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Ask HN: How do Toronto tech salaries compare to NYC/SV?

Considering taking a salaried job for the first time in my life. Not sure why exactly to be perfectly honest. Anyways, I live in the GTA, and I'm just looking for a general idea about the salary gap between Toronto and the real tech hubs in North America being Silicon Valley and NYC imho. What kind of a pay cut would somebody working for big tech in one of those areas be looking at if they moved to Toronto? Thanks.

coralreef 8y ago
$72k CAD vs $106k USD. https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salaries/toronto-software-developer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,7_IM976_KO8,26.htm https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salaries/toronto-software-developer... https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salaries/new-york-city-software-developer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,13_IM615_KO14,32.htm https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salaries/new-york-city-software-dev...
- flyGuyOnTheSly 8y ago
  And with the current exchange rate... $106k USD is ~$140k CAD... so about half. It's interesting that Toronto is 10% below the national average of Canada. I wonder where the highest salary is? Vancouver perhaps? Waterloo? Thank you kindly.
  - qqqqqqqqqqqq23 8y ago
    What about the cost of living in these places?
    - flyGuyOnTheSly 8y ago
      A decent 1 bedroom apartment in downtown Toronto will run you about $2500 CAD/mo. A decent 1 bedroom apartment in San Francisco will run you about $3500 USD/mo. Or about $4700 CAD/mo. So you make a good point. If you can afford to own your home however that really makes the move worth it though, imho.
- gassiss 8y ago
  From my experience the Toronto number is heavily underestimated. There is a huge shortage of senior devs here and this is intermediate level pay.
  - flyGuyOnTheSly 8y ago
    Interesting, thanks for that insightful comment! Can you give any examples of larger companies that are hungry for senior devs? Cheers.
spoonie 8y ago
There is a pretty big range. Amazon, Uber, and Microsoft have or are opening offices here. And I’ve seen startups offering up to $140k/year for “senior” level developers. And there are many more that will offer $90k for the same experience. It also depends on the industry. Why do you say salary? Are you currently working contracts? I’ve heard some of the big banks’ and insurance companies’ digital labs will pay around $120/hr for developers.
- spoonie 8y ago
  It’s skewed towards startups but another good resource is angel.co Many of the job listings there for Toronto have salary info attached.
- flyGuyOnTheSly 8y ago
  Been working on my own projects for the past 10+ years. A few consulting contracts here and there as they would come up, but I've never actively sought them out.
haidrali 8y ago
I have onsite interview at Vancouver for SDE 2 position, recruiter is asking me to tell what salary I am expecting ? Can anyone please let me know what number I should have in mind ?
- clanrebornyes 8y ago
  Find the salary on glass door now double that :)
- spoonie 8y ago
  Don’t give them an expectation, first ask what range they are offering. Otherwise give an outrageous number and say it’s negotiable. If they refuse to interview you because you gave too high of a number up front (before any kind of negotiation happened), then you don’t want to work there anyway!
  - haidrali 8y ago
    I should expect a range from them first, Thanks for advise!

coralreef 8y ago

$72k CAD vs $106k USD. https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salaries/toronto-software-developer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,7_IM976_KO8,26.htm https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salaries/toronto-software-developer... https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salaries/new-york-city-software-developer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,13_IM615_KO14,32.htm https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salaries/new-york-city-software-dev...

flyGuyOnTheSly 8y ago
And with the current exchange rate... $106k USD is ~$140k CAD... so about half. It's interesting that Toronto is 10% below the national average of Canada. I wonder where the highest salary is? Vancouver perhaps? Waterloo? Thank you kindly.
- qqqqqqqqqqqq23 8y ago
  What about the cost of living in these places?
  - flyGuyOnTheSly 8y ago
    A decent 1 bedroom apartment in downtown Toronto will run you about $2500 CAD/mo. A decent 1 bedroom apartment in San Francisco will run you about $3500 USD/mo. Or about $4700 CAD/mo. So you make a good point. If you can afford to own your home however that really makes the move worth it though, imho.
gassiss 8y ago
From my experience the Toronto number is heavily underestimated. There is a huge shortage of senior devs here and this is intermediate level pay.
- flyGuyOnTheSly 8y ago
  Interesting, thanks for that insightful comment! Can you give any examples of larger companies that are hungry for senior devs? Cheers.

spoonie 8y ago

There is a pretty big range. Amazon, Uber, and Microsoft have or are opening offices here. And I’ve seen startups offering up to $140k/year for “senior” level developers. And there are many more that will offer $90k for the same experience. It also depends on the industry. Why do you say salary? Are you currently working contracts? I’ve heard some of the big banks’ and insurance companies’ digital labs will pay around $120/hr for developers.

spoonie 8y ago
It’s skewed towards startups but another good resource is angel.co Many of the job listings there for Toronto have salary info attached.
flyGuyOnTheSly 8y ago
Been working on my own projects for the past 10+ years. A few consulting contracts here and there as they would come up, but I've never actively sought them out.

haidrali 8y ago

I have onsite interview at Vancouver for SDE 2 position, recruiter is asking me to tell what salary I am expecting ? Can anyone please let me know what number I should have in mind ?

clanrebornyes 8y ago
Find the salary on glass door now double that :)
spoonie 8y ago
Don’t give them an expectation, first ask what range they are offering. Otherwise give an outrageous number and say it’s negotiable. If they refuse to interview you because you gave too high of a number up front (before any kind of negotiation happened), then you don’t want to work there anyway!
- haidrali 8y ago
  I should expect a range from them first, Thanks for advise!