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U.S. startups: it's dirt cheap to hire skilled Canadian programmers right now
6 points by kelseydh on Jan 13, 2016 | hide | past | favorite | 7 comments
Here's the situation: The Canadian and Australian dollars have dropped to less than 70 cents against the U.S. dollar. Both currencies used to trade at par.

So for 30% less money (make that 50%+ less if you reside in the Valley), you can hire remote tech talent that's just as good as what you would get from inside the United States, that codes on the same time zone that you do.

The discrepancy between U.S. & Canada in terms of technical salaries is almost absurd. Baseline salaries in Canada already trend lower than the U.S., and now with the exchange rate the difference is eye popping:

- In Silicon Valley coding bootcamp graduates commonly land $80k-$100k+ jobs straight of graduation.

- While in Canada, it's common for top bootcamp graduating salaries to be in the range of $30k-$50k, with many top programmers needing to wait many years before ever reaching $80k+ CAD... $56k USD

The savings are huge if you do the math. Why aren't more U.S. startups looking North?



And the salaries are even cheaper in Eastern Europe and Asia, so what's your point? Remote work is great, but not all companies are ready for it yet.

Disclaimer: I'm a Canadian working in the UK (after working for a bit in Canada).


Presumably, Canadians and US have less language/cultural barriers compared to some east European/Asian nation and US.


Generally the more exotic the locale, the harder it is to find reliable programmers.


Singapore has been at that price for a while, with the technical skill and English ability to match Canadians.

If you want a further discount, a really good Malaysian or Filipino programmer goes for $16k market rate. Similar culture to USA. Pay $30k and they'll happily code for you at night shifts forever.


In Brazil it's even cheaper I can assure you.


Pay disparities for remote positions has potential costs: https://ernie.io/2015/12/05/market-rate-is-for-lobsters/


  Both currencies used to trade at par.
At times, but those were historical anomalies.




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