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by paeselhz 957 days ago
Hey, recently my wife and I decided to make a similar change, we moved from Brazil to Canada, for her to pursue her studies, and for me to make a professional change, in Brazil I was a Machine Learning Engineer.

1. The demand for software-related jobs is quite high, but the breakthrough in some companies (especially big ones) is quite challenging, in part because of the recent waves of layoffs, but a lot of the hiring market here is based on connections. For me, it was especially hard to get a job offer before arriving in the country.

2. It depends on where you want to live, but most of the jobs are in large metropolitan areas like Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, and a lot of them have been requiring at least hybrid work, so you need to factor in the cost of living in this cities. Afaik, the average Canadian household spends half of their income on living expenses (shelter, heating, power). Also, telecommunication services here are quite expensive, so if you plan to have good internet to work from home, you might need to add a couple hundred dollars to your monthly expenses for that.

3. About immigration, the best way is for you to reach an Immigration Attorney or Consultant, each case is particular and there is no one-size-fits-all for this. I've met people from the most diverse backgrounds, with completely different immigration strategies, and it worked out for them. Find what works best for your scenario and customize your immigration strategy based on that.

4. I'm still planning to visit Vancouver, but having known Toronto and Montreal, I feel that Toronto is a really good city to start, there are plenty of opportunities, and many Canadian companies choose to have their offices.

I would agree with another commenter who said that building a solid portfolio might go a long way in getting job interviews.

Good luck on your path!

1 comments

Toronto is really a massive hub for tech, with most of the largest companies HQ in the country. Waterloo/Kitchener is for more startup based companies and lots of great work in security coming out of Vancouver. Rent in Toronto is expensive but that is the majority of Canada at the moment. Dev salaries I would add are probably between 60k-150k from Junior-Intermediate salaries.
A friend graduated from a world top university and had strong 20-30 years career in software, getting to senior architect level in several companies, with tenures of about 5 years in a company. Moved to Toronto last December and still can't find a position in software industry, which makes me wonder what's that special sauce successful applicants add to their searches.
Canada is good if you are young and want to work for pennies. You can double or triple your salary going to America. I get offers for 250-300k in America but 80-120k in Canada.

If you are senior here they can't pay you so they won't hire you. Also Canada is a shit show not worth moving here. Our media is good at tricking people. There is no health care in Canada or education don't believe the noise.

If you are coming here, be prepared to live in a shared room and cleaning dishes or working at Amazon as a courier. Remember the last 20 years before Uber the fastest way to get a doctor in Canada was to sit in a taxi as the driver probably was a doctor in their country. Your experience when you come to Canada is pretty much useless if it's not Canadian or you don't have a network.