Re: Convince me ...
 

You're on the development side?

There's a ton of new system management products out there - all aimed at reducing TCO. The problem is that businesses who want to reduce TCO don't want to pay for long term consultancy engagements!!

Whenever anyone posts "maybe I should retrain in IT" I just about wet myself nowadays ... great woolly mammoth husbandry has got a better career path than IT has right now.

Do we? Please enlighten us .... the pipes the pipes are ca-a-a-alling?

Re: Convince me ...
 

When I was living in Edmonton, it was very nice to be able to go to the waterpark at West Edmonton Mall - it almost seemed that I was in Hawaii.

When I lived in Red Deer, I used to drive to Calgary just to get out of the snow for a few hours. I realize that the brown everywhere gets very monotonous, the monotony of piles of snow everywhere you go in the Red Deer/Edmonton area was even worse than the brown around Calgary. In the Red Deer/Edmonton region, I used to wish (after 3 weeks of very cold weather) that the bloody temperature would go above freezing for just a day so I could de-ice my vehicles.

After I moved to Red Deer (I lived in Edmonton for 7 years and RD for 8 yrs) I ended up buying 160 acres of land (mostly forested) near Winfield, Alberta. I would go snowmobiling, cross-country skiing and hunting there to make advantage of the snow. I also raised bison, wild boar, pheasants, wild turkeys and rainbow trout on this property - so I had lots to do.

If you don't get involved with winter-related sports like skating, snowmobiling, ice fishing (near the parks) or skiing, the winters in Canada will be too long - the exception being the "lower mainland of BC" or Vancouver Is.

Re: Convince me ...
 

Yep, thats the secret. You cant hide from it, so you have to embrace it.

Re: Convince me ...
 

Surprisingly enough, my question didn't get answered ... Willmore hasn't been around, so I guess I have to say "BC is paradise" to myself ... for Iaink's benefit I'll point out that not everybody in Toronto lives in the GTA ... for anybody from the Atlantic provinces, yes the scenery is lovely, but I don't want to move anywhere with even less work for IT people and no, I don't want to retrain to be a vending machine mechanic, plumber or truck driver - they're all worthy jobs, just not my cup of tea.

I'm around now...but wanted to wait it out and make sure this was the "real McGrouch".....and not just some fascimile.....since you did say you were going into retirement.....just can't trust those Scottish folks can you?

Come and live on the west coast...you'll love living by the ocean (especially since you're a biologist)....the milder weather, the rain....the cost of housing......and best of all be closer to me......Paradise is wonderful, and heck who wants to work and raise and support a family anyway - let the kids find their own food hehehe.......... :D

Re: Convince me ...
 

Yup for my sins I'm a developer. :( Trying to re-angle myself as an infrastructure guy, (build sytems and software testing).

Re TCO that's very true, anything that reduces cost long term, but may cost a little short term isn't liked at all. I'm trying to promote good software engineering here, to reduce our maintenance time, and thus cost, but I'm bashing my head against a wall. (If it slows our development it must be bad, despite what we are making being extremely flaky :( )

I wouldn't recommend IT to my bitterest enemies now (ok actually I might :D ) and what's more, I went into IT to get the better money, but I'm finding so many people I know who took much easier careers are not that far behind me in salary.

As for the song, you have to search Sheryl Crow's songs.

Re: Convince me ...
 

Not a good move ... it's just as tough.

Alberta doesn't support the concept of spend now or pay later ... it's too deep.

Same here ... Canadian job values and salaries are very jumbled up ... the best advice is don't assume that you're valued here just because you're valued in the UK.

I'm going to book myself in for Vending Machine Mechanics 101.

Re: Convince me ...
 

If Sean Connery can have flexible retirement, so can I ... there's a certain physical similarity too ... I'm also losing my hair.

Are your public schools crap too?

Re: Convince me ...
 

I really think that's what Calgary lacks ... a season ticket for West Edmonton Mall is very attractive.

It's all relative ... we get to hate the monotonous brown and like to see some snow.

We need something ...

My kids are too young for skiing, but we're into skating. The problem right now for me is fall is lasting too long ... I need to see some winter weather.

Re: Convince me ...
 

My former receptionist's husband works as an operator for the Nova plant at Joffre (east of Red Deer). She told me that he makes $90,000/year (and that was in '94), on a job that took only 2 years of education in community college.

Joffre is one place that has a concentration of these petro-chemical plants, but Fort Saskatchewan has a much heavier concentration of such industries. This field may be another avenue to explore.

Re: Convince me ...
 

I've had the feeling since I got here that everyone else gets paid a ton more than I do ... I also know that I get paid more than some of the other guys I work with.

Maybe it's time to do something else?

Re: Convince me ...
 

Perhaps, since there are too many applicants for too few jobs in your field - that has too depress the pay scale. Maybe you could contact the HR people and ask them what they think at places like Nova (Joffre) or Dow Chemical (Ft. Sask.). Ask them what is there a need for?

Re: Convince me ...
 

Glaswegian,

I haven't been on the forum for some time but saw your message and thought I'd respond. We are in Calgary and are planning a move to the East Coast. We've been here 3 years and for us it's run it's course - we hate being land locked and the long winters are a killer as we don't ski, etc. My skills are fairly transferable (health field) but my partner is in IT. He has found a lot of the same issues as you seem to with the IT industry here - he was also used to working for big companies in the UK with lots of interaction with Europe, etc whereas here it's very insular. He has contracted all the time we've been here - mostly with oil and gas co's - the work has been fairly steady but he's getting fed up with the corporate environment/working downtown, etc. Everyone we talk to thinks Calgary is the centre of the universe because of the so called booming economy (no debt, no PST, etc) but we are looking at quality of life not just economics - must be a mid life thing! We went over to Nova Scotia in Sept. to see what we thought and loved it - going back in Dec. to research jobs/real estate. At the moment not sure whether to stay in our fields of work or just go for a complete change - maybe start a small business. We also researched BC but way too expensive - for us the East Coast is the way to go - it has history, culture, coast, etc and just a short flight back to UK ( an important consideration with aging parents back there!). Anyway, just my 2p worth from someone who's kind of in the same boat. Feel free to pm me.

Re: Convince me ...
 

I'm starting to miss all of those people ... I could get to customers everywhere from London to Sheffield from Leicester in just over an hour ... the market was enormous. The UK population is only around 60 milltion ... are you counting the north of France too?

Pity I hated living there and don't want to go back ....

Companies doing that sort of stuff are ten a penny ... it's the "next thing" that everyone in IT thinks of, there isn't a lot of profit in it.

Largely it's lack of choice ....

Re: Convince me ...
 

Not sure how you get the hour thing, it's 30mins from Tottenham Court Road to Kings Cross via tube! :D ( A distance of 1-2 miles)

Re: Convince me ...
 

I have the perfect new career choice for you....become an "Apple Service Technician"....then you'd have real talent..hehehe...... :D