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More than 25% of British Columbian workers work in the technology sector [1]. While the sector has been growing for 30 years, things really picked up in the las

by ttul 4y ago

More than 25% of British Columbian workers work in the technology sector [1]. While the sector has been growing for 30 years, things really picked up in the last few years as Silicon Valley firms branched out in search of employees, often as a way of getting around the problematic processing of work visas in the US. BC has several great engineering and computer science universities and a long history of public support for the development of the tech sector. It’s nice to see the Archive choosing to locate here, since it sort of validates that BC is perhaps no longer a third rate tech backwater. 1. https://biv.com/article/2022/05/bcs-biggest-technology-companies-getting-bigger https://biv.com/article/2022/05/bcs-biggest-technology-compa...

ripley12 4y ago
Your link does not seem to support that assertion. I am very doubtful that a quarter of BC’s workers are in the technology sector, however you define it.
- ttul 4y ago
  The article says 500K people work in tech. The province employs 1.9M in total. Hence 25%.
  - ripley12 4y ago
    > The article says 500K people work in tech. No, it doesn't.
dghlsakjg 4y ago
BC also has rules that exempt tech employees from overtime protection. Hence why the games industry tends to do a lot of work here.
- deanCommie 4y ago
  What a weird comment on this site especially. 99% of tech work is salary and now also stock-based. Overtime protection is simply not relevant, because our work is not hourly. We can talk about whether this is a good or bad thing and the general culture of crunch in the tech industry, but it's not BC-specific, and also arguably got WAY better since the pandemic
- upupandup 4y ago
  even that is gone. when montreal and ontario offers significant tax rebates, it just doesn't make sense to do it in vancouver
  - Tiktaalik 4y ago
    Games isn't gone. It's doing better than ever in Vancouver. EA is so bursting at the seams due to growth that they're expanding to a new City of Vancouver studio.
    - upupandup 4y ago
      Clearly big name studios are fighting each other to move to Vancouver /s
upupandup 4y ago
Personally I find the talent in Vancouver in general to be subpar, I think its one of those things in life that you get what you pay for. Immediately for the same role in the US, the Vancouver engineer takes a 30% pay cut, not including the exchange rate. Staff in Vancouver are constantly burnt out and its not hard to see why: restricted supply of housing makes rents very expensive, city centres are hollowed out as ppl have less disposable income, very low social trust and dynamics just offer work as a form of escapism. Vancouver just isn't fostering environment, it's ripe for exploitation and the top talents do not work for local employers. The ones that know their worth know Vancouver, out of all places in Canada, is the last place that pays people what they are worth. It's not even the fault of ppl living and working in vancouver but just the culture here that deprives and oppresses flourishing growth. It's like everything here seems borrowed from other regions and a subpar imitation of them all.
- __turbobrew__ 4y ago
  Your pill is a bitter one to swallow, but it is mostly true in my experience. I’m currently in the late stages of interviewing for remote positions of bay area companies. Even though I would be making ~30% less than my US counterparts (as a Canadian), a remote position for a bay area company still pays nearly triple what local companies pay. I’m also looking at moving out of Vancouver and to a more family friendly locale. It makes almost no sense to raise kids in Vancouver given the cost of living.

by ttul 4y ago

ripley12 4y ago

Your link does not seem to support that assertion. I am very doubtful that a quarter of BC’s workers are in the technology sector, however you define it.

ttul 4y ago
The article says 500K people work in tech. The province employs 1.9M in total. Hence 25%.
- ripley12 4y ago
  > The article says 500K people work in tech. No, it doesn't.

dghlsakjg 4y ago

BC also has rules that exempt tech employees from overtime protection. Hence why the games industry tends to do a lot of work here.

deanCommie 4y ago
What a weird comment on this site especially. 99% of tech work is salary and now also stock-based. Overtime protection is simply not relevant, because our work is not hourly. We can talk about whether this is a good or bad thing and the general culture of crunch in the tech industry, but it's not BC-specific, and also arguably got WAY better since the pandemic
upupandup 4y ago
even that is gone. when montreal and ontario offers significant tax rebates, it just doesn't make sense to do it in vancouver
- Tiktaalik 4y ago
  Games isn't gone. It's doing better than ever in Vancouver. EA is so bursting at the seams due to growth that they're expanding to a new City of Vancouver studio.
  - upupandup 4y ago
    Clearly big name studios are fighting each other to move to Vancouver /s

upupandup 4y ago

Personally I find the talent in Vancouver in general to be subpar, I think its one of those things in life that you get what you pay for. Immediately for the same role in the US, the Vancouver engineer takes a 30% pay cut, not including the exchange rate. Staff in Vancouver are constantly burnt out and its not hard to see why: restricted supply of housing makes rents very expensive, city centres are hollowed out as ppl have less disposable income, very low social trust and dynamics just offer work as a form of escapism. Vancouver just isn't fostering environment, it's ripe for exploitation and the top talents do not work for local employers. The ones that know their worth know Vancouver, out of all places in Canada, is the last place that pays people what they are worth. It's not even the fault of ppl living and working in vancouver but just the culture here that deprives and oppresses flourishing growth. It's like everything here seems borrowed from other regions and a subpar imitation of them all.

__turbobrew__ 4y ago
Your pill is a bitter one to swallow, but it is mostly true in my experience. I’m currently in the late stages of interviewing for remote positions of bay area companies. Even though I would be making ~30% less than my US counterparts (as a Canadian), a remote position for a bay area company still pays nearly triple what local companies pay. I’m also looking at moving out of Vancouver and to a more family friendly locale. It makes almost no sense to raise kids in Vancouver given the cost of living.