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r-s | 3 years ago

Did Shopify have a choice?

Many Canadians who got computer science degrees left to work for American companies for 2x-3x more money.

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dghlsakjg|3 years ago

Shopify is a remote company. They can hire wherever they want. I suspect it’s a cultural preference.

Anecdotally, I know a senior dev who moved back to Canada from SF to work for Shopify.

throwawaylinux|3 years ago

They can't hire people who prefer to work in the US for higher salaries though, which is the point.

908B64B197|3 years ago

> Did Shopify have a choice?

They most likely didn't.

Often, businesses don't realize how much they are missing until they bite the bullet and hire SV caliber engineers.

Seems every time I'm pitched something about "finding unconventional IT talent" it's about hiring cheaper programmers. There's a whole industry built around paying less for programmers. With questionable results. Hell, Canadian politicians pitched Vancouver as an ideal HQ2 location to Amazon since tech workers are worth ~50K less than in America[0]

[0] https://www.vancouvereconomic.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02...

mabbo|3 years ago

Shopify's salaries are pretty competitive. They aren't "Bay Area" levels, but you can also live wherever you want, so your after-housing take home pay works out better.

Amazon Toronto doesn't pay much better than Shopify- I can say first hand.

908B64B197|3 years ago

> but you can also live wherever you want, so your after-housing take home pay works out better.

"After-housing" doesn't really mean anything: buying a house means you build equity into the house which you can later sell (and pocket the appreciation).