
Ask HN: What is the salary like for programmers in Canada in 2018? - thrwwy_canada
I couldn&#x27;t really find any up-to-date information on the internet. I&#x27;m a new grad that will be graduating soon, and I was wondering what the pay range is like in Canada.<p>I&#x27;m mostly interested in the Greater Toronto Area, but feel free to post your datapoints for other places as well!
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sraquo
Spoiler alert: the best setup is to hole up in a nice town in Canada working
remotely for a client in the US.

Vancouver numbers I know from friends, mostly from a couple years ago, web
application dev:

\- Starting salary around 60K CAD

\- Mid range 70-90K

\- Senior 90-130K

Companies like Amazon pay ~25% more than this, but are also more demanding of
time and sanity

Go browse AngelList, lots of offers with salaries there from smaller
companies.

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auxym
Wow, those are really low numbers. I'm pretty confident you can fetch very
similar salaries in Montreal, and housing is 3-5 times cheaper? Or even more?

I (and about 50 of my developer coworkers) make those sort of salaries here in
small-town Quebec, with significantly cheaper housing than even Montreal.

I'm sure Vancouver is a beautiful city, but comparing those salary numbers
against the housing over there makes it extremely unattractive.

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sraquo
Yup, I've seen more than one friend leave Vancouver for Ontario and Quebec.
But hey if you work remotely, you're in the same timezone as SF!

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gesman
I lived in Ottawa and then worked in Montreal few years ago.

Compare to silicon valley - the difference is between 2x - 4x. Canada always
been a joke is high tech pays. Add miserable weather to that and that
completes the package.

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mast
I think you need to consider more than just the differences in salary with
Silicon Valley. You also need to compare the cost of living and other benefits
as well. Canada is a huge country and some places are much more expensive (and
so require higher salaries) than others.

> miserable weather

The weather is as miserable as we let it make us. Canadians in general love to
complain about the weather but I don't think it is that bad. It can be cold or
hot, snowy or rainy but most days are quite nice. When I lived in California I
missed the changing seasons, fall colours and snow at Christmas.

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gesman
I prefer winter-on-demand - (Tahoe!) vs. 4-5 months of misery in the air and
on the roads enforced upon you - like it or not. Add to that quick car
depreciation due to salty roads.

I am happy to pay for air tickets and buy a dinner for my Canadian friends
during fall colors season. After all - I'll be coming back to summer, but it's
all downhill for them from that point on, weatherwise. Some people are
managing to convince themselves that Canadian weather is great but I don't
have these masochistic talents. Having said that - I loved hot and often humid
Canadian summers (Eastern Ontario and Quebec) - but these are too short
anyways.

Sluggish resale housing market (my personal repeated experience). I lived in a
real nice area in Kanata (West Ottawa) and it took us 1.5 yrs to sell a house.

With Silicon Valey salary i luckily was able to afford to pay single house
rent here + Canadian mortgage payment.

California taxes are high, but Canadian are higher.

I better stop. :)

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segmondy
Try glassdoor to get an idea

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aprdm
50-150K CAD

from Junior to Senior

