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Toronto is poised to become a producer of tech startups

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

#61

Post by vigilant »

chawco wrote: post #42
justinlaing wrote: post #10

Who is going to move to Toronto to join the tech scene? If given the choice who is going to choose Toronto over Bay Area or Seattle? Without it having a massive draw it won't even register compared to Bay Area or even Seattle.

I did. Toronto is a great city. I've traveled a good deal in Canada, and the US, and while I can't compare it to cities outside of those two, I will say that I still consider the best city I've ever experienced. While the tech scene isn't as hot as the other regions you mentioned, it's still strong. Very strong. It's also starting to be noticed by the bigger players (with Google and Apple both investing in the region…

I do love Canada, but New York City has nearly all of those same positives which you list (other than universal health care), to an even greater extent. And you can get bay-area level salaries there (as opposed to Toronto, where your salary is half what it would be in the bay area)

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

#62

Post by AlexC04 »

Cyph0n wrote: post #44
chawco wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did. Toronto is a great city. I've traveled a good deal in Canada, and the US, and while I can't compare it to cities outside of those two, I will say that I still consider the best city I've ever experienced. While the tech scene isn't as hot as the other regions you mentioned, it's still strong. Very strong. It's also starting to be noticed by the bigger players (with Google and Apple both investing in the region…

How difficult is it for a U.S. citizen to relocate and start working there? Healthcare is only for Canadians, correct?

No, we'd keep you healthy if you showed up... I lived abroad for 5 years and bought 3 months of blue cross (medical insurance) when I got back, then I was straight back onto the taxpayers' dime.

(Which, to be fair, I'm one of)

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

#63

Post by shurcooL »

AlexC04 wrote: post #59
MichaelRenor wrote: post #43

Ultimately if Toronto wants to be the best they will pay the best (adjusted for cost of living). They're best bet is that the bay cost of living becomes so unbearable that they can be competitive in take-home dollars. As it is, the money for developers is in the bay by a huge margin.

Yeah, the pay here in Toronto is much lower, even when you account for cost of living vs. San Fran. One consideration that offsets that is medical insurance. If your health care is not fully covered by your employer. I ran some numbers once and the "rent difference" was roughly $3k (typical 1 - 2 bedroom apartment at $4k vs. The roughly $1k I spend) and the platinum medical looking like roughly $500/mo Add in a car,…

> Add in a car, ($0 in Toronto, $1000 in The bay w/ parking, insurance, gas & the vehicle)

My observation is that's great to not have a car in SF, I prefer not to. But it's impossible not to have a car in Toronto.

Why is it $0 in Toronto?

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

#64

Post by raverbashing »

kenrose wrote: post #5
clutchski wrote: post #4

"Toronto is already home to a number of successful venture-backed businesses, such as Shopify, KIK, ..." Fact check time. Shopify's headquarters is in Ottawa. Kik is in Waterloo.

Don't know about KIK, but Shopify has a large development office in Toronto near King and Spadina.

Shopify is also in Montreal

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

#65

Post by raverbashing »

shurcooL wrote: post #63
AlexC04 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the pay here in Toronto is much lower, even when you account for cost of living vs. San Fran. One consideration that offsets that is medical insurance. If your health care is not fully covered by your employer. I ran some numbers once and the "rent difference" was roughly $3k (typical 1 - 2 bedroom apartment at $4k vs. The roughly $1k I spend) and the platinum medical looking like roughly $500/mo Add in a car,…

> Add in a car, ($0 in Toronto, $1000 in The bay w/ parking, insurance, gas & the vehicle) My observation is that's great to not have a car in SF, I prefer not to. But it's impossible not to have a car in Toronto. Why is it $0 in Toronto?

Doesn't look too impossible to not have a car in Toronto

(also there are things like Car2Go, no?)

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

#66

Post by eggsmediumrare »

robertelder wrote: post #29
jessriedel wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are local projects (Waterloo/Kitchener/Cambridge), right? Are they actually planning on improving the very slow and intermittent rail connection to Toronto?

Yes, these are local projects, but with the amount of chaos they're creating with construction, I'm willing to believe that once it's finished they'll make much more frequent trips to Toronto. I believe there would be demand for it as the King/Victoria area is changing rapidly. Google just took over a building that was an old derelict factory with broken windows 2 years ago. This building is within feet of the propos…

Communitech is about to get a lot busier too... They've expanded into the old Google space and there are potential tenants going on tours through it every 10 minutes.

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

#68

Post by raverbashing »

gamekathu wrote: post #67
raverbashing wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shopify is also in Montreal

how is the tech scene at Montreal?

Regrettable

Some say it's ok. There are some startups, but most of the environment seems to be "corporate oriented", and .NET is very popular

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

#69

Post by minwcnt5 »

falsestprophet wrote: post #28
stuxnet79 wrote: post #19

Eeh ... as a Torontonian developer I don't buy it. Most of the good graduates we have move to Bay Area or Seattle. If you want your career to progress meaningfully you pretty much have to move to the states. Maybe this might change in the future but the story on the ground is very different. Also nitpick - we are the fourth most populous city in North America, and only Mexico City , New York and Los Angeles have a la…

Toronto is the seventh largest metro area in North America. 2/3 the size of Chicago. About the same size as Washington and Philadelphia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_American_metro...

REALLY strange choice of data point for Toronto -- it uses a much smaller land area than for the US cities.

Greater Toronto Area - 7,124 km^2

Chicago Metro Area - 28,120 km^2

Houston Metro Area - 26,061 km^2

Dallas-Fort Worth - 24,059 km^2

Washington Metro - 14,412 km^2

Philadelphia Metro - 13,256 km^2

A much more apples-to-apples comparison would be the Golden Horseshoe (7.005 million / 10,097 km^2), or Greater Golden Horseshoe (8.759 million / 31,561 km^2).

I believe that Chicago's population is also stagnant, whereas the GHA has grew 4.5% from 2006-2011, so extrapolating to 2016 would put it at 9.1 million. Still smaller than the Chicago metro area, but not by a lot.

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

#70

Post by johan_larson »

raverbashing wrote: post #65
shurcooL wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Add in a car, ($0 in Toronto, $1000 in The bay w/ parking, insurance, gas & the vehicle) My observation is that's great to not have a car in SF, I prefer not to. But it's impossible not to have a car in Toronto. Why is it $0 in Toronto?

Doesn't look too impossible to not have a car in Toronto (also there are things like Car2Go, no?)

Going carless in Toronto is very possible. After I moved to my current digs at Yonge and Eglinton, I noticed I used my car less than once a month, so I got rid of it.

If you're gonna do this, make sure you're near the subway. Buses and streetcars are a lot less convenient than the subway.

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