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0 pointspyre9y ago0 comments

... with people talking about offers for mid-level developers in Toronto / Vancouver being in the $70k - $110k range, are you claiming that you can pull in $280k - $440k for a software development position? If not, then I would think that this pay difference converges the more experience you have, no?

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acchow9y ago· 2 in thread

with the exchange rate maybe. I have talented friends in Toronto who tell me it pretty much caps at $100k CAD. Whereas at a comparable talent and experience level, the range in the Bay Area is $175-300k USD = $240-400k CAD. And this excluding the outliers who got lucky and joined pre-IPO.

pyreOP9y ago

The qualifier there is "in the Bay Area". I get the impression you could easily replace "Canada/Toronto/Vancouver" with "Midwest" and be mostly accurate.

Also, while this:

> $175-300k USD = $240-400k CAD

is accurate, it fluctuates. Back in 2008 CAD and USD were at par with CAD actually exceeding USD for periods. Also, unless you're living in Canada and getting paid in USD (or hoarding cash to return to living in Canada) the exchange rate shouldn't really mean much in terms of your career choices. It makes more sense to measure those salaries against local cost of living / quality of living / etc.

acchow9y ago

> the exchange rate shouldn't really mean much

What do you mean by this? After taxes, rent, food and other living costs, you're keeping almost 50% of your compensation to spend on whatever you want. How does purchasing power not matter? How much does a car cost in Canada? An iPhone? How much does a flight to Japan cost or a dinner in Tokyo? Of course the exchange rate is relevant even when you're not "hoarding" cash and have no intentions to return to Canada.

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