Re: Any IT Support people out there?
 

They can pay for us if they like :rofl:
good point Anita how can they pay less ?
What i don't understand is in some fields of IT you don't need LMO just WP because there is such a shortage so why bother to bring you over and all that and then treat you so bad you leave the company i wish you could name them dbd33 ;) could always PM if thats allowed ?
Anita where and when are you going ?

Re: Any IT Support people out there?
 

I'm not saying there's some specific and notorious flesh peddler to be wary of. Rather I'm saying that the reason for importing computer people is either that it's cheaper than employing local ones or that they'll work in locations where Canadians won't go. It's not especially about skills.

I don't think the government has much of a clue what's in demand and what isn't, otherwise they'd import competent taxi drivers instead of having doctors and engineers drive the taxis badly. I got a guy into Canada on the strength of his being the only 1401 Autocoder person available in 2002 (he may actually have been but we didn't really have a client with a 1401).

So far as moving costs are concerned, of course, if you pay your own you're not beholden to anyone but it's common to negotiate a relocation package and that usually comes with a commitment to two years at some dreadful sweatshop in the middle of nowhere.

I personally would consider the likely working conditions carefully before signing on with any firm with a reference to electricity in the name. I'd also be suspicious of any service bureaus having three letter names without reference to electricity.

Re: Any IT Support people out there?
 

Also I found that consultancy companies are eager to hire from overseas, they were the types of company I got the most interest from before finding my final job. Great if you like that sort of thing, but it just wasn't for me not what I wanted. But they tend to be eager for more interesting experience that the major companies. Especially if you have more niche or specific skillsets like SAP, JD Edwards, UNIX, ITIL and the like. Unfortunately I kept getting asked for ones for JD Edwards (little experience) and SAP (no experience but they'd train me up) but I just wasn't interested.

Re: Any IT Support people out there?
 

They offer the opportunity to experience a sweatshop in the middle of a different nowhere each week.

Re: Any IT Support people out there?
 

But for a darn sight more than a sweatshops salary.

Re: Any IT Support people out there?
 

If you're a contractor, not so much if you're on a T4. Arguably the consulting employee has the worst of both worlds. Which reminds me, I've done quite a lot of sub-contract consulting and teaching for a large American software company, the one with the most jailed directors - working for them is a tough go, they were first to have on site daycare because they don't expect employees to stop working while giving birth.

Re: Any IT Support people out there?
 

Well the salaries they were quoting to me were not unreasonable. Not absolutely massive, but some were quite decent. Didn't like the sound of the work though.

Re: Any IT Support people out there?
 

Compared to here the wages we have seen have been less than half here,Thats at the top end of the pay scale.
Even with exchange rate, and didn't find the cost of living half, housing is cheaper and if you go mortgage free then obv costs are a lot less, property taxes are huge though in the areas we have been looking.

Re: Any IT Support people out there?
 

Contractors will of course do any work. "Shut up and take the money" is the key phrase. I don't know what employees get paid but here are some current examples of rates I know specific contractors get in the GTA, mostly on multi-year contracts. Billing assumed to be 8 hours a day, 260 days a year. Note that I'm not saying there's any rational basis for these rates or that anyone else will get them.

Java/html website developers $25 in hand, $52000, probably not taxable at all. Hard to get that many hours though.

Cobol programmer, batch, $45, in hand = $83,200/year, $66,560 after taxes and whatnot.

Cobol programmer, CICS, VSAM, $60 in hand $124,800, $99,840 after deductions.

General sort of support person, US$106.5 in hand, would be $200,000+ but I don't do that job full time.

Mainframe/Tandem tuning/support people $125, 260,000, 208,000.

Oracle DBA, carded, $275, $572,000, at that money it's worth paying more accountants so over $500,000 after tax.

Oracle and DB2 DBA, carded, $350. I can't bring myself to work in out but I like riding in his aeroplane.

Still, contract vs. permanent isn't a choice about income but about expenditure, contracting suits spenders, a proper job is better for savers. It's also a one time choice here, none of these people can take a permanant job now due to the potential tax hit so they'll either have to work until they drop or emigrate again.

Re: Any IT Support people out there?
 

Thanks for that dbd, even though OH is contracting in town and we like the money, we will have to come with permanant job so our PR could be fast tracked. so how much pimping do you do ;)

Re: Any IT Support people out there?
 

I only deal with contractors. By and large they're ones I met in the Yard or in pool halls, what Judy calls "networking". We imported the 1401 guy as a contractor, not an employee, so it can be done but I don't think we'll bother again; it's only worth doing if you can tie the body down for years at a huge margin or pack them off to do some job in Winnipeg or Dayton or Barrie that no one else will touch.

Re: Any IT Support people out there?
 

Either New Brunswick or Nova Scotia, depending on where we get a job offer or, if we have to wait it out, depending on where the most jobs are that Sean can do. Timescales also depend on a job offer or waiting it out :(

Where are you looking? Do you still have to pay taxes if you own the house outright? :unsure: These are all things we've got to look into still, but we've got loads of time so want to save something to google for when we get bored, hehe ;)

Re: Any IT Support people out there?
 

East not sure yet like you depends on job, OH is mainly finance background,
usually works at Canary Warf but now back in the city, wherever his contracts are, this one has been 2 years so far so not bad, they are all contractors there so quite good to each other and he likes the job.

We are about to put the house on the market as soon as a few jobs are completed, had a lot of wind damage last couple of weeks :eek:
and sell the cars, we are taking 3 dogs as well as 6 year old sorry 7 next week ;)

Taxes are like our council tax only a lot more, we will rent for a while anyway as its a lot more expensive to move there from what i have seen, realtors are expensive.

We want to go this year and the jobs are there its all dependant on money and selling this house really, need a permanat job not contracting because of fast tracking PR

We were in Ottawa at Easter last year and liked what was there plenty to do and good affordable housing, plus skiing and ice skating all the outdoor winter things you can think of and more,
Kanata seems to have a lot of I.T. jobs going
so will depend on getting out there again i think. We have commitments here so need to be near for flights,

Re: Any IT Support people out there?
 

I've done it support for some years - i'm now doing customer service/it support for large banks in a specific antifraude/anti money laundering package.

I see me having two options this year. Get into SQL and htat side of it, or carry on my merry way and work on my mcse and be a microsoft stooge for the rest of my life.

Any idea which is more likely to get me a reasonable job?

Cheers
Deb

Re: Any IT Support people out there?
 

So if I look in southern Ontario, I'm likely to run into a David Brent type character?