Where to go in Vancouver?
 

Hi All,
We're in the process of going through the skill immigrate route, if and when we get our visa's we're thinking of settling in Vancouver. As part of the immigration research my husband is coming over to Canada soon, can anyone offer any advice as to what parts of Vancouver he should visit. We have a young family, daughter of 21 months, so we're are looking for a good family areas with good schools.
Both my husband and I are in the IT field, what's the IT job market like at the moment?
Any advice appreciated.
Mini

Re: Where to go in Vancouver?
 

Vancouver is a sprawling set of cities, each with its own definite personality :) You might like to look at this site for some ideas : http://www.vancouver.hm/vanframe.html especially check the moving and immigration section.

Of course there is also the friendly yahoo group in Vancouver (see signature).

IT market is improving, but it so depends on what he does.

Clare

Re: Where to go in Vancouver?
 

Hi,

We've lived on Vancouver Island for over three years and like it here. IT market is definately improving - we're seeing a lot of activity (I'm a technical analyst here - do Solaris, Cisco etc...). What do you both do in IT ? Just a little tip, the Canadian market seems fanatical about certifications (at least the Government segment I work in does).

Cheers - Steve

Re: Where to go in Vancouver?
 

Hey guys,
Thanks for the advice.
Steve, how long did it take you to find a job out there or did you have one before you went over?
I currently work as an IT Manager and don’t really have any certifications, apart from my degree, but I have 8 years of experience, if that counts.
However my husband is a Project Manager working with business systems, and he does have Prince 2 and he also has the Lotus certification, I don’t know how much weight these carry, if any out there, any ideas?
Mini100

Project Management Institute - BC Branch
 

IMO: they are positively anal about certification in Vancouver IT - or at least they were 3 years ago. :eek:

Have you joined the Brits2Vancouver group - lots of more recent landed IT folk, so they can update you ;)

There is another yahoo group based in Vancouver (for immigrants of all countries, not just Brits, but I'd say Brits make up 1/4 to a 1/3rd of the membership! :D ) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/van-immi

One of the group moderators (Rajan Rao) is a project manager and he did a lot of postings about being a project manager in Vancouver (about 18 months ago - so you will have to trawl through the search field there).

But - check out this Project Management Institute - BC Branch Local Chapter of http://www.pmi.org is http://www.pmi.bc.ca

Oh, and this might discourage you a tad, but I do know that Rajan is currently living in Vancovuer but working during the week in Seattle :(

Clare

Re: Where to go in Vancouver?
 

Some friends of ours, just bought into this new village in Kelowna in BC, what makes it look so good, is the fact all the houses are different ( neo-traditional ), and they look absolutely gorgeous, kind of place you want to bring your kids up in.

The village is called KETTLE VILLAGE, and the link below shows you some of the houses, and when you go to the home page, you can watch a mini video of the village, under the heading latest news.


http://www.kettlevalley.com/homedesigns.php

Re: Where to go in Vancouver?
 

Hi there!

My husband and I have bought at Kettle Valley and we move in next month. Who are your friends?! Did they buy a townhome or a house?

Georgina

Re: Where to go in Vancouver?
 

Hi there,

I had a contact here who got me an interview. We landed on the Sat, had the interview on the Monday - got offered the job a few days later but couldn't start for a few months so we had an extended holiday. In retrospect I should have gone out and tried to land a contract for that time. Getting to work ASAP helps on a number of fronts - money, integrating yourself into the working community etc...

Sorry I've not replied sooner but things have been really busy and I've been off the board for a few months. I'm not sure that the Prince cert will carry any weight and I don't know about the Lotus cert. The Project Management Institute cert is the one our PM's are encouraged to get. If you send me an email address I'll let you a job lead for your hubby.

Cheers - Steve