5 ms·

Doesn't this just show something isn't right in the US? Why aren't firms hiring more in their international offices if the cost of employing developers is 3x in

Doesn't this just show something isn't right in the US? Why aren't firms hiring more in their international offices if the cost of employing developers is 3x in the US vs even advanced nations with solid talent?

coredog64 9y ago
Because integrating those offices is a PITA. Your workers in Paris or Lyon aren't going to stay late so that your workers in Mountain View can start the meeting at 9am rather than at 7am.
- eli_gottlieb 9y ago
  Workers in British Columbia, IIRC, are in the same time-zone as Mountain View.
shados 9y ago
As mentioned, its a pain in the ass to manage all of those offices. Also, the cost of running those offices, with all the different laws you might be unfamiliar with, can be complicated. I worked for a company that did just that: open an office in Canada in the same timezone as their American HQ to cut cost. The taxes, expenses, and complying with local laws at large scale (think: Quebec language laws) are real, and they almost ended up killing the office because the cost was too high. They absolutely were hiring more in the American office in the end from a pure cost perspective, and using the Canadian one to scale even though it was super expensive to run. Now, its very likely it was them simply being inefficient and unprepared for it, but it doesn't really matter: its a real issue. Now in the case of my current employer, we absolutely have international offices where getting head count is much cheaper, but to scale, we need offices everywhere where there's talent, and that includes in the big american metros. In my case, I just moved to get the $$$ of the American offices, that's all :)
jstelly 9y ago
It seems like firms that are large enough to manage multiple offices do exactly that. In the games industry electronic arts is a good example. They have offices in Vancouver, Montreal, and Edmonton (a huge team grown out of the BioWare acquisition) and possibly other places in Canada.
- int_19h 9y ago
  Microsoft has a campus in Vancouver (well, Richmond, originally - it moved to downtown Vancouver later) since 2007. There was around 600 people there last year, mostly devs.
querulous 9y ago
they do, but the canadians aren't stupid; they move to us jobs for 2x the compensation. the canadian offices are staffed mostly by non-canadians who couldn't get H1Bs or TNs but could qualify for the equivalent canadian visa.

coredog64 9y ago

Because integrating those offices is a PITA. Your workers in Paris or Lyon aren't going to stay late so that your workers in Mountain View can start the meeting at 9am rather than at 7am.

eli_gottlieb 9y ago
Workers in British Columbia, IIRC, are in the same time-zone as Mountain View.

shados 9y ago

As mentioned, its a pain in the ass to manage all of those offices. Also, the cost of running those offices, with all the different laws you might be unfamiliar with, can be complicated. I worked for a company that did just that: open an office in Canada in the same timezone as their American HQ to cut cost. The taxes, expenses, and complying with local laws at large scale (think: Quebec language laws) are real, and they almost ended up killing the office because the cost was too high. They absolutely were hiring more in the American office in the end from a pure cost perspective, and using the Canadian one to scale even though it was super expensive to run. Now, its very likely it was them simply being inefficient and unprepared for it, but it doesn't really matter: its a real issue. Now in the case of my current employer, we absolutely have international offices where getting head count is much cheaper, but to scale, we need offices everywhere where there's talent, and that includes in the big american metros. In my case, I just moved to get the $$$ of the American offices, that's all :)

jstelly 9y ago

It seems like firms that are large enough to manage multiple offices do exactly that. In the games industry electronic arts is a good example. They have offices in Vancouver, Montreal, and Edmonton (a huge team grown out of the BioWare acquisition) and possibly other places in Canada.

int_19h 9y ago
Microsoft has a campus in Vancouver (well, Richmond, originally - it moved to downtown Vancouver later) since 2007. There was around 600 people there last year, mostly devs.

querulous 9y ago

they do, but the canadians aren't stupid; they move to us jobs for 2x the compensation. the canadian offices are staffed mostly by non-canadians who couldn't get H1Bs or TNs but could qualify for the equivalent canadian visa.