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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

#371

Post by coolplants »

ipnon wrote: post #218
coolplants wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

401K is not “gaming the system.” The IRS explicitly treats it specially for the purposes of allowing hardworking seniors to retire in dignity. The immigration law does not make explicit allowances for people to game it. If less people gamed the system, it would be more fair for the rest of us who do things the right way without manipulating.

The original poster suggested applying for a different visa that has a lower wait time for green cards. What precisely about this proposition are you objecting to?

I object to gaming our immigration system in order to get priority over people who aren’t gaming the system. Do you support gaming our system?

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

#372

Post by hylaride »

lhorie wrote: post #339
hylaride wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$170kCAD for an experienced engineer in Toronto is touching the upper ranges, but 5 years ago that number was at $120CAD. You are seeing higher than 170k at some companies and I know of people working remote for SV companies at very good salaries. You’re right about equity, though. Something happened in the last 2 years in particular that has caused salaries to skyrocket (trump policies taking effect?). If you have a…

Interesting. How things change. I do recall getting recruiter calls for 150k positions around 3-4 years ago, though mostly for startups. Big tech agencies (e.g. CGI, Klick) haven't really caught up AFAIK. I don't have experience w/ the public school system in Toronto yet, but I can say preschool definitely seemed to be one notch higher in TO than SF. In TO, my kids' school tuition included meals and they did STEM act…

Oh, the agencies still pay shit. It's quantity over quality there. It's a similar story in most financial institutions/banks as well.

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

#373

Post by sg47 »

coolplants wrote: post #188
sg47 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now is the time to leave. 18 years in the US with a kid born here. I missed the boat in getting my priority date around the time when my friends were getting theirs (my company was laying off people in other departments and my application got audited). Didn't think it was a big deal at that time. Now, my friends are getting their citizenships and I'm still stuck on a visa. I'm at the whim of the Consul officer and th…

> There's an easy way to game the system Please stop subverting our laws, you’re making it worse for people who don’t break the law.

This is not illegal. It's just a different way to obtain a green card faster. By the way, I'm one of those people that's NOT gaming the system if there was any confusion. I've been waiting patiently for 9 years now. I'll have to wait for the foreseeable future or do something about this. Moving to Canada or back to India seems to be the only two options if I don't like waiting.

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

#374

Post by unishark »

davidw wrote: post #345
cheese4242 wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In which case the software shop is in Romania, not the US. Not sure your point.

If your goal is to employ more people in the US software industry, you've kind of shot yourself in the foot. There are also good reasons to want to employ people who are 'closer to the client'. Plenty of places have engineers both in the US and elsewhere. Lots of companies just want to employ the best talent from wherever. Make those things difficult though, and software is about the easiest industry to route the wor…

By "difficult" I assume you mean for higher pay as supply and demand dictates.

And as for the supply, everyone talks about US grads not going into STEM as if it's a law of nature. If salaries were allowed to keep going up during these temporary hot markets, more of the best and brightest would be attracted away from medicine/law (the current default choices for top students). STEM has always been a stepping-stone for the lower-middle class, not a particularly prestigious profession in my lifetime (at least compared to what someone of the same intelligence could have otherwise done). Now it is being turned into a stepping stone for the middle class from developing countries, again driving those domestic students away. (I work in education and see this every day).

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

#375

Post by davidw »

unishark wrote: post #374
davidw wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your goal is to employ more people in the US software industry, you've kind of shot yourself in the foot. There are also good reasons to want to employ people who are 'closer to the client'. Plenty of places have engineers both in the US and elsewhere. Lots of companies just want to employ the best talent from wherever. Make those things difficult though, and software is about the easiest industry to route the wor…

By "difficult" I assume you mean for higher pay as supply and demand dictates. And as for the supply, everyone talks about US grads not going into STEM as if it's a law of nature. If salaries were allowed to keep going up during these temporary hot markets, more of the best and brightest would be attracted away from medicine/law (the current default choices for top students). STEM has always been a stepping-stone for…

Why would salaries go up that much when you can just hire people directly in Romania or wherever?

I think you are failing to grasp that this is a global market for talent. Sure, being local helps some, but if the disparity is too great, companies will move. Also, there is not a fixed lump of labor to go around.

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

#376

Post by coolplants »

sg47 wrote: post #373
coolplants wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's an easy way to game the system Please stop subverting our laws, you’re making it worse for people who don’t break the law.

This is not illegal. It's just a different way to obtain a green card faster. By the way, I'm one of those people that's NOT gaming the system if there was any confusion. I've been waiting patiently for 9 years now. I'll have to wait for the foreseeable future or do something about this. Moving to Canada or back to India seems to be the only two options if I don't like waiting.

Stop gaming our system, stop recommending others game our system.

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

#377

Post by throw0101a »

jbarham wrote: post #168
endgame wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You left Canada because the housing market was a rort, and chose to come to AUSTRALIA!?

Sure, I rent a large, new, 3 bedroom house 20 minutes by train from the Melbourne CBD for $2250/month. It's great. I certainly couldn't do that in Toronto or Vancouver. Granted if you want to buy a house, Australia (especially Sydney) is expensive for a bunch of reasons (negative gearing etc). But Toronto is still more expensive than Melbourne and Vancouver is much more expensive.

> 3 bedroom house 20 minutes by train from the Melbourne CBD for $2250/month.

For comparison, that is the cost of renting a one bedroom condo (downtown) in Toronto:

* https://rentals.ca/national-rent-report

* https://dailyhive.com/toronto/monthly-rent-predictions-toron...

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

#378

Post by throw0101a »

sampo wrote: post #223
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…

How's the housing policy in Vancouver and Toronto? If new tech companies and new tech workers keep coming, are the cities willing to allow for construction of lots of new homes? Or are there signs that the housing policies would turn as anti-growth and hostile to newcomers as happened in the Bay Area?

> How's the housing policy in Vancouver and Toronto?

Toronto has more construction towers (120) than any other city in North America (49 in SFO and LAX):

* https://canada.constructconnect.com/dcn/news/economic/2019/0...

It's still not keeping up with demand.

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

#379

Post by unishark »

davidw wrote: post #375
unishark wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By "difficult" I assume you mean for higher pay as supply and demand dictates. And as for the supply, everyone talks about US grads not going into STEM as if it's a law of nature. If salaries were allowed to keep going up during these temporary hot markets, more of the best and brightest would be attracted away from medicine/law (the current default choices for top students). STEM has always been a stepping-stone for…

Why would salaries go up that much when you can just hire people directly in Romania or wherever? I think you are failing to grasp that this is a global market for talent. Sure, being local helps some, but if the disparity is too great, companies will move. Also, there is not a fixed lump of labor to go around.

I can grasp the concepts just fine. Being local helps immensely. The disparities are correspondingly immense. More so when you consider the high unemployment rates in developing countries.

Also there needs to be sufficient talent available across all roles needed, to completely move the company to a new location. As opposed to just a lot at the low end of skills. The cost and other downsides of that move would also be immense.

Perhaps one day remote work will be far more common, and I think this would be a good thing, by the way. I also think brain drain is bad overall. Developing countries need those productive residents far more than the west does.

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

#380

Post by throw0101a »

toephu2 wrote: post #103
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…

How's the weather there though? Can we just stop comparing cities? Everyone loves to complain about the cost of living in SF and always brags about how they could buy a mansion in the midwest. No one cares. It's all about location. There is a reason why California is the most populous state in the union despite it being so expensive (weather and jobs). There is a reason the population in the midwest is so low (lack o…

> How's the weather there though?

In Toronto it is roughly comparable to Chicago or NYC. Vancouver would be similar to Seattle.

Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, etc, would be much colder.

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