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Why Offshore When Canada's Next Door?
Roblimo writes "A study by accounting and consulting giant PriceWaterhouseCoopers claims Canada could lose up to 75,000 IT jobs by 2010 to offshore outsourcing, but could also *gain* 165,000 jobs through U.S. outsourcing contracts. The trick is, according to this story at IT Manager's Journal, that while Indian, Chinese, and Russian programmers may cost 80% less than U.S. programmers, the time zone, language, legal, and other problems involved with sending work half way around the world can eat up much of the labor savings, while Canadian programmers are nearby, speak English with nearly American accents, have a similar culture and legal system, and get paid 40% less than U.S. programmers. Might be time to think about moving North, eh?"
What if the cost of living was close to 40% less?
Think of Canada as another state. Except that while they tax you in Canada, they actually seem to do something with the tax dollars besides 'defence' spending.
Why not outsource to me in West Virginia...? I work cheaper than all of them combined. There are plenty of people in the USA who will work for less - it's better than no work at all.
You also have to consider that while getting paid less, your cost of living could also be drastically reduced in Canada as well. I used to live in LA and made double than what I do now, but after moving back to Canada, my cost of living is 1/3 of what it used to be. Plus here I don't have to be paranoid about not using ATMs after dark. Of course, I will be a bit biased since I am Canadian.
Well, the cost of living is also around 40% less (or close enough - sometimes less, sometimes more). Toronto and Vancouver are more spendy than Ottawa, Montreal, or Calgary. But you can have a very nice lifestyle making 40% of a New York or San Jose salary in those three cities. Even more so in places like Edmonton, Regina, or Winnipeg.
One challenge would be paying any US debt load (student loan, US car payment, credit card debt) with Canadian dollars.
You miss the point. The choice is between earning 40%+ less doing something else, or earning 40% less by moving north. The high paying IT job is gone.
I thought that one of the big attractions of India et al. is that they're on the other side of the planet, so they can effectively extend the work day overnight. Are there going to be a bunch of third shift programming positions opening in Toronto?
One man's -1 Flamebait is another man's +5 Funny.
So, for 40% less than what I'm currently making, I could live in a nation that gives a crap about hockey, has a much smaller crime rate, has major domestic beers that don't taste like piss, and a health care system available to all its citizens?
Where can I sign up? Really.
Companies do NOT care if you have talk to a guy speaking Spanglish, Engrish, or Hinduish - They only care about saving money and doing things for LESS.
COmpanies used to use child labor util we made laws about it. Companies used to work people round the clock until we made laws about it. From their past track record companies WILL DO whatever they can GET AWAY WITH - until we unite and make a law about it.
SO GET OUT THERE and crack some skulls!
Ave Molech Setting
Here, I can go Tango Dancing every day of the week, see the best museums, never have to drive the death machine we call an automobile, can go out drinking without worrying about how I am getting home, can see world class plays, theater, etc. etc. etc. Living in Canada would be a marked decrease in my Life Style.
Someone's never been to Montréal...
This whole thing is stupid. Say a New York City or San Francisco company saves money by outsourcing to Canada, a place where a housing isn't $400 a square foot and salaries are not inflated. They could probably get very similar savings if they oursourced to WVa or TN and be sung praises as heros for boosting local American economies. On the same note, west coast and east coast companies spending millions on leases for data centers could save millions by moving to America's heartland. Plus they could just leave the windows open in the colder months and reduce their electric bills for cooling. Ok, the last part is a stretch.
'Same speed C but faster'
No, the big attraction of India is that it's popular with big name companies, so all the idiot pretenders can jump on the bandwagon. After all, time at a keyboard is the least important part of creating an effective program. Most of the real work is done in brainstorming sessions with experts and customers. The further insulated your developers and support staff are from the user base, the less effective they become...but right now, "cost savings" is seen as a bigger issue than "effective work," because sales are down and companies are afraid of shareholder lawsuits if they don't cut costs -- costs other than executive salaries, of course.
In about three years, the big names will notice that product quality and sales have dropped dramatically while adjunct costs of outsourcing kept the price per product about the same, and they'll start looking to hire people here to clean things up. Either that, or all the great little startups popping up in this country will steal away their business.
Oh, and maybe we'll get lucky and companies will reverse the process, start hiring Indian executives willing to work for mere hundreds of thousands a year, rather than millions. This will help us effectively extend the slacking-off day.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
My god, what a post... Your right... its a slow friday and your trying to stir the shit! :)Oh well, i'll bite
... so think F15 tech in the late 50's ). Why did this amazing aircraft never come to see day, beyond test flights??? Well, basically it boiled down to political threats from "Canada's friends to the North". It came down to America dictated to Canada, scrap the Arrow and adopt the Bowmark (sp?) missle system, or the US would start doing missle tests over Canadian airspace.
Your right, Canada had a signifigant contirbution to WWII ( and I ), and in fact had the second largest Navy at the end of the second world war ( Mostly because of the shit kicking that Japan and Germany took... ). However, entering the war, that was not the case. Canada is a country that rallies at the time of war ( real wars, not political invasions... ).
Now, the biggest irony is the reason why Canada is not a military power these days... The US! Do a search on a company called AVRO. The created the CF-100, then the CF-105(Arrow). The AVRO arrow was basically decades ahead of its time ( actually, it was heavily ripped off to create the F15
Now the real reason? Basically it boils down to one of two reasons. THe first one is a no brainer... War is a major industry for the US. Had Canada had the best jet fighter/intercepter on the market, how well would sales of the StarFighter, F4 Phantom, etc have gone? Second reason, basically boils down to the U2 spy plane. That plane was the backbone of US intelligence, however its only defence was the alltitude it flew at, and altitude the Arrow could easily fly at. Ironically, the U2 didnt prove to be that invulnerable in the end did it? I believe in the end, Gary Powers was shot down by an AA missle launch from a Mig25.
So, long story short, Canada was on route to becoming a major military power, at least industrially. One of the biggest reason that Canada isnt these days, is because America basically dictated ( weilding a big stick ), come under our protection, OR ELSE!
Finally... the world isnt really that dangerous of a place with two exceptions. 1) Nukes. 2) The US. With the end of the Cold War, the US is the only country maintaining a large and agressive force, with the possible exception of China. TO put things simply, I think the world was much safer before the US invaded Iraq, then it is now.
However, thats the nice thing about Canada... should the US join "the dark side", watch how fast the "free world" unites against you, should you invade ( and not simply annex, big difference ). Also, dont kid yourself... Canada does not have nuclear weapons... but they are pioneers in the field. I imagine it would take a matter of minutes to create a weapon. The amount of weapons grade material in Canada if you were a parnoid, and Canada not a peaceful country, would probrably keep you up at night. Canada is a peaceful country by choice, not necesity. Dont get me wrong, should a landwar happen, Canada would get clobered... a budget of 100x to 1, and a population of 10x to 1 just cant be overcomed. However, if there is another WW, its going to be nuke based... population size and military budgets mean jack-shit in those situations.
Todays conflicts are going to be resolved with terror, because frankly, the US is the only country heavily investing in the military. However, the nicest defence against terrorism, is not to be a prick. Thats a defence that Canada has mastered... the US still has a hell of alot to learn. Im not even gonna mention isreal here... they are going to be targeted by terrorists for a very very long time.