| American living in Germany here. (I also speak pretty decent German.) I think it's hard to compare two countries like this. There's a lot more than just the objective differences--it's easy to be miserable in an objectively "better" country. I am absolutely miserable in Germany. I don't have a particularly good reason to be; I just hate it. It simply disagrees with me, even though--objectively--Germany is a better place to live than many of the other countries I lived in. My advice is apply for jobs in both countries. Get on-site interviews, and go to Toronto and Berlin. It's important that you see for yourself, so you can really make an informed decision. The bit you wrote about transferring to Silicon valley, etc seems premature to me. You don't really know what you'll be doing in the future: neither choice here is bad. Choose which seems the best now, unless you have a specific, realistic goal for the future that one option enables better than the other. But without that: go to both cities and just see what you like. Comparing salaries is also premature: you don't even have offers yet. It's all just conjecture. If both cities are serious contenders for you, apply to jobs in both and see. (Besides, German CS salaries are definitely nothing to write home about either. And many things in Germany are more expensive: cars, gas, electricity, basically all consumer goods, etc) |