sk0rpiu5

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum, I found it on my googling of expats & Vancouver so I thought it might be a reasonable place to ask some questions & do some research! I've read a few forums but mostly out of date info so I'm looking for some good 2013 info here

My wife & I are currently considering moving to the greater Vancouver area - she grew up in Richmond/Steveston and came over to the UK to teach ten years ago and since we've had children would like to return to Vancouver to be closer to her family. I'm putting serious consideration to this; it's a lovely area and there seems to be a great host of opportunities for our children compared to our current situation. We live in East London/Essex, so the space is very attractive!

I'm really trying to get as well informed as possible about work opportunities in the city & surrounding regions, so I'd like to reach out on this forum for any information available. I work in IT - I have over 10 years experience, and work primarily in the hosting industry. I was previously a senior systems engineer and currently am a cloud solutions architect. I hold VCP 5 & MCSE/MCSA/MCITP/MCTS qualifications, with CCA on my short term roadmap. I have also worked in the education sector so I like to think I am flexible with a fairly diverse set of skills.

Can anybody provide any information on the following? I appreciate these may be broad questions but please feel free to add anything you feel is relevant - I guess I'm looking to find out how much my working life is expected to change:

1. Job opportunities (full time & contracting) - how available different types of IT roles are, and job security.

2. Working conditions - expected hours of work/overtime, holidays, general work/life balance.

2. Salary range - I work in central London so balance a good salary against London cost of living for a family of 4; is Vancouver similar? Can I expect a better or worse salary? Other benefits good?

3. Areas of work - is it just Vancouver for these roles or would I be likely to find work in areas such as Richmond?

Really appreciate any information this forum community may have

jandro

Relatively few large companies with sizeable IT departments. You may want to look at consulting. The agencies might be helpful if you have a lot of experience. You may have to network more which you may not be used to. Job security is less than in UK or at least when I lived there. Especially in IT. BC has special provisions that exempts “high technology professionals” working for high tech companies from the standard employment laws. Net result can mean reduced job security.
Again, due to above you can be expected to work long hours. In the previous IT Infrastructure job I had there was an expectation to work after hours and on weekends. I never got paid overtime as I was on salary. With the job I have now I can turn off after 5pm but have less responsibility.

Probably lower salary. I was told by an agent that salaries are lower compared to similar roles in Calgary or Toronto. They said reason was because everyone wants to live here, the weather is better etc. Real estate is more expensive. However, I find I can save more money - once I was able to find a job which took many months.


I think most high tech companies are based outside of Vancouver. There are quite a few in Burnaby and Richmond.

dbd33

There are some computer people in Vancouver who post here and may comment. From the perspective of a contractor working in Toronto, I'd say that rates (in Toronto) are about half what they are in London. I believe they're lower still in Vancouver but there really aren't enough computers there for there to be a market rate.

sk0rpiu5

Hi all, thanks for taking the time out to reply to my post.

The information you've provided helps paint a more accurate picture of Vancouver, definitely enforcing what I read elsewhere too. I know I've been spoilt for choice in London for a long time, but once I started reading up, I was slightly surprised to hear how little global business exists in Vancouver.

Consulting sounds attractive, especially as it is part of my current role it probably wouldn't be too much of a jump. The biggest unknown here is the idea of networking to get jobs, but it's part of any challenge when moving to a new area I guess. Nothing linkedin and some tech seminars can't help with I'm hoping!

I bet the lower rates make it pretty difficult for living in the area, given the high real estate prices too? Or do more people rent these days over here (I'm in Vancouver at present )?

Mooseman69

Spent 6 years working in IT in Vancouver - left a couple of years ago. Very similar profile to yourself.

1. The city is boom and bust. Sometimes there's plenty of work other times nothing at all. I experienced more unemployment there than anywhere else I've lived. There are some big companies there: Telus, Shaw, HSBC, but it's mostly small and medium sized places. They generally want you to be multi-skilled, much more than in Europe.

2. In my experience the work environment there is the worst I've ever experienced. Management is based on fear, it's very Americanised (long hours, crap conditions, stress, disorganised, low investement), and most Vancouverites are very immature and difficult to work with compared to Europeans....partly because they all want to protect their positions due to #1!
In short, a truly awful place to work (but great place to live!).
Don't forget the holidays....you start on 2 weeks in most places!!! You never have time to fully enjoy the city.

3. Salaries will be a big shock to you coming from London. They call it the mountain tax! Calgary and Toronto salaries are much better. Think $30-45 per hour contract or $60-80k permanent to start. Contract work pays less over there!!
Family of 4....forget it in Vancouver. Day to day living costs are high there. If you take a wad of cash with you it will gone within 2 years...

4. Most big companies are in Burnaby, easy to reach by Skytrain. There's a few consultancy co's downtown (slave labour though).

Finally, don't expect to go there thinking your London experience will count for much at the beginning. You need to prove yourself to them as they are very very parochial. Being a Brit can help you get a foot in the door though (worked for me twice). I would still be there if the work environment hadn't been so bad (and housing didn't cost so much). I hope you have better luck.

Mooseman69

ooops...just realised you're already there....good luck!

JonboyE

Mooseman69. You are not the first person to say something like this ...

Mooseman69

Having a couple of expat friends really helped me at the beginning. If you find a good job stick with it!! Victoria might me worth considering....

Tigger1

Linkedin is your friend, I have used it as a recruiter and my fiance who's in IT has been approached on a number of occasions both by agencies and employers through it.

Get networking as that's a big thing here, salary wise it can depend on the company and often they look at overall package (benefits and vacation) which is different to back home as obviously we don't have the same health benefits.

A lot of companies also post on Craigslist, & I believe there's a salary guide in the Wiki that I posted that should help.

Mooseman69

an advantage of being a Brit in Canada is the language - I found that there were a lot of of highly qualified and experienced IT people who didn't get jobs because their English wasn't perfect, or just strongly accented. Being a native English speaker is a big advantage. I would check out HSBC's careers page