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Nope, and most software developers in Vancouver aren't participating with foreign companies at those rates. The laws remain how they are mostly to disenfranchi

by munk-a 6y ago

Nope, and most software developers in Vancouver aren't participating with foreign companies at those rates. The laws remain how they are mostly to disenfranchise QA testers which remain a very hard labour segment to mobilize. There are thousands of "I can make money playing games?!?" folks out there that drown out the really good QA folks and insure that EA can maintain its churn. For regular dev jobs, I think the market is less imbalanced than it appears on the surface. Cost of living isn't cheap in BC but free medical care is a big bonus and the city is quite pleasant. Senior devs will end up pulling senior dev money - it's mostly the entry level wages that are depressed.

anonunivgrad 6y ago
Any decent software employer in the US will have good insurance that basically guarantees your max out of pocket health expenses won’t exceed a few thousand dollars. That doesn’t really account for the difference.
- majormajor 6y ago
  Out of pocket maxes in the 10-20K range aren't that uncommon in the US. Even when I've seen places with plans where it's <5K, that's only for single workers, and it doubles with a partner or family.
  - ivalm 6y ago
    And I’d rather have extra 100k and pay the 10k for health.
  - nemo44x 6y ago
    I’ve never seen out of pocket maxes that high but I’m limited to my own experiences. I’d imagine the premiums would be super low for such a high deductible. Even the high deductible plans I’ve seen are no more than $3500/single or $7k family per year out of pocket max. And those allow you and your employer to put money into a high deductible savings account pre-tax like a retirement account. And it can be used for any qualified health payment for the rest of your life and is passed down upon death. It’s really like a 401k for health payments.
  - agensaequivocum 6y ago
    My plan for a family of 5 has an out of pocket max of 4K with no deductible.
- gambiting 6y ago
  >>your max out of pocket health expenses won’t exceed a few thousand dollars. Wait, that's meant to be good? What kind of insanity is this. Why do you have to pay anything out of your pocket at all??
  - mypalmike 6y ago
    In the US, there is no ceiling to your potential health expenses if you are without insurance. A few thousand dollars looks like a pretty good ceiling compared to infinity.
  - nemo44x 6y ago
    It depends on what type of health plan you have. For instance, a high deductible health plan allows you and your employer to put money into a savings account pre-tax (thus lowering your tax burden) to be used to pay out of pocket costs. As the money accumulates you can begin to diversify it in part with various investments. In years where you have few or no health issues the account begins to grow much like a retirement account. You keep the money after leaving the company and it can be used for healthcare any time in your life. So yes it’s very good, or can be. Putting pre-tax money away and also lowering your tax burden while saving over time for healthcare matters is nice. Because you have a “maximum out of pocket” cost each year you stay ahead of it. There are many different healthcare schemes in the USA that work best in different ways for people that have different circumstances.
    - astrange 6y ago
      Note that HSAs are not pre-tax in California, you still have to pay state income tax on them. Theoretically. In practice HSA providers don’t report your accounts, nor is there even a way to get the info you’d need from an HSA investment to pay the taxes.
  - astrange 6y ago
    Don’t Canadians also have to pay for prescriptions and dental work? Some of that is included in the US benefit cap.
vkou 6y ago
Actually, senior dev money is half as much in Vancouver as it is in the US. The higher up the tree you go, the more the gap widens.
- 908B64B197 6y ago
  I wonder why. There must be a skill gap, else the senior engineers would simply drive three hours and double their earnings.
  - vkou 6y ago
    ... No, The answer is immigration. 1. If you have a problematic history (which includes things entirely outside of your control, like being born in the wrong part of the world[1]), it can be nearly impossible. 2. If you don't have a problematic history, it's incredibly stressful. If you're on a TN visa, you can be turned away at the border at any time, for any reason whatsoever, including no reason whatsoever. If you're on an H1B visa, you can also be turned away from the border at any time, for any reason whatsoever, including no reason whatsoever. If you lose your job, you need to immediately start dealing with immigration issues, while looking for a new one, or you have to leave the country. 3. If you're married, your spouse can't work for a long time. 4. If you aren't married, your girlfriend/boyfriend/whomever can't even try immigrate with you, even if they wanted to. 5. Being three hours and a border away is not remotely the same thing as being three hours away from your friends and family. 6. There is a long, long, long list of cultural reasons for why a comfortably-living Canadian may prefer to avoid living in the US, even for double the paycheck. [1] I had a friend whose family fled from Saddam's Iraq, due to their political activities, when he was a child. As an adult, he was consistently singled out for harassment, intimidation, and delays during his crossings at the US-Canadian border. [2] According to him, getting a work visa in the US was not remotely a possibility. [2] Isn't it wonderful how passports list your country of birth?
    - 908B64B197 6y ago
      That still doesn't explain the gap when they are working for the same company.

by munk-a 6y ago

anonunivgrad 6y ago

Any decent software employer in the US will have good insurance that basically guarantees your max out of pocket health expenses won’t exceed a few thousand dollars. That doesn’t really account for the difference.

majormajor 6y ago
Out of pocket maxes in the 10-20K range aren't that uncommon in the US. Even when I've seen places with plans where it's <5K, that's only for single workers, and it doubles with a partner or family.
- ivalm 6y ago
  And I’d rather have extra 100k and pay the 10k for health.
- nemo44x 6y ago
  I’ve never seen out of pocket maxes that high but I’m limited to my own experiences. I’d imagine the premiums would be super low for such a high deductible. Even the high deductible plans I’ve seen are no more than $3500/single or $7k family per year out of pocket max. And those allow you and your employer to put money into a high deductible savings account pre-tax like a retirement account. And it can be used for any qualified health payment for the rest of your life and is passed down upon death. It’s really like a 401k for health payments.
- agensaequivocum 6y ago
  My plan for a family of 5 has an out of pocket max of 4K with no deductible.
gambiting 6y ago
>>your max out of pocket health expenses won’t exceed a few thousand dollars. Wait, that's meant to be good? What kind of insanity is this. Why do you have to pay anything out of your pocket at all??
- mypalmike 6y ago
  In the US, there is no ceiling to your potential health expenses if you are without insurance. A few thousand dollars looks like a pretty good ceiling compared to infinity.
- nemo44x 6y ago
  It depends on what type of health plan you have. For instance, a high deductible health plan allows you and your employer to put money into a savings account pre-tax (thus lowering your tax burden) to be used to pay out of pocket costs. As the money accumulates you can begin to diversify it in part with various investments. In years where you have few or no health issues the account begins to grow much like a retirement account. You keep the money after leaving the company and it can be used for healthcare any time in your life. So yes it’s very good, or can be. Putting pre-tax money away and also lowering your tax burden while saving over time for healthcare matters is nice. Because you have a “maximum out of pocket” cost each year you stay ahead of it. There are many different healthcare schemes in the USA that work best in different ways for people that have different circumstances.
  - astrange 6y ago
    Note that HSAs are not pre-tax in California, you still have to pay state income tax on them. Theoretically. In practice HSA providers don’t report your accounts, nor is there even a way to get the info you’d need from an HSA investment to pay the taxes.
- astrange 6y ago
  Don’t Canadians also have to pay for prescriptions and dental work? Some of that is included in the US benefit cap.

vkou 6y ago

Actually, senior dev money is half as much in Vancouver as it is in the US. The higher up the tree you go, the more the gap widens.

908B64B197 6y ago
I wonder why. There must be a skill gap, else the senior engineers would simply drive three hours and double their earnings.
- vkou 6y ago
  ... No, The answer is immigration. 1. If you have a problematic history (which includes things entirely outside of your control, like being born in the wrong part of the world[1]), it can be nearly impossible. 2. If you don't have a problematic history, it's incredibly stressful. If you're on a TN visa, you can be turned away at the border at any time, for any reason whatsoever, including no reason whatsoever. If you're on an H1B visa, you can also be turned away from the border at any time, for any reason whatsoever, including no reason whatsoever. If you lose your job, you need to immediately start dealing with immigration issues, while looking for a new one, or you have to leave the country. 3. If you're married, your spouse can't work for a long time. 4. If you aren't married, your girlfriend/boyfriend/whomever can't even try immigrate with you, even if they wanted to. 5. Being three hours and a border away is not remotely the same thing as being three hours away from your friends and family. 6. There is a long, long, long list of cultural reasons for why a comfortably-living Canadian may prefer to avoid living in the US, even for double the paycheck. [1] I had a friend whose family fled from Saddam's Iraq, due to their political activities, when he was a child. As an adult, he was consistently singled out for harassment, intimidation, and delays during his crossings at the US-Canadian border. [2] According to him, getting a work visa in the US was not remotely a possibility. [2] Isn't it wonderful how passports list your country of birth?
  - 908B64B197 6y ago
    That still doesn't explain the gap when they are working for the same company.