Montreal is a great city, if you put aside two things: the language politics and the taxes (52% - yow!). Check the most recent issue of Wired (8.07): in an article on the 100 best places in the world to be a tech worker, it rates Montreal as high as places like Seattle and higher than most everywhere outside of the USA. Because everyone here speaks 2 languages (English and French), they're already used to learning new languages all the time; makes it easier to teach people to code. And Canada doesn't have a limit for the number of visas in a given year; you can immigrate as many people into the country as you want.
Tech companies here: Softimage, Matrox, Monster.ca, Zero Knowledge. Also biotech (BioChem Pharma, Novartis, etc) and aerospace (Bombardier, CAE, Bell Textron).
I agree with the comment about the women; you can't believe it until you see it. Also, because the bars close at 3:00, if you want to grab a beer after coding until 2:00 am, you can go anywhere.
The winter is nasty, but no worse than most of the midwest. Good air hubs; cheap flights to Europe and good connections to North and South America. And the cost of living is unbelievably low: a 1300 square foot, 2 bedroom apartment across the street from a park for $1200 CDN ($700 US) and people will tell you that you're overpaying; restaurant meals for $25 CDN and you bring your own wine.
Slashdot Mirror
Tech companies here: Softimage, Matrox, Monster.ca, Zero Knowledge. Also biotech (BioChem Pharma, Novartis, etc) and aerospace (Bombardier, CAE, Bell Textron).
I agree with the comment about the women; you can't believe it until you see it. Also, because the bars close at 3:00, if you want to grab a beer after coding until 2:00 am, you can go anywhere.
The winter is nasty, but no worse than most of the midwest. Good air hubs; cheap flights to Europe and good connections to North and South America. And the cost of living is unbelievably low: a 1300 square foot, 2 bedroom apartment across the street from a park for $1200 CDN ($700 US) and people will tell you that you're overpaying; restaurant meals for $25 CDN and you bring your own wine.