Indian technology talent is flocking to Canada

[jbarham]

This article reminds me why I cancelled my Economist subscription years ago. But gotta love the obligatory shout out to Richard Florida that pops up whenever the media covers the tech sector in Canada!

Question: If there will supposedly be 200,000 tech vacancies in Canada by 2020, why are tech salaries in Canada so low compared to the US?

Another question: If the Canadian government is serious about developing the high tech sector, why doesn't it reform the absurdly overpriced telecoms oligopoly? See e.g. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/low-cost-data-crtc-1.494942... that reports on the imminent introduction of $30/month for 1 GB of wireless data as "low-cost" with a straight face. That's literally 10X what I pay here in Australia (https://www.optus.com.au/shop/broadband/mobile-broadband/dat...) never mind what it costs in Europe!

I think the primary reason Canadian policymakers want to juice immigration to Canada is to delay the real estate bubble from popping on their watch...

[jpatokal]

Makes perfect sense, the vacancies stay vacant because the salaries are so low!

[cauldron]

From my understanding, jobs in Canada are scarce, at least for new immigrants, it seems most of them can only start off of menial jobs.

Since Canada is relatively easy to immigrate to, newcomers have to stay within the country to compete for scarce and low pay jobs, while citizens of Canada can pursue high salaries abroad.

[Svoka]

I work as a programmer in Canada, get descent pay, can afford to buy a house and take my family to vacation. Yup, it's far from money I got at Bay Area, but I can afford more, and live in neighbourhood where I don't have to lock doors or really worry about being mugged, which happened in Cali several times.

[TheAceOfHearts]

What action do you believe the Canadian government should take in order to reform telecoms? There could be multiple plausible explanations for their high prices, and since I'm not sufficiently familiarized with Canadian laws and regulations, it's not obvious to me that their services are severely overpriced given the ecosystem in which they operate. I'd ask why it costs so much for native customers, while foreign visitors can consume data at much more competitive rates. For example, I'm using Google Fi and they charge $10/GB, regardless of your location. Maybe if you're Canadian you should try signing up for a Google Fi account and using it for mobile data.

[slededit]

At the last AWS users group I was at in Toronto everyone was hiring. Can’t speak for the rest of the country.

[apercu]

> Question: If there will supposedly be 200,000 tech vacancies in Canada by 2020, why are tech salaries in Canada so low compared to the US

So that companies can push for more immigration and keep salaries deflated.

[throwaway1219]

I am an Indian, living in US for the last 8 years, my I-140 was approved 7 years ago and I am at least another 10 years away from my green card. I don't to be working on H1B for the next 10 years worrying about my immigration status.

I want to start my own company, I thought H4EAD would work out for me to do my startup. But for the last 2 years I could not risk move into H4EAD because the administration keeps saying they will cancel it "soon".

I am looking to move to Canada in 2019 (scheduled my IELTS and getting educational credentials evaluated for applying for Canadian PR). I love living in the bay area, but unfortunately things are not working out for us.

Thanks to the economic boom, the money I saved up over these years should help our family settle down in Canada when we move.

[throwawaymjabba]

Another Indian with a similar mindset (not wanting to be on the h1b leash until I may or may not get the green card in another 10-20-30 years).

Lived in US for 6 years. Had my i140 approved a few months ago and got H1B approved for 3 more years. Was finally in the middle of getting a promotion to an architect role after 6-7 years working for the team. Literally threw away all of it and came back to India 2 months ago. Haven't even started looking for a job.

They gave me RFE for my H1B extension. I saw the RFE document and it was just a copy paste from some template. They didn't even have my employer name correct. And since I was in a state where they give driving license based on h1b, I couldn't drive for 3 months because of the RFE delay.

I am finally at peace after spending the last 6 years on the h1b leash, always living in uncertainty. There is no way I would have lasted while I wait for the green card. On some days, I used to cry while driving to work. I used to feel really strong emotional pain on most of the days. I haven't experienced any of that since I came back.

I think quality of life is not just a higher salary or a clean environment or better job opportunities. Part of my brain must have been seeing all this uncertainty as life threatening and pushed me away. I don't know how else to explain it. Sometimes I wonder if this is one way US is filtering out people because they want only the most mentally strong to be part of their society.

[masonic]

  living in US for the last 8 years

In other words, you came in on an H1B in 2010, right as the recession was peaking and there was lots of tech talent unemployed and underemployed (scrambling for contract role after contract role)... which exemplifies the problem.

Even in the teeth of the recession, the entire quota of new H1B visas was consumed every year.

[ziont]

its already happened here in Vancouver, BC.

indian tech workers make up a huge part of startups to pre-IPO companies.

having said that glassdoor reviews show them to be awful places to work-shit pay, shit code, that turns to overtime.

I know one friend who was pretty much ousted by indian managers.

just don't expect new arrivals to respect or even be conscious of Canadian cultures or customs.

i hope they eventually learn and integrate here however.

not so great for tech workers already in canada.

[david-gpu]

I respect your experience, but mine has been very different. My immigrant Indian colleagues have been competent and pleasant in general, and I'm talking of dozens of people.

Customs vary around the world, even within a nation, and we must all make an effort to communicate our expectations and boundaries.

[apercu]

> Question: If there will supposedly be 200,000 tech vacancies in Canada by 2020, why are tech salaries in Canada so low compared to the US

Most of the smaller, newer tech co's are sweat shops. As companies grow and mature a lot of them get better at treating their employees.

I have no idea why we in tech allow companies to make us work more than "X" hours.

[truncate]

Plural of anecdote is not data, and certainly not when you are insinuating "indian managers" in particular to be worse than others and "indians" in particular creating toxic work environment.

[devereaux]

Considering the startup ecosystem in Canada, I fear much of that talent will be wasted.

We really need to fix immigration laws to make recruiting foreign IT professionals easier. The H1B system and the years of waiting is a disgrace.

[Bombthecat]

Germany just opened up (alot) you just need to find a job and can you can stay. (in IT not that hard right now)

[brianwawok]

H1Bs don’t work at startups. They work at BigCo doing Boring Stuff.

[apercu]

> Considering the startup ecosystem in Canada, I fear much of that talent will be wasted.

Can you expand on this thought?

[taobility]

Interesting, why USA needs to recruiting foreign IT professionals easier? Why the other countries don't have such concern? The right way shouldn't be improve the STEM education to provide more qualify new graduates?

[tphan]

This is just an anecdotal alternative but a lot of my Australian co-workers are eschewing all the US political turmoil and are still choosing to emigrate to America.

[ianhowson]

Australians get easy access to the US through the E-3 visa.

For countries that need an H1-B, Canada's visas are much easier to obtain and live with.

[ksh2]

There is always turmoil. Turmoil is not a new thing. What do you think it felt like moving here after the dot com bust or after 9/11 + George Bush or after the 2008 financial meltdown. Whats happening at macro levels are out of your control. Imho people who are driven and persistent succeed no matter where they go.

[pjc50]

You can eschew turmoil, but that doesn't mean it will eschew you, as my EU co-workers are discovering in the UK.

[abhinai]

To be honest, if we can stop the abuse of H1B visas by Indian IT firms, the H1B program will be in a much better shape. A separate visa category for Indian IT firms will fix this problem.

[m0zg]

Wouldn't this, as a logical consequence, lead to Canadian technology talent "flocking" to the US due to the wage depression created by the influx of foreign workers? I mean, it's a lot easier for a Canadian to come work here, and they are paid easily twice as much as in Canada. And in the long run, isn't this kind of "native" brain drain counterproductive for Canada?

[asianthrowaway]

Thanks Trump?

[kerneltime]

Both..