[bernardv]

How is it a train wreck? Are you alluding to some mis-informed view of its politics, or some aspect of its tech industry? Not clear from your comment, I’m not looking to start an argument.

[throwntoday]

I live in SF and I've met about a dozen engineers who were studying or studied at Waterloo. 100% of them had no desire to work in Canada. They all had the same thing to say, as much as they love Canada, salaries suck, and so do the taxes.

[alephnerd]

As a Canadian citizen, it makes more sense to immediately move to the States to work because of the TN visa, but if you are an Indian or Chinese national who is dealing with a 30-50 year greencard backlog, moving to Canada for 3 years to become a citizen makes much more sense. That way you have a first world passport plus the ability to work in the US indefinitely. My parents did that, and multiple other people in our network have done that.

[lern_too_spel]

I've talked to many Waterloo engineers who say taxes are no different in Canada vs. California. It's the salaries that are wildly different, as well as the value that they get out of their taxes.

[AnthonyCalandra]

I'm not sure what their "train wreck" comment is alluding to either but as a recent graduate from a Waterloo university I've heard for years about "brain drain" and how most of my fellow graduates leave the area to pursue better careers down in the US or abroad because Canada's tech industry simply does not provide the pay, benefits, career ceiling, etc. as Silicon Valley, for example. This problem has been plaguing Canadian tech for quite a while you can probably find many articles about this on Google.

[Slade1]

The parent comment seems like a bit of hyperbole, but Canada for a very long time hasn't prioritized tech industry. It's common to see salaries for tech jobs in Canada be much less than counterparts in US. I work with Canadians on my team and their opinion is that unless you're in lumber or drilling something from the ground, you might as well move to the US while of working age.

[nwmcsween]

~67% of tech graduates at large Canadian universities move to another country. As someone who has done technical hiring in Canada there is a absolute massive influx of immigrant tech workforce, nearly 10:1 on job applications.