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> Software engineers are paid relatively poorly in Canada Do you have any sources to back up that statement? I only ask as I know many devs, myself included, w

by eljimmy 11y ago

> Software engineers are paid relatively poorly in Canada Do you have any sources to back up that statement? I only ask as I know many devs, myself included, who receive pretty competitive pay when compared to SF (taking local living costs into account).

deleted 11y ago
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vkou 11y ago
Only anecdata, but... Back in 2010-2011, everybody I knew in Vancouver was earning ~45-60k after graduation (With multiple semesters of co-op experience). No stock, no bonuses, maybe a bit of RRSP matching. I was an outlier at ~95k CAD (At an investment bank). Eight months later, I got an offer from Google for ~180k USD total comp. Since then, only three people from my school that I know have broken 100k CAD - one of them works for Amazon, one of them worked for SAP for a decade, and one of them gets paid in USD. The cost of rent in Vancouver is not as high as SF, but the cost of home ownership may as well be. Single-family homes at a 40-minute commute are north of half-a-million, and a home in Vancouver proper will run you more then a million. I hear things are better out east, but I don't want to spend a third of my life living in a frozen hellscape.
- jgh 11y ago
  Similar story here, when I was a dev in Toronto I was probably pretty close to the most poorly paid among my group of friends (who are for the most part not programmers) and after moving to California I am the best paid now of my friends back in Canada.
- cgh 11y ago
  Agreed, I live north of Vancouver in a town whose name you can probably guess and work remotely for a SV company. I make at least 2x what I'd make in Vancouver, based on various offers and talking to friends. I'm pretty happy with the arrangement. So along with all of its other problems - ridiculous home prices, "zombie" neighbourhoods, terrible traffic, no night life to speak of - Vancouver also has awful salaries. That said, we'll be driving in this weekend to see Star Wars.
- neptunespear 11y ago
  Amazon and Microsoft have expanded here significantly due to the weak loonie and proximity to Seattle. AMZN has over 1,000 engineers working here, and MSFT has about 600. They've been snatching up a lot of talent over the last two years, and salaries have increased significantly as a result. As in, $70-85K at the high end for new grads.

by eljimmy 11y ago

deleted 11y ago

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vkou 11y ago

Only anecdata, but... Back in 2010-2011, everybody I knew in Vancouver was earning ~45-60k after graduation (With multiple semesters of co-op experience). No stock, no bonuses, maybe a bit of RRSP matching. I was an outlier at ~95k CAD (At an investment bank). Eight months later, I got an offer from Google for ~180k USD total comp. Since then, only three people from my school that I know have broken 100k CAD - one of them works for Amazon, one of them worked for SAP for a decade, and one of them gets paid in USD. The cost of rent in Vancouver is not as high as SF, but the cost of home ownership may as well be. Single-family homes at a 40-minute commute are north of half-a-million, and a home in Vancouver proper will run you more then a million. I hear things are better out east, but I don't want to spend a third of my life living in a frozen hellscape.

jgh 11y ago
Similar story here, when I was a dev in Toronto I was probably pretty close to the most poorly paid among my group of friends (who are for the most part not programmers) and after moving to California I am the best paid now of my friends back in Canada.
cgh 11y ago
Agreed, I live north of Vancouver in a town whose name you can probably guess and work remotely for a SV company. I make at least 2x what I'd make in Vancouver, based on various offers and talking to friends. I'm pretty happy with the arrangement. So along with all of its other problems - ridiculous home prices, "zombie" neighbourhoods, terrible traffic, no night life to speak of - Vancouver also has awful salaries. That said, we'll be driving in this weekend to see Star Wars.
neptunespear 11y ago
Amazon and Microsoft have expanded here significantly due to the weak loonie and proximity to Seattle. AMZN has over 1,000 engineers working here, and MSFT has about 600. They've been snatching up a lot of talent over the last two years, and salaries have increased significantly as a result. As in, $70-85K at the high end for new grads.