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Cities I thought would have shown up on the list: - Montreal, Canada - Austin, USA Cities I was shocked at how high they were: - Ottawa, Canada - Toronto,

Cities I thought would have shown up on the list: - Montreal, Canada - Austin, USA Cities I was shocked at how high they were: - Ottawa, Canada - Toronto, Canada

MattGaiser 5y ago
Fascinated how Toronto and Calgary are near the same. Those are very different work cultures.
- swader999 5y ago
  How so?
  - MattGaiser 5y ago
    In Toronto, there seems to be an urgency to everything. Calgary? Nope. In Calgary, people come in early. In Toronto, people stay late. Have never encountered a hustle culture here in Calgary. Toronto definitely has one. Startups in Calgary seem to maintain their distinctly corporate nature. I haven't had a lot of application experience in Toronto except as a new grad, but anecdotally the hiring process out here is far longer.
    - swader999 5y ago
      Ok that makes sense. You can almost say the same for the difference in the way each drives.
jdcaron 5y ago
See the top rated comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27343109 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27343109 Montreal isn't there because it wasn't rated. It would probably be above Toronto and Ottawa but below Vancouver.
- TimPC 5y ago
  This is not actually possible as Ottawa is ranked 6th and Vancouver is ranked 8th.
  - jdcaron 5y ago
    I missed that detail. I personally would choose Vancouver over Ottawa but affordability can be an issue.
jp555 5y ago
In a lot of ways Ottawa is hard to beat. But dont tell anyone, the "boring" reputation is a feature not a bug. Watching the value of my house double recently suggests the word is getting out - although I get it that it's also that there's more realtors than listings, and of course money printer go Brrrr.
- novaRom 5y ago
  Is it a cold place?
  - jp555 5y ago
    Not in July :P It can get very hot (>40C) & sticky in the valley. Can be very cold in Jan/Feb, but often too cold to snow so it can be more sunny than say Toronto, and there's a ton of outdoor activities nearby to enjoy like ski hills & trails, snowshoeing, and skating.
ndonnellan 5y ago
One of the first comments I heard from coworkers on work-life-balance was "hope you're not working with a team in Mountain View", and they weren't referring to just the time zone difference (we're in Austin). Before Covid the office was empty before 8:30am and after 4:30pm. I think it's obvious this list doesn't take into account cultural properties or medium sized cities, as others have commented.
Thaxll 5y ago
Went to Ottawa on a Sunday, everything was closed, pretty shocking.
lordgroff 5y ago
I'm shocked to see Toronto high because it's gotten completely and utterly unaffordable. Ottawa? I'm not surprised. I've lived in both places and my take on Ottawa is that it's affordable (though Canadian skyrocketing real estate market is rapidly becoming an issue here too), tons of outdoor activities, city is fairly alive but not crazy busy that it's ever overwhelming. Work balance even outside of government is very favorable. It's cold but people embrace winter and generally try to dress around it, very different from Toronto.

Cities I thought would have shown up on the list: - Montreal, Canada - Austin, USA Cities I was shocked at how high they were: - Ottawa, Canada - Toronto, Canada

MattGaiser 5y ago

Fascinated how Toronto and Calgary are near the same. Those are very different work cultures.

swader999 5y ago
How so?
- MattGaiser 5y ago
  In Toronto, there seems to be an urgency to everything. Calgary? Nope. In Calgary, people come in early. In Toronto, people stay late. Have never encountered a hustle culture here in Calgary. Toronto definitely has one. Startups in Calgary seem to maintain their distinctly corporate nature. I haven't had a lot of application experience in Toronto except as a new grad, but anecdotally the hiring process out here is far longer.
  - swader999 5y ago
    Ok that makes sense. You can almost say the same for the difference in the way each drives.

jdcaron 5y ago

See the top rated comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27343109 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27343109 Montreal isn't there because it wasn't rated. It would probably be above Toronto and Ottawa but below Vancouver.

TimPC 5y ago
This is not actually possible as Ottawa is ranked 6th and Vancouver is ranked 8th.
- jdcaron 5y ago
  I missed that detail. I personally would choose Vancouver over Ottawa but affordability can be an issue.

jp555 5y ago

In a lot of ways Ottawa is hard to beat. But dont tell anyone, the "boring" reputation is a feature not a bug. Watching the value of my house double recently suggests the word is getting out - although I get it that it's also that there's more realtors than listings, and of course money printer go Brrrr.

novaRom 5y ago
Is it a cold place?
- jp555 5y ago
  Not in July :P It can get very hot (>40C) & sticky in the valley. Can be very cold in Jan/Feb, but often too cold to snow so it can be more sunny than say Toronto, and there's a ton of outdoor activities nearby to enjoy like ski hills & trails, snowshoeing, and skating.

ndonnellan 5y ago

One of the first comments I heard from coworkers on work-life-balance was "hope you're not working with a team in Mountain View", and they weren't referring to just the time zone difference (we're in Austin). Before Covid the office was empty before 8:30am and after 4:30pm. I think it's obvious this list doesn't take into account cultural properties or medium sized cities, as others have commented.

Thaxll 5y ago

Went to Ottawa on a Sunday, everything was closed, pretty shocking.

lordgroff 5y ago

I'm shocked to see Toronto high because it's gotten completely and utterly unaffordable. Ottawa? I'm not surprised. I've lived in both places and my take on Ottawa is that it's affordable (though Canadian skyrocketing real estate market is rapidly becoming an issue here too), tons of outdoor activities, city is fairly alive but not crazy busy that it's ever overwhelming. Work balance even outside of government is very favorable. It's cold but people embrace winter and generally try to dress around it, very different from Toronto.