AdamPiercy

Hi all,

As stated on a previous post my wife and I are planning to do the move to Canda and are looking at various places.

Ideally we would love to move to Toronto but realistically not sure how feasible that is as I imagine many people want to move their. Other places we have looked at extensively are Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia as areas that interest us.

I am a Web Manager focusing mainly on digital transformation strategy and UI UX design and content. I wouldn't say I am highly skilled in coding but I understand the mechanics and tools etc.

Getting to my question in a long winded way is what is the employment landscape like in PEI and NS for these type of roles?

We probably will not make enough points via CRS so getting a job first will be required.

If anyone has had any experience of this or knows anyone I could speak to I would be greatly appreciative.

Thanks all

I must say I do enjoy reading this forum, I have learnt more from reading here than anywhere else on the web so thank you.

Adam

MillieF

Hello Adam,

I think we have a few posters in NS or experience of there....I don't think we have any in PEI?

PEI is utterly beautiful in summer and fairly secluded in the winter and a lot of the work seems to be seasonal too, from what I've heard.
The main employer on PEI is McCain, or various subsidiaries of McCain, perhaps you might look at the various aspects of their operations there and see if anything might be promising.

Best of luck

cxx

When we were looking at different options I remember PEI reps at one of the emigration fairs saying that they had a lot of small bespoke web development companies, but that was a few years ago so not sure if that's still the case.

AdamPiercy

Thank you both, very helpful.

scrubbedexpat133

Both PEI and NS suffer from high unemployment, high levels of under employment and among the lowest wages in the country.

PEI is beautiful in the summer as Millie says but a bleak windswept snow covered desert in the winter. Charlottetown is a pretty little city and I would live there happily if I were able to get an equivalent job there. When you hear things like we have a bespoke tech this or that......read government offered big incentive, company sets up, stays long enough to keep gov cash then buggers off. Happens time and again on this coast in all sectors.
As for NS you would be looking at the Halifax area. Nice city but it is expensive for this side of the country and wages are not as good as elsewhere.

I would think in your line of work that Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo ON would be a better destination.

MillieF

+ 1

AdamPiercy

Thanks for the honest appraisal, very interesting. I hadn't looked at Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo ON, I'll have a look.

I want to go somewhere where a) we will get work and b) is great for family life and c) has skiing in the vicinity. If it ticks these basics then that is a start for us to explore further.

Appreciate the help.

dbd33

I'm sitting in Guelph which is near enough to Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo that people commute by bus. There's not much in the way of skiing here but then there's not much of that in Nova Scotia and none in PEI.

This is, however, a place with a lot of computers and computer companies.

DandNHill

Guelph/Kitchener...can't be more than maybe 1.5 hours from skiing though so still not bad..

AdamPiercy

1.5 hours is fine.

AdamPiercy

That's good to know, I'm guessing then that they are always looking for folks and it's slightly easier than say Toronto to get an LMIA?

dbd33

I don't know about that. For one thing the University of Waterloo churns out computer people so there's no shortage (though many of them are illiterate in English and French) and, for another, I'd say that Toronto to K-W is all one market.

I work with contractors in Guelph who live in Don Mills, Scarborough, High Park as well as long distance commuters who stay for the work week. I, myself, commuted to Guelph from the Beach. People leave and take contracts in Toronto or Scarborough so, no, one is not more promising for a LMIA than the other.

I don't know what the chance of getting a LMIA for computing is at the moment but there are no end of developers truly fresh off planes from Bangalore and Shanghai so there must be a way of doing it.

AdamPiercy

May I ask what it is you do? I am not really a developer, I'm more of a UX expert which I imagine are less sought after by smaller companies.

We are flying over to Toronto at the end of the year so hoping to make some connections whilst there.

It is all quite daunting at the beginning, so much to put in place.

R I C H

I employed a UX professional for a large project a couple of years ago, he was based in Vancouver (a freelancer). There were a couple of companies to choose from that specialised in that field of work, but in my experience in western Canada it's a very niche business, likely because of what you've identified - the size and scope of projects that require those services outside of major cities/corporate environments is tiny.

dbd33

I work for a Toronto software company as a dogsbody. The work has taken me all over the world and to Guelph where I have a long term consulting assignment.

I don't know anything about UX.