Canada to Silicon Valley’s international talent: ‘We want you’
sfchronicle.com
sfchronicle.com
They don’t have to offer the same levels of compensation as SV, but they’re going to have to offer a lot more than they are currently.
Most of my gigs have been international because it's so hard to squeeze money out of Canadian companies for the work I do. I easily get paid 50-150% more with American customers than I can expect to get here, so I've hardly ever accepted local gigs for the past decade and a half. My peers in town must wonder why I never seem to be looking for work. It's not because I don't want to work with them.
Ironically, they're willing to pay American consultants those same rates because that's what Americans tend to charge, and nobody local is accepting their offers. Why not just offer local people what the industry expects, and stop trying to be so cheap just because we live here?
The companies seem to think that the talent isn't here. It is. We just know better than to accept their rubbish offers when it's easier and more lucrative to work with American or European companies.
It's definitely true that it's easier to work in Canada if you're not Canadian, but for Canadians, the US is simply the place to be. Besides, I really don't miss the -40 winter weather :)
> Its tech salaries average far less than those in the Bay Area.
Reading this page[1], which was the top result after maybe three seconds of Googling, indicates that holders of TN visas cannot have "immigrant intent," which many of my acquaintances do.