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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

#391

Post by Retric »

tgflynn wrote: post #382
Retric wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“A 1,100 kV link in China was completed in 2019 over a distance of 3,300 km with a power of 12 GW.” Which is rather close to your example. By comparison a major gas pipeline runs around 8 Million dollars a mile or ~16 Billion over that distance meanwhile that link cost under 6 billion USD. Granted our construction costs would be higher, but it’s not the kind of massive savings that changes the equation much.

In that case how far are we from being able to supply all US electric needs with solar ? I think I've heard that with current solar cells you could produce that much power with a 100 mile x 100 mile installation in a sunny location. If battery storage and power transmission are solved problems, are the obstacles now only economic ?

Wind and Hydro are going to be part of the mix. So, outside of Alaska it’s largely a question of economics at this point. We already have huge investments in Coal and Nuclear which are being phased out of the market. But, cheap natural gas is a very different beast. As long as supply is abundant market forces are going to keep the price low enough to be attractive vs storage.

IMO, we are headed to about 70% renewables in 30 years baring major changes.

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

#392

Post by mrep »

jdright wrote: post #344
cmcd wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean? Unless you are living paycheck to paycheck stock is just as real as cash.

Or almost paycheck to paycheck, which is not as uncommon as one may think. And normally stock come with restrictions on when you can liquidate. This is basically money I don't have now and a promise in the future that may very well go wrong.

My stock vests monthly and I have it set to autosell at vest so I get cold hard cash direct deposited into my account every month.

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

#393

Post by phenkdo »

cheese4242 wrote: post #329
phenkdo wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, it sounds like the complainers about "cheap labor" are entitled brats living way beyond their means. sauce for the goose==sauce for the gander

"entitled brats" in this case being people who don't want to live in third-world conditions. These other countries are free to try and improve their conditions. Trying to drag us down to their level is pathetic.

> These other countries are free to try and improve their conditions. > Trying to drag us down to their level is pathetic.

QED

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

#394

Post by yawaramin »

refurb wrote: post #20
yawaramin wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Toronto may be expensive but it's not SF-level expensive. Salaries may not compare but you don't have to worry about basic things like healthcare and high-powered weaponry in the streets. Those are just the top two–there are many other reasons to move to Canada than just money.

Toronto house prices are about 3/4 of SF, but salaries are about 1/3 to 1/2. Far harder to own a home in Toronto on a tech salary. And if you get a tech job in SF, you’ve got great health insurance, so not a major obstacle.

> And if you get a tech job in SF, you’ve got great health insurance, so not a major obstacle.

Yup, as long as you have a job with medical coverage, you're OK. But God forbid you should lose your job and get sick, right? Because then you're screwed.

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

#395

Post by ripley12 »

brailsafe wrote: post #369
ripley12 wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a strange comment to read as a Vancouverite. Amazon’s has thousands of employees for years now, they had 600 jobs open last I checked. Microsoft’s main downtown office has one of the most prominent locations in the city, plus a huge sign. Those huge secondary locations are already here.

I meant secondary to the offices that you mentioned. So two main Vancouver offices and two Amazon Vancouver offices total.

Ah. Amazon has had multiple offices downtown for a long time, and Microsoft has 2 large ones (the City Centre one and the Yaletown one near BC Place). But yes, they are still expanding.

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

#396

Post by _5uxp »

alexgmcm wrote: post #149
sytelus wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are no two schools of thought. There are no two "approaches". It's simple economics. Companies don't decide pay X, they have to pay X. In US, there are genuine software products company and software products happen to scale naturally and make a shit ton of money. In most other countries, software engineers are hired merely as IT guys for "main" businesses like insurance or government. They don't scale.

But how does this explanation work when you compare Facebook/Amazon etc. devs working in European offices to those working in the USA. They are both working on the same products, but outside the USA the pay is a lot worse.

Except Switzerland, In Europe they're literally robbed from the salary side and not much other benefits either.

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

#397

Post by brailsafe »

ripley12 wrote: post #395
brailsafe wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I meant secondary to the offices that you mentioned. So two main Vancouver offices and two Amazon Vancouver offices total.

Ah. Amazon has had multiple offices downtown for a long time, and Microsoft has 2 large ones (the City Centre one and the Yaletown one near BC Place). But yes, they are still expanding.

I'm not too familiar with that, but I'm thinking in particular of Microsoft's new Mt. Pleasant office (I think) and the Amazon office going into the old Canada Post building at a large scale.

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

#398

Post by _5uxp »

tathougies wrote: post #64
nine_zeros wrote: post #25

US was playing the last few decades with an easy cheat code of sucking in smart immigrants while the rest of the developed world was twiddling thumbs. Now that the US has shot itself on its foot and others are waking up, the playing field appears to be getting more balanced once again.

The US is still the most prefered destination country: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/11/these-are-the-countri... . It overshadows the next four popular destinations combined.

Saudi Arabia being in top 10, makes this list and how they conduct it makes very reliable though. I can't even think one reason to move there yet this list says it

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

#399

Post by [deleted] »

thawaway1837 wrote: post #226

The drop from 92% to 75% isn’t the complete story, or even the more important story. The real problem is all the other nonsense people have to deal with. We have a really great employee who single handedly wrote most of the company’s build infrastructure, and was happy in the US on his H1B because while it requires renewal every 3 years, he was well paid and enjoying his life. Until about a year and a half ago when h…

[deleted]

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

#400

Post by vikascoder »

zerr wrote: post #231
thawaway1837 wrote: post #226

The drop from 92% to 75% isn’t the complete story, or even the more important story. The real problem is all the other nonsense people have to deal with. We have a really great employee who single handedly wrote most of the company’s build infrastructure, and was happy in the US on his H1B because while it requires renewal every 3 years, he was well paid and enjoying his life. Until about a year and a half ago when h…

Why your company and employee didn't start H1B to green card conversion process?

Green card processes are also not without caveats these days. Every visa extensions with or without I140s can be subjected to "administrative reviews" that can take anywhere from a month to six months. That's what the original post refers to. Lot of folks around HN have no clue about how the Trump administration has wedged a bureaucratic block at every stage of the work visa process. I am also pretty well settled in the US but will be moving to Toronto to get rid of this visa nightmare.
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