5 ms·
Ask HN: Has anyone moved to Canada?
Hi, my girlfriend is a Canadian citizen and eventually wants to move back. I work as a data scientist manager in tech and make good money. How have people found the move to Canada in terms of salary, opportunity, and interesting companies to work for compared to American non-Bay Area tech cities like NYC, Seattle etc.
My initial searches have found it to be relatively barren, but maybe I'm looking in the wrong places? Thinking primarily Vancouver but potentially open to other cities.
Thank you.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- ajeet_dhaliwal 8y agoI’m in a similar position except I’m currently in London, UK. Wife would love move to Toronto where she grew up and has family but some issues stop us. Even in Toronto, a bigger place than Vancouver things feel relatively barren as you put it, salaries are lower. If you have an online business or work remotely that can solve things but beware high taxes. To take just one example currently Ontario’s highest rate of marginal income tax is 53.4% compared with 45% in the U.K. That said taxes are complex as a whole, not all taxes are higher but overall the burden in Ontario tends to be higher and applies at lower levels. Some of the salaries they pay government workers are very high compared to elsewhere. My wife’s family loves living in Canada and we may yet move one day but I’d say if you’re from the US, UK or Asia I would not feel bad about it taking much longer to find work in Canada, I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong or looking in the wrong places.
- thiagooffm 8y agoMaybe consider saving enough money in order to buy a property over there before moving, that will greatly help you. Other than that, just move there. If you do that, your cost of living will be lower and in Canada you will have access to good healthcare, education and maybe to enjoy things again which doesn't imply monetary property. I'm pretty sure that overall, you'll have happier and more educated kids. I can imagine the kind of monsters people grow in the USA. I live in Germany and we have many points like Canada and I just laugh when I hear about "could make more money elsewhere" or "career" in America when life is much softer and nicer here. Sure, things aren't perfect here, but at least people in general care about the environment and the personal space of others, I can easily get a lot of vegetarian/vegan food in Berlin and people are just awesome, many of them, from the US and sick of the state of art country you've got there. If you don't care about this and is a psycho which just want to maximize how much you make and then die, just stay in the US. It is a good place for you to be. If I had the chance to pick living in the USA or in a first developed country, somewhat decent living conditions and economy. I would definitely pick the second choice. I seriously wouldn't feel like living in a the same country of Trump, or just the average american mindset. It just looks pretty retarded to me. It's a economy that only exists because it manages to really impose its power around the world, so americans there feel like they got something, but it's always in exchange of somebodys life or happiness. I'm not sure if I would like to tell my kids I'm this kind of person, or my family. I wouldn't feel happy for myself. But that's just me. Make your choice, but remember, life isn't your salary or your job position.
- ddorian43 8y agoDamn dude. Maybe brainwashed a little by media ? And US is a continent, people change a lot inside. Also, what do you think of the male immigrant importation ? Will their happiness be taken from yours (or your daughter's) ? Is it better to give your happiness or take others (if you had a choice) ? Note: neither in USA or Germany.
- gota 8y agoHuh, kinda harsh there on your judgement of the way of life of 300+ million people, most of whom don't actively seek it or have any reasonable say in it Still, giving you the benefit of interpreting your point as friendly as I can, I can't help but state that your economical advantage there on one of the richest countries in the world also only exists because it is imposed on others around the world
- thiago_fm 8y agoNever said that here is perfect. The supposition is the following: - He can move somewhere if he wants(he got the choice, unlike many). - Country is bad, creates a bad impact in the world than the other country. Also can enjoy as a individual a better quality of life. - Why stay? I travel frequently to the US(lately, roughly every year) and that is my observation. Every year I go, my typical restaurants look more cheap and the people more decadent and I'm quite young, so I saw that change since I visited it for the first time, around 20 years ago. I find it very hard to believe that anything about the american way of doing things(let it be culture or business) is sustainable. The US will probably undergo in some crisis and change, but I wouldn't like to be exactly there and experience it :-) I was born in a third-world country and at least recently, I've been quite amused at how many things my country started to do much better than the US and some areas look as good as they do in the US, meanwhile I haven't seen anything getting better in the last decade... Have you tried using a bank in the US? I bet that there is a country in Africa that has a better and faster banking system than in the US. Maybe if you share another opinion, you could share it as well.
- kat 8y agoMy advice for Vancouver: - Tech Jobs: look on craigslist (surprisingly good!) - Salaries: Look on glassdoor. Also look on the CRA website (CRA is the IRS in Canada) to see which tax bracket you'll be in - you'll notice lower salaries and higher taxes, as many people have already pointed out - Interesting Companies: Lots! Microsoft, Amazon, Hootsuite, and more. There is an increasing number of big tech companies that have figure out its cheaper to have a Canadian office than an American office. There are less tech jobs but there are also less tech people - It sounds like you have a niche background, so it might take a little longer to find a job.
- tchadwick 8y agoI'm Canadian. I moved to LA for a bit and then moved back to my home in Saskatchewan. I took a bit of a pay cut to come back, but I work for an autonomous vehicle company now. I enjoy it much more than my job in LA. We're looking for a Deep Learning/Data Scientist right now ;) $70-150k CAD is what to expect for salary range. It definitely is harder to find interesting companies in Canada, which is why I originally left. They do exist though! Most decently sized cities are actively building startup & tech communities.
- aprdm 8y agoI moved from London - UK to Vancouver and love it. Perfect mix of a big / small city . Tech salaries are higher than London for staff salary people and smaller than US which is just across the border. Cost of life is expensive but for tech workers is OK. Better than London for sure.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- hackermailman 8y agoTry and work remotely out of the US, salaries here (Vancouver) are shit once you factor in taxes and cost of living.