demeer

Hi all,
First post so sorry if I'm covering old ground!

I'm looking at the possibility of relocating from where I live for a short term 2-3 years maybe) in order to gain more varied experience in the field I work in. Currently employed as an IT consultant who specialises in sql database and business intelligence, have worked mainly for finance companies (as that is all there is commerce wise in my location). Which provinces/locations have demand for this sort of IT work, and does anyone know what the average salary looks like. Don't have any job lined up but would be interested in seeing what opportunities might be available in a new location.

Cheers for any pointers or advice

plasticcanuck

Most of Canada's financial industry is based in Toronto.

Photoplex

There's always demand for SQL and BI in the Oil and Gas sector - have a look around at Calgary. IT salaries here make Toronto finance sector salaries look like high school pocket money.

SchnookoLoly

As has been said, Toronto is the financial centre, so that's probably where you'll find the highest concentration of companies... that said, your job in IT sounds like it can be done from just about anywhere, so I'd say don't limit your search to Toronto, but instead look at any of the larger cities around Canada and see what suits you, both in terms of what life might be like there, salaries, cost of living, etc. Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Hamilton, etc, you have quite a few options to play with.

Good luck!

dbd33

Oh. How much can I get there?

Photoplex

That's not really enough information...

dbd33

I can do SQL and BI. I have direct experience of Oracle, Teradata, Ab Initio, Yadda and Yadda. Can I get $1000/hr 40hrs/week for long term work out there?





(Not that I can bill that here but that's what would make the money available in Toronto look like "high school pocket money".)

Photoplex

Don't believe me? Go look on Payscale, Glassdoor, or any of the other myriad of pay comparison sites. Employee salaries in IT are approximately 30% higher. Contractor rates even more. We can take to PM if you like.

dbd33

That's what I thought.

In my view rates vary as much by client as they do by location within Canada. All rates in Canada are grim compared to London so it's improbable that someone would come here for the money. I'd say the key thing is to find that first job, wherever it is, a finance person might want to go where the banks are.

Photoplex

Comparing my current with London equivalents:

• On par equivalent contracting rate (I used to earn a lot more than London before the mid-2013 collapse of CAD to GBP)
• Twice the equivalent London employee salary.

So yeah. London contracting rates, with half the living cost and taxes of London.

dbd33

Good luck to you then. Perhaps you can find the OP a similar position.

demeer

Thank for the spirited discussion on this post For reference I'm not in London, actually one of the offshore islands for what it's worth. I guess the general advice is to try and find the jobs first and then move from there. Is cost of living (including rent, transport, utilities etc) in most of the major cities less than London?

christmasoompa

I'd assumed you were planning on going over on a Temp Work Permit, and you'd need a job offer (and LMIA) for that, so finding a job first is essential for a visa anyway!

dgagitw

The big corporations downtown in Toronto pay up to something like 90 CAD per hour for relatively senior development people and up to around 125 CAD for system architects and similar. Bottom end is more like 50 CAD per hour. Mostly that's for a 37.5 hour week although overtime is common. I make that between 400 and 1000 per day.

What are the equivalent rates for Calgary?

dbd33

I believe these rates to be accurate for southern Ontario (though 37.5 hours is rather part-time). I suspect that, if the average is higher in Calgary, it's because Calgary doesn't have firms employing large numbers of casual employees at $50 or less per hour. There's just more work in Toronto, some highly paid, some not. The average rate will be even higher for somewhere like Caledon where a couple of residents are sitting on the porch of their horse farms interneted to London all day at 125 GBP an hour.

It doesn't much matter though what the average rate is if you don't have a contract and this is where Photoplex can help the OP out. Or not.