American IT Workers Welcome in Canada

[sujan]

Recently, unemployment has hit many American IT workers. But there is one glimmer of hope: Canada is calling. Keane, Inc. in Nova Scotia is actively hiring IT workers and 5% of its work force is American. The company is recruiting in the US.
One turnoff for potential employees is the salary of 60,000 Canadian which translates to about $45,000 US dollars. IT workers are used to higher salaries. However, the company says that the costs of living in Halifax, Nova Scotia are very low.
Keane, Inc. is based in Boston but its application development center is in Canada because costs are lower. Canada's largest IT company CGI Group also reports that business is good but it does not have stats on how many American workers it hired.


http://www.computerworld.com/careertopics/careers/labor/story/0,10801,87615,00.html

[Melsky]

1. My hubby just got a job in Canada

He's a patent attorney. He's been trying for quite a while to get a job in California with no luck. The pay is much lower than California, but the cost of housing so far is much cheaper. Of course, cost of housing almost anywhere is cheaper then California.

He's really thrilled to be working again, though we will have to be apart for months, which is really hard.

[MrSoundAndVision]

5. That sucks...

you should go with him. No question about it. DO IT.

[MrSoundAndVision]

6. oh and

nice martini, I', enjoying one right now (1 ice cube, one shot vodka, slightly less than 1/2 shot extra dry vermouth (not sweet!), and an olive on a stick. Stir and enjoy). My wife likes your art too, she also is an artist.

[Melsky]

8. Thanks!

I will go with him, eventually. We have immigration stuff to deal with first though. And he can live pretty cheaply there alone. If I show up with our cats, it's going to mean renting an apartment, etc. I have to stay here and get our house ready to sell.

It's kind of cool living alone for a while anyways.

[Nlighten1]

2. Might be a good time to move.

:)

[HEyHEY]

3. You'd all love Nova Scotia too

[trogdor]

4. Isn't it like really fricken cold there?

n/c

[htuttle]

7. Not for much longer

Global warming will see to that.

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

10. Wear a coat, you big sissy. (n/t)

[American Renaissance]

9. Kinda how I came to Canada,

When my dad lost his job with McDonnell Douglas, he took a job with Canadian Pacific Airlines in Canada and I moved here with him as a child.

Probably the best thing that ever happened to me,

[pfitz59]

11. Halifax - Lobster and beer.

What more, eh?

[Hand]

18. Donairs, of course--

They were invented in Halifax. Sort of like gyros, except they're made with cheap ground beef pounded into a solid mass and roasted on a spit to a nice state of flavorless dessication.

Served on cheap pita bread with a grotesque sauce comprising mostly condensed milk and sugar...

Finger lickin' good, some would say.

:9 :puke:

[sujan]

12. As soon as I finish my masters

Hello, caaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnada!

[eileen_d]

13. Best news I've heard all month.

Oh, it's the second day of December. Well, still...

[neuvocat]

14. Hm.

Maybe I should look for work up there, eh? LOL.

[Cooley Hurd]

15. Good news if (God forbid) Shrub wins in 2004...

I gots me a job in Canada!

Buh-bye!

[VolcanoJen]

16. Halifax is absolutely beautiful.

I had the joy of discovering Nova Scotia this summer, and I think about that beautiful province and its crown jewel almost every day.

What I wouldn't do for a cold Alexander Keith beer right now... or an afternoon writing postcards in the exquisite Public Gardens.

Too bad I'm not an IT cat... I'd love to call Halifax home. :-)

[Hand]

17. Roger that--I LIVE in Halifax

Been here thirteen years. It's a fairly graceful small city (350,000 souls or so), with a few butt-ugly architectural exceptions.

Mostly it's relatively affordable by comparison with other places. Rents are pretty reasonable--you don't find $3500/mo. apartments--and so are house prices (we bought a three bedroom house on an acre of land in 1997 for $133,000, but that was outright larceny).

The Public Gardens, sadly enough, are in pretty bad shape right now; in late September, Hurricane Juan knocked down over 20% of the trees, including some enormous old ones by the entrance. It made quite a mess throughout the city, although that's been fairly well cleaned up since.

The people for the most part are quite decent and good-hearted, although the country folk in Nova Scotia are the truly great people. It's a have-not province like all of Atlantic Canada (sort of like Appalachia); money's often hard to come by, but common civility isn't.

By the way, it actually isn't that cold in Nova Scotia, because the Gulf Stream brings warmish water offshore. About the coldest it gets in winter is 10 fahrenheit, and that's definitely unusual. Summer is mild, usually no warmer than 85. Fall is lovely. Spring is rainy.

Of course, the provincial government and the economy are both pretty much wholly owned subsidiaries of a few big-money boys, and it's not a lot of fun to be a visible minority. All in all, though, if you've got steady work and four good tires, life ain't bad at all.

Anyway, glad to call it home.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

19. Sent URL to self for further analysis

Me = IT wiz. :evilgrin:

I wonder if they hire Brazilians.