly re…

More than anything I didn't get a tech vibe in Toronto. I was at UofT and the surroundings all the time, yet it felt like the town is mostly devoid of tech. Not the same vibe you get in Seattle or Redmond or SV for that matter. May be it's my bias but Toronto doesn't feel all that multi cultural. Sure you see people of different nationalities but something feels lacking.

> More than anything I didn't get a tech vibe in Toronto. I was at UofT and the surroundings all the time, yet it felt like the town is mostly devoid of tech. Not the same vibe you get in Seattle or Redmond or SV for that matter.

Toronto is more of a finance town, with tech tacked on. NYC is similar.

> May be it's my bias but Toronto doesn't feel all that multi cultural. Sure you see people of different nationalities but something feels lacking.

Curious, what cities around the world feel multicultural to you? I've lived in many multicultural cities and my criteria may be different from yours, so genuinely interested to hear your thoughts.

Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#357

Post by mabbo »

blaser-waffle wrote: post #300
mabbo wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, I'm not saying I couldn't make more if I left Toronto. As a Canadian, it would be easy for me to do that. Most of my office could easily get jobs in the USA paying more. Even those with potential visa issues have a much easier time once they're established in Canada. But we don't. The marginal increase in my pay is not enough for me to want to move to the USA. The anti-immigrant rhetoric and the laws that follo…

That's not marginal, that's damn near 40%, ballpark of 80k USD per year difference. That's close to $100K CAD per year. And while the current state of play in the US is rather odious, the idea that you'd be less secure or safe in somewhere like NYC or SF is laughable. The only places I've even been accosted on the street were in Melbourne, Australia and Brampton, Ontario. The rhetoric and laws you dread are mostly, o…

> That's close to $100K CAD per year.

Possibly more. Again, I'm okay with that.

> the idea that you'd be less secure or safe in somewhere like NYC or SF is laughable

Secure has many meanings beyond the fear of criminals. Who wants to start a family knowing that the government may change its rules and kick you out of the country next year? Who wants to start a business knowing that their country just got put "on a list". And worst of all, who wants to hire someone from another country, knowing that they might be deported if they don't win a lottery in the next 3 years?

> if an offer with another $100K on top of what I'm making now floated my way but required me to be in California, or NYC, or DC, I'd be hard pressed to ignore it.

Right, that's your marginal cost to deal with that stuff. Everyone has one. I have one. But as the life for immigrants in the US gets made more difficult, the average marginal cost to deal with that nonsense goes up- and I get more coworkers here in Toronto.

And I'll tell you right now: go looking, you'll find such an offer if you want it.

Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#358

Post by RandyRanderson »

mcpherrinm wrote: post #9

I'm moving from San Francisco to Toronto soon. Staying at the same job, my salary will go from $180k usd to $128k usd ($170k cad). (Equity comp remains the same) That's a pretty big cut, though at least for me it's worth it because of non-monetary reasons, like being closer to family, not dealing with immigration anymore, healthcare/education. The money stuff isn't so bad. A downtown Toronto condo is a lot cheaper th…

I recently sold my 2bd/2bath 1100 sqft condo in TO for 1MM CAD. No view.

IF you can find a 3bd condo it will cost you WAY more than 900CAD.

Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#359

Post by closeparen »

eplanit wrote: post #294
akhilcacharya wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost as though companies want to hire the best person for the job...

Where "best" = "cheapest", true.

H1B salaries are public. For my employer anyway, the salaries paid to H1Bs are about the same as for anyone else at those levels.

Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#360

Post by wenc »

zerr wrote: post #144
Phanyxx wrote: post #24

Vancouverite here. When major tech companies started setting up satellite offices here, I assumed it'd be a temporary situation, and that we'd be at the mercy of any change in the U.S. immigration process. The longer there's an immigration bottleneck though, the more entrenched these companies become here. There are more senior roles opening up here all the time, and salaries are increasing in this competitive market…

I view Canada as mix of good things from US (spacious streets, houses, landscape, partly English-speaking) and Europe (universal healthcare, education). If only it had a better climate... :)

> If only it had a better climate... :)

Well, the climate in the populated parts of Canada parallels the northern United States, i.e. Chicago (9.5m in metro area) and Toronto (6.4m in metro area) have similar climate, as well as Vancouver and Seattle.

There are huge populations in these areas who are used to northern climate and have no trouble with it. I live in Chicago and really love the four seasons, prefer the cold to the heat and would never move to anywhere south of say North Carolina.

Climate preferences can vary quite a bit, I would say.

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