Moving to Canada sde2
I am working in Seattle right now and not happy with the visa situation in USA. I am thinking of moving to Vancouver. . I don't see a lot of teams there but i am still considering. 1. Anyone know how much is the salary range for SDE2 in Vancouver? 2. How is standard of living as compared to Seattle on Amazon paycheck? 3 How is MSFT or googles presense in Vancouver?
Why does that matter? Lol
50% of Amazon Seattle seems to be what you’d end up with. Life in Canada should be good, you won’t have as much money but life is good. I know several Citizens (one am amazon SPM) that have moved to Vancouver, so it can’t be that bad. Obviously their decision wasn’t based on visa issues or on career/TC comp progression.
sounds motivating. Thanks!
Anyone has data on what the salary is like 1/4 seems too extreme to me
There's some numbers here: https://www.teamblind.com/article/PCS-thread-for-non-US-first-world-locations-ZnxZRyYs TL;DR : Expect a big paycut once you've left the US
There is some Indian software engineer blogger who writes a lot about moving from US to Canada. Google him.
Any keywords?
I recently moved from Redmond to Vancouver (Microsoft) and the pay dropped by 10-15% just number wise. So let’s say you’re making 140k USD base, you can expect around 120k CAD base. It doesn’t really make sense to convert the numbers into USD and compare because things here are priced in CAD and not USD. If you’re paying 2200$ for an apartment in downtown Seattle, you can find good apartments in downtown Vancouver for 2000 CAD. So the quality of life doesn’t really go down because of the move.
but on top of that drop to $120 CAD, you'll have much higher taxes too. So, overall take home will be so low compared to Seattle/Redmond (not doing currency conversion)
At 120k CAD, your average tax in bc is 28% and at 120k USD, your average tax is 24% so it's not that bad. You might feel the pinch in the bonus and RSU vesting but the pinch in take home doesn't feel that painful
If you disconsider the money, is a great move on almost all aspects. If you are young and need to save for retirement like me, Vancouver is tough. Career opportunities are way more constrained. Just spend 30 minutes browsing Amazon Phone Tool. Promotions take way longer, rare opportunities past level 6, etc. I know plenty os SDE IIs that would have been SDE IIIs in Seattle already but there are no SDE IIIs in sight to write and provide feedback. In the end, it translates into less money. Pay is way less. I have seen SDE II with less than 130K CAD of base and 9 RSUs for the whole year. Use an online calculator to check the income tax, is ugly. Cost of living is high. It is half true that you shouldn't think about converting your salary from CAD to USD. Most imported foods are priced the same as USA times current conversion here. Just check TV'S at Amazon, cars and Ikea prices. There are really rare occurrences of things that cost 1 USD on the USA costing 1 CAD in Canada. I can't think of any really. Car insurance is between 2.5k and 5k per year, state owned, nowhere to run. Oh, and check the house prices... If you are earning between 80K and 150K CAD post tax per year, good luck with the $1.5M houses.
Insurance in BC is affordable once you have recognized history with the insurer. And no at fault claims.
I am in Vancouver currently and want to check out the area. Can you give me a break up of your living situation and how much you pay in taxes, living, rent and how much do you save per year. I like the city but I do think it is important to be able to save to buy a home and have a retirement nest. This is something US can offer. Or in Canada the govt takes complete care of you when you are old.
What is your Visa problem in USA?
My wife might not get H1b this year and her field doesnt have lot of options. With EAD going away(uncertain) she wont be able to work. I dont know what Trump will do next , h1b now doesn't feel safe to me.
Ok, Have you taught about Australia?