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by UnpossibleJim 3213 days ago
Hi, this is a complete non sequitur, but how's the tech sector in Montreal? Feel free to get rid of this comment if it bothers anyone, I was just curious. I never hear about tech and Montreal specifically, but there are several large scale interweb businesses there, including Pornhub... you guys get how many hits a day, plus have how mamy stream connections going at once? I have to imagine it's a fairly large number.
3 comments
developer2 3213 days ago
The industry for developers in Montreal is large; it's nigh impossible to find oneself unemployed. However, the number of "big name" companies is quite small. MindGeek (owner of PornHub) is one, Google has an office, and the game studios are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head. So while the industry is large, most of it is small private businesses you've never heard of.

The explanation as to why Montreal is a fairly busy tech hub likely has to do with salaries here vs. the expectation for equivalent talent in the US. Most companies here are actually American companies, and the only reason their offices are located here is because even senior developers tend to earn < $85k/year CAD, with $60-70k being more common. That's $48k to $70k/year USD vs. the $100-200k+ USD they'd have to pay within the US. Government incentives (looking at you, SR&ED) reimburse these companies a significant portion of developers' salaries, making it even cheaper. Canada is, for many American businesses, essentially a step above outsourcing to India.

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swat535 3213 days ago
Montreal has a pretty hot tech scene given its population.

There are a lot of game studios and other tech corporations like Google, Shopify, and so on.

Also you can find many talented programmers in Montreal. It is particularly enjoyable if you are looking for a really diverse city both culturally and technically.

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OlivierLi 3213 days ago
The high tech finance sector is non negligible also.
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itsangaris 3213 days ago
Montreal has many video game developers: https://techvibes.com/2010/05/26/10-biggest-video-game-devel...

More recently, a lot of investment starting to go into AI: http://montrealgazette.com/business/how-montreal-aims-to-bec...

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