| Canadian here, not a software dev but in the industry and I hope I can answer some of your questions. 1. The demand is high for devs, but like many places the tech industry itself is seeing a lot of cutbacks. So your best bet is likely not the tech industry per se, but healthcare or natural resources, etc. Expect to be paid less because of the double whammy of industry that pays less and you're foreign. It'll still be a good salary, but not nearly what you'd get in the US for the same job. And taxes are generally higher (you'd likely fall in the 35-40% range). 2. Really depends on the city. Rents and housing prices have exploded nation-wide recently. To give an idea, an vs apartment that would have gone for $900 CAD a month 3 years ago in Montreal (where I am) could easily be $2500-3000 Prices are slightly correcting in some cities but don't look like they're getting back to pre-pandemic levels any time soon. Also, like the rest of the world inflation is high. My weekly grocery bill for a family of three went from $65-80 to $95-120. And the prices in quoting (rent, groceries) are for Montreal which is significantly cheaper than Toronto, Vancouver, and Ottawa. 3. Immigration itself I'm not sure. If you listen to points and politicians it's easy (for good or bad, depending on the audience) but I can't say what the reality is. I think as a dev you shouldn't have a problem getting people interested, but looking at my point 1 I'm not sure how many non-tech companies would be willing to sponsor a visa. Federal government generally controls immigration but check provincial resources - some are friendlier than others. And expect to be low-balled, especially since you mentioned being from a developing nation. 4. Toronto is the obvious city and where most end up. Vancouver is great too but has been overpriced and very expensive since the 1990s. Montreal was starting to get rolling again, but every 30 years or so the Quebec Nationalists wake up and ruin things for the city. They've flared things up again so I wouldn't recommend coming here (as an aside, I'm pretty sure we're headed for another referendum after the next election cycle and this time they might get what they want... Even though for all practical purposes they already have everything they want. It's like Brexit all over again). Ottawa might come up but it's all government jobs and Spotify... And Spotify has been laying people off. Another decent area to look at is Waterloo, not far from Toronto and a good tech hub because of the universities. One thing that can really help you in your search is of you every did projects for any big Canadian tech or FAANGs highlight it. Good luck and if I think of anything else I'll come back and add. |