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Comment by throwaway1979 | Hacker News Reader

throwaway1979

I think those are two very strong reasons. However, at the end of the day, Waterloo puts its students through the meat grinder. My nephew studies there and I am blown away by the stuff he is getting taught in first and second year.

The thing that surprised me was when he tried to apply to Silicon Valley start-ups, he got very limited response. I think part of it is that people don't realize how awesome Waterloo is.

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Top-tier major US employers all know about Waterloo's reputation, and recruit very heavily there. Most startups are completely unaware of Waterloo, but so many Waterloo grads earn their stripes at a major top-tier employer (Google, Facebook, MS, etc) that many of them (including myself) graduate out into the greater world of US startups.

My startup (8 people) recently started interviewing at Waterloo, and the quality of students is every bit as good as MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, or CMU. Right now Waterloo is the best-kept secret in startup recruiting, but given how good the students are I doubt it will stay that way for long.

I agree on the second part, I can get interviews with google/microsoft/facebook, etc, basically the big tech companies. But its far more difficult getting interviews from start ups in SV

Not sure what term you're in but startups - particularly the smaller 2/3 team ones, can't absorb more junior developers. But if you're in 3A and above you should be strong enough to hit the ground running.

There's also immigration issues. To get a J-1 visa the host company needs to meet certain requirements.

In any event as a Waterloo alum currently doing a YC-backed startup in SF, we'll be posting jobs in the next co-op round.

I thought Canadians could work on a TN visa in the US with minimal complications.

To get a TN Visa you need 3 years work experience in the relavent field (there's a list) and it's on the whim of the agent you face.

1.5 years for me to go~ (currently in TO).

> To get a TN Visa you need 3 years work experience in the relavent field (there's a list)

This is completely inaccurate unless you mean without a post-secondary degree. Tons of new grads head south on a TN straight after graduating, even if they didn't do co-op.

Close. TN Visa requires a relevant degree but U.S. Labor department policies equate 3 years of work experience with 1 year of university. As such, interns generally don't have a degree or 12 years of work experience, so they can't get a TN. The standard internship visa is J1.

Disclosure: currently living in Waterloo as I was unable to obtain a TN.

I stand corrected. I remembered my situation was different - I had a diploma (3yrs) in design, instead of the common degree (4yrs), so I needed 3 years to make up the 1 missing year. My apologies~

True, but if you're looking at those co-op/internship terms, the best you'll get is a J1 because you don't have your post-secondary degree yet.

I am currently in Waterloo because I was unable to obtain a TN (lack of relevant degree). I recommend you re-check the laws because things may not be as rosy as you believe.

3 years of work experience is equivalent to 1 year of university. So, if you have no degree, you'd need 12 years of work experience.

To follow up on Omar's comment - there are some YC startups operating in Canada ;)

Some of those startups know lots of silicon valley companies looking to vet through the crowd of international talent. Working somewhere local is a great place to start.

Americans tend to be ignorant about Canadian or otherwise foreign universities (I am an American who went to college in Canada).

The story is that Bill Gates would personally phone the #1 graduating student of Waterloo every year to offer him a job, no questions asked. In some circles, Waterloo's very highly regarded.

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