Hi group

I came to Toronto in Dec 2004 with a job in hand. My wife joined me in Toronto only abt 3 months ago. Since then she had attended 5 interviews and got 2 jobs as IT business analyst. She is now woking in one of the 5 big banks in Canada. From her job hunting experience she tells me that there are quite a few jobs out there in IT filed and she did not face the so called "Canadian experience" bias. Now both of us are employed with a god job in our own filed of expertise.

My wife likes this place but I am still not able to digest the taxes we are paying. I feel that there is tax in rything you touch. Since I come from a country where i paid abt 8% income tax and 5% GST , I am feeling the pinch very much. I have worked here for abt 11 months now and I dont see any improvement in my bank balance. This is one reason why I feel that Canada may not be for me. Anyways I just have to wait and see. Anyway as for the IT job market goes , we feel that its pretty hot now. Hope this post helps.

Cheers
rsk

Where would that be?

Those are tempting taxation rates but not the place for a chewing gum addict like me

You are spot on Bink. I migrated from Singapore. The only reason we migrated from Singapore is because we got so bored there. Now am not sure if I made the right decision. I try to convince myself that it is right, but I am not doing a good job of it.

Cheers
rsk

Give it a little while longer. I understand where you are coming from and your situation sounds very similar to mine; I moved here in Dec 2004 too, however my husband isn't out here yet permanently. Every time he comes out here, he just loves it but he is never really here long enough to get to grips with how things really are. I can see a lot wrong with Canada, however in my situation I just LOVE where I live. I have never been one for loving a property before - we have always had beautiful homes but I have never felt protective over them, and have always considered leaving them at some point or other........but not this place! Our house here is 100 years old and is very much in need of some TLC. It is way smaller than any house we have ever owned and doesn't even have the luxury of a garage!! However........I actually absolutely adore this house and in particular the rest of the farm. I have spent this year sorting out the farm buildings etc and getting the farm productive.......and now winter is almost upon us and too late to do anything with the house. Next year will be The Year of the House!!

Keep smiling and try it for another year and then see how you feel. Things may radically change and you may feel very settled by then. If not, then you can always go back. Nothing is set in stone that you have to stay in Canada forever.

Good luck.

so what things are you doing now to break the boredom??

Whilst I appreciate everyone is different, there are people on these boards who would kill to be in your position ( PRV and a job lined up coupled with your wife finding employment nearly straight away ).

I am having trouble generating sympathy for you but like I said at the top.... everyone is different.

Hi RSK, your post is really interesting.

My husband is a Systems Analyst (Java, C++) in the Banking sector (London) but works as a contractor for the financial benefits. We have all but given up on going to Toronto/Canada as we believed the market there to be so flat for this type of work, so I am pretty surprised that you say it is so hot as we seem to be getting nowhere with even finding out about jobs which leads us to believe that there are none. It seemed to us that all of the "hot" IT jobs were in manufacturing, SAP and JD Edwards which doesn't apply to us, we just can't take the risk of going out there with a young family that we can't support even though my heart was set on it. Do you or your wife have any impressions on what the market is like in this area or any contacts (please!)?

Ironically we were thinking of playing the Canada visa waiting game in Singapore for a couple of years. It is looking very likely that we will head to Sydney next year if we can't find any more positive info on the job front.

Good luck to you and I hope it works out.

ginaf

Is the only reason you moved to Canada to earn more money?

Just curious as to how you can have two decent jobs and not see an improvement in your bank balance and wondering what your expenditure/month is.

8% tax.... there's your answer... have to say again ( as I think it's warranted ) this post does not bring up any feelings of sympathy what.....so.....ever !!

No your right must admit, it's a bit like like saying, "I'm now living in Australia and can only afford a midsize BMW, were I had a top of the line one in the UK"

Canada is a great country and you do get more for the same money.

Mark

I can't believe you and others are sniping at the OP when all he was trying to do was offer his opinion on IT jobs which I for one found helpful.

It annoys me when this happens as he will probably be put off posting again when this is the sort of information I look for on an Expats site.

No-one's sniping.

Just a tad confused how someone that states that they have two decent incomes is claiming to be struggling.

If you find info that life in Canada is a struggle on 2 good incomes useful, then good luck to you.

And also whining about making ends meet with two good incomes. Like I said originally, a lot of people would kill to be in that particular predicament.