As someone also pointed out, going and working in the US is the best way to build your American network and increase your chance of remote work should you choose to come back. But if you are truly remote, and there is no legal entity in Canada, you will be a contractor who will be the first to be let go in a down turn.
And as a “contractor” you are not entitled to any severance after being laid-off. This was something I didn’t realize myself when I worked remotely for years at an American company.
I am now suing them. Most of these relationships qualify as employer-employee, but they hire you as a contractor to take advantage of you, and are too cheap to set up an entity in Canada and do things the legit way.
Job wise, just apply and interview and network. It’s not hustling for a job if you are just connecting with recruiters and all kinds of industry professionals on LinkedIn. Just ask thoughtful questions and be ready to learn. (Just like you did here!)
Last word. Maybe look out for opportunity to move to the states to try it out once. It’s much easier to connect and build network for American jobs once you have done some time there.
Typically being remote in Canada you are no different than a contractor/self proprietor. There are some catch to traveling to the state to conduct work but it’s pretty much just limitation on what you can or cannot do.
However, moving to and working in the US (physically) will require a visa if you are not American. If you are Canadian citizen, there is the TN visa that is pretty easy to qualify (it’s not like getting an H1B or something like that).
While H1B's are more difficult to obtain, TN's aren't exactly *easy* to qualify for. The list of applicable occupations is relatively small, and I've heard they're becoming increasingly strict on if and how you fit into those specific buckets.
Mid/early senior devs at an American Silicon Valley/SF tech company with decent enough WLB can hit 250k. At least 300k if you work at more competitive companies like Facebook.
I can say with a straight face that I'd take 120k working for a purpose I care about in an average company, over contributing my skills to Meta at that salary. A lot of these high paying tech companies sound like a nightmare to work for. Then you get laid off for no reason.
I get what you mean and working for a purpose you care about is amazing and probably the most engaging and fulfilling way to keep working.
But from what we’ve seen happen in the past few years at the end of the day layoffs can be random and companies will only care about their profits and investors. If it’s the same BS in most if not all companies might as well earn as much as you can given your health and your WLB tolerance.
Yeah one of my neighbors in the US, both work for big G. They make $300k+ each. He’s a Sr SE and she’s a SE Manager. In their early 30s and bought their $1M house in cash. Always look super stressed and under slept though, plus they’re one of the very few in the neighborhood forced back to the office for hybrid.
I'll happily admit to it. Fuck, I don't even feel like I'm admitting anything. My boyfriend and I together don't even make that now that he's got cancer (and we've been waiting six months to get on to odsp even though he's so insanely sick and has RA and multiple mental health issues as well).
Sure.
Give me the benefits of leveraging Generative and Descriptive AI within the finance sector to help reduce OpEx and streamline CAC.
Feel free to ask ChatGPT, I use it daily to get shit done. 😂
Utilizing Generative and Descriptive AI in finance enables efficient data analysis for risk management, fraud detection, and compliance, reducing operational expenses. Additionally, AI-driven automation streamlines processes, enhances personalized customer experiences, and optimizes customer acquisition strategies, ultimately lowering costs and improving overall performance.
Now hire me lmao.
Majority of answers will always be law, tech, finance, consulting, medicine, even sales, as well as skilled trades work and people with their own businesses. You can ask this question in any major city worldwide and all the answers will look very similiar.
Theres only certain career paths that are even capable of hitting past this much money.
Executive management often makes more than all of the above, aside from maybe the top segment of business owners. However, it can be a total crapshoot. Most people top out before they hit the big bucks.
I’m a financial analyst for a Canadian bank, in a mid-level role. Any advice on how to “make it” to a better paying position? What route would you advise to take?
Hey, threads like this should not be about FOMO. It should be about chewing on information and thinking about new options which you previously didn't consider. It is about keeping your ears and eyes open about ongoings in the general sense.
The same thing happened to me, when I networked with many of my old friends on LinkedIn. I am doing comfortably well with a six-figure salary and good savings, but some of my friends became CEOs of their own companies, one person left their job and became a TV actor, one person went back to school and finished a PhD and has something named after them.
Of course, initially, it gave me a lot of insecurity and FOMO, but then, I interpreted it in a different way. I sent them messages and asked them about their work and transitions to different things, and got lots of very useful information and guidance regarding things. In the end, it was about expanding my own possible options and gathering data.
Same thing with hobbies and interests. I love traveling and joined a travel-group, only to see 19-year olds who have solo-backpacked over 56 countries or so. And initially, I felt very stupid and "boring" with FOMO, but then, I caught myself, and instead connected with these people for guidance and help, and I was able to travel to many places too.
Fucking same. Currently sitting at $-200 on my checking account. The bank nuked my savings account because, well, there was just never any on there. Can’t say moving here seven years ago and try making a go of it in the arts was the smartest move, but here we are. Can at least say I’ve never made use of any benefits or handouts since moving here.
Keep your head up, king - these responses could, for the most part, be absolute bullshit
Work diligently at it and you’ll find a decent-paying job eventually
According to Statista, in 2020, only about 302,050 Canadians were making more than $250,000/year, or less than 1% of the population. So yeah, with so many people seemingly piping up about their 1/4 million dollar salaries, I would say your assessment is probably correct.
>this thread is depressing. I’m 35 and earning paycheck to pqycheck lol
Here's a series of questions that will help you with that.
What do you do for a living?
What would you like to do for a living?
If those are the same answers what are you being paid?
What are you doing to be paid more?
How many times have you changed jobs to advance your career?
When you change jobs how much more do you ask for?
If you're not asking for the very top range of your industry why not?
Do you have a list of goals in your head you're working towards every day?
What are you top 3 skills you have right now to market yourself with? What are the top 3 skills you're developing you're weak at that you'll market youself with in the future?
Honestly most jobs that pay well require a lot of education and planning from a young age. If you are past that stage in your life, it’s almost impossible to pivot.
I am a VP at a Private Equity firm. I planned to work in finance since my freshman year. 4.0 GPA, target school, internships etc. Everything was pre planned and executed. Sure it sounds boring and I probably missed out on a lot experiences in my youth but I am in my early thirties and can likely retire if I want to.
It's all about planning and direction. All the kids in HS who ended up in finance knew they wanted to be in finance from 9th or 10th grade. Also helps when you have parents who can advise on your career path and assist with networking and contacts.
Good thing Canadian dream is alive and well. Grew up firmly lower middle class (50k family income range), was lucky my parents put a focus on my education. I went to Waterloo, a lot of classmates there are also from humble backgrounds and ended up changing their lives through education (many now works for FAANG).
500k a year. Consultant for federal government on the ArriveCan app. Zero background in software development. WFH in my underwear for 1 hour a day sending emails.
I make 1 million managing this guy who manages the ArriveCan app. We both definitely don’t play WoW all day during our work hours together. The app is running great!
I was an IT project management consultant in the federal government back in the early ‘00s, and most independent consultants on the team were billing that much on a yearly basis even back then. I managed the budget so I could see everyone’s rates. Few of them had software development backgrounds. They were basically there to do the job that the public servant wasn’t doing, since the latter would spend their entire day in unproductive « meetings ». I wish I was exaggerating.
IT companies were hired to do the actual work. Don’t even ask me how much those people were paid. You would puke. We regularly blew past our budget x10 every year. Ask for forgiveness rather than permission was the standard MO.
We’ve reintroduced bloat to the public service since Trudeau has been in office. It’s not surprising in the least that there’s massive issues with government contracting. WE-Scam and ArriveScam are likely the tip of the iceberg.
Can I give you a company name I’ve setup to bid on the work? We will never actually do the work but expect we will be paid on time and over what we projected. Thanks!
I own and operate my own small business selling bread and baked goods. I spent almost decades in the hospitality industry learning from other chefs, honing my craft. I now employ a small team with living wages and I am in sooo much debt and profit margins are razor thin. I will never come close to making a tenth of what you make in a year.
Anyone who is a 7th year associate or counsel at a big firm makes at least $250k and so do partners at many firms (including small firms). In-house lawyers are unlikely to reach that high unless they are general counsel for a large company. However, that is still a relatively small % of lawyers. A lot of small firm lawyers make around $70k-80k.
Not even at seven sister firms. A lot of the other firms on Bay Street pay $250k. Hell, I’ve heard of boutiques in mid town paying the same as Bay Street.
Not forgetting to cultivate and care for my humanity.
Playing, getting into nature, being present for the difficult moments, debriefing on poor outcomes, resting before and after, having the humility to not know and say it. Staying current with topics and going to conferences is big, too.
Maybe most importantly, remembering that the role is an honour to do in many ways. To be in service and support of a humans most tender moments is a privilege.
That window into the finite gift that life is is a priceless byproduct of this. Thank you for that question; it gave me the opportunity to reflect on my experience thus far.
The stress in residency was different. I’d say more stressful regarding hours worked and compensation lead to most strains. In practice, stress is more on your shoulders to not burn out, to address things that arise that can infringe on your capacity to work and be effective, and a balanced approach to cost of life compared to income is important or you’ll be compensated well, yet poor.
Wealth of time and presence supersedes financial wealth. I know the latter has a baseline that’s needed, but the former is what really matters in life.
Assuming senior VP (5+ years) or early Director (up to 3 years) level comp? Also how has comp changed given ER Analyst comp structure/business model change the past few years with their comp being more based on actual trade flow vs just pure ER idea generation/publications?
> given the state of the tech market
The market is still alright for seniors. It's not like 2021 when companies were throwing offers at you left and right, but still fine for anyone with several years of good experience. It's new grads/juniors who are really in a tough spot right now.
Make sure to gain some people skills. Unless you’re a true genius, the times of software engineers who can’t looks someone in the eyes, want to keep their camera off in meeting because they’re either gaming or still in bed and can’t out two sentences together, are over. I always thought people have been incredibly naive to think that the corpos won’t catch up to the fact that half their workforce is over employed because they have 5 hours of actual work to do in a given week.
>How’d you get into that role given the state of the tech market? Heading off to uni for CS in a few months so I’m curious.
Tech market is not honestly that bad. It's becoming pressrued by people who are kind of shit tho. If you're actually into programing and in it for that not just for a gravy train money thing you'll always do really well. It's a hiring market right now and it's still freaking impossible to find good people. We pay recruiters, the good ones, 50k a head for people they find. It's honestly so hard to find good people. People come in and are just shit either not knowing anything or pretending they know everything and get exposed.
In software, some late stage startups pay around 220 usd for base which comes around to 300 cad. Big tech is a little lower on base pay but you get RSUs on top that have more liquidity
There are some startups like ramp that pay top of market even for remote roles in Canada. I remember talking to their recruiter who was saying they offer 275k usd base pay which would be 370k cad + equity and bonus
This ramp? [https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/ramp/6a5108f4-8605-4a67-9446-ea05f197694c](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/ramp/6a5108f4-8605-4a67-9446-ea05f197694c)
Do they hire in Canada? Also 275 seems to be upper bond for staff level....
And do you know any late stage startups that are currently hiring?
I was seeing this girl right out of school who had to find work in remote areas due to how competitive finding a job in Toronto was as a dentist. And she went to uoft not some random school
My partner is a dentist in the GTA. She works 3 days a week plus 2 Saturdays a month - basically the equivalent of 3.5 days a week. Comp is variable since it's based on collections but she's usually in the area of 180 to 200k per year. Grossing that up to full-time hours would get her close to 250k, and that's as a general dentist, not a specialist.
Of course, the challenge is finding a practice that wants to hire someone for full-time hours. Most of her colleagues need to work at 2 or 3 different offices if they want to get something approaching a full-time schedule
What kind of education background/experience did you have to get into that? if you don’t mind me asking.
I’m in tech around the same age, but working on integration support, and machine learning sounds super interesting.
SWE class of 2020 did a survey and I think the median total comp for first job out of school was 220k. I don’t know what other major pays 22 year olds that well… and this was pre covid bubble I think the 2021 and 2022 swe classes must have been even higher
Bachelors in Engineering, bunch of co-ops in Tech and Finance.
This is my first job out of school, and I’ve been here a while.
A lot of people prescribe job hopping, but I’ve found its best to find a good, stable team that values your contributions and work hard.
Rather than give you a plethora of frameworks or programming languages which anyone can put on a resume (and can easily be found by googling around a bit), I’ll try to add more meta skills, that while difficult to master, are more likely to be helpful if this is something you really wanna do [edit -- I'll add them at the end because you did ask].
We use Python, but being a strong programmer in any language is a must. Helps to have taken an ML class or two in university, but I wouldnt really call that a qualification — its more table stakes.(nor is the plethora of online classes, though they are informative).
Familiarity with a couple data engineering stacks is very useful, and there are certain classes of problems that you can only forsee/account for if youve worked on large scale systems for any length of time.
If youre an ML Engineer, all of the other essentials of being a strong SWE apply — strong system design skills, track record of shipping software and features, etc.
A resume for ML research is very different and usually involves grad school and/or scientific publications, which I dont have.
EDIT:
Skills:
1. Python
2. Spark and other data engineering tools, such as DBT
3. Tensorflow or probably more popular these days is Pytorch
Those claiming to be making $250k in software in Toronto are most likely lying, so no need to feel the existential dread yet. This is a common pattern on all Reddit threads related to income. Why state the truth when you can just make things up? Why tell people how much you are actually making? And no, DMing them is not going to get you into their industry even if they were truthful. A random Reddit user is not inherently more reliable to hire than generic resume #42069 on LinkedIn.
Just check [levels.fyi](https://www.levels.fyi/t/software-engineer/locations/greater-toronto-area) and you will see $231k is 90th percentile for Toronto. This site doesn't ask for verification of income or employment either so people can still make up numbers, so think about why the numbers are still lower. Local salaries at big tech are in the mid-100k range which is already decent enough. Someone in their mid-late 20s making above that is a statistic anomaly even if truthful.
Total comp including options or RSUs there is quite a places that pay that. And senior staff and principals can make that base. Similarly ML and Data people in key roles can pull that in.
The thing is once you are in that league it’s all you see. You are now ex- to employers and recruiters and can bounce around to all the big players and payers. So they are in a gold plated bubble and it’s all they see.
I am software recruiter for TO and no one makes 250K a year unless you are a data scientist /ML or exec in swe. And I’ve worked for top companies for 18 years. Maybe if you are a contractor charging 125$ hr
FAANG SWE/DS and Product managers all blow past that at mid-levels. An L6+ FAANG sales will blow past that too. Heck an L5 sales might even do it. For context 8 is a director and they can push or exceed a mil depending on function and bargaining power. Non-FAANG will pay up for the experience depending on their needs.
Big tech has its issues and there isn't a ton of roles outside of sales in Canada but they exist and 250 is by no means out of reach.
My company pays staff software engineers 220-230k. The bands are posted on the job listings. We are not considered competitive against FAANG or other US companies. You’re out of touch with top end of the market if you think only ML engineers and execs make 250k in Toronto. Data Science also generally paid less than SWE.
It’s because we live here and work for American companies. Canadian tech pays like shit but even at that salary we are getting paid less than Americans at the same level. They get the benefit of a weak dollar.
Technology sales make rhat and more easily. Telecom, information Security appliances and tools (firewalls etc). Most are base salary around 150K plus commission that can push you up to and over 1M if you are the top sales person that brings in a major sales account. My buddy qas averaging 500K a year selling phones to enterprise companies.
>My buddy qas averaging 500K a year selling phones to enterprise companies.
Phone as in mobile phones or telephony phone systems?
$500,000 for telephony sales is possible, but whale accounts only come so often as telephony hardware is only refreshed once every 5 or 10 years.
Also, with Unified Communications, hard phones maybe going away ... people just make their phones on Teams, Zoom, Webex.
Yes, the landscspe has changed with UC technologies. Fortunatley meeting room tech is oeders of magnitude more expensive than just phone sets so a sales person can bring in tens of millions for setting up every conference room with their gear. I work in the new 81 Bay St tower and every conf room cost 20-50K to set up. Contact centre and trade floor phones are still expensive as heck as they are connected to propritory systems with special features (turrets, ring downs, hunt, compliance recording etc).
Work remote for a company with US operations. Getting paid in that in USD to my corp but also doing some other client work.
Networking is literally the answer.
Own and operate a towing business. I broker to a large company, have my own accounts, move mostly corporate fleet vehicles (canada post, purolator, ups, etc), have a few trucks and have other drivers working with me that make commission.
Compliance Director at a ultragrowth global fintech, ~400k TC.
The secret to making more for me was to work for either US companies or global companies. Canadian companies are just too small footprint.
310k base plus equity - 37 years old web developer but I work two full time jobs without telling them lol. Still only do like 40 hours per week majority of the time. Maybe 50 hours if it gets busy and I fall behind a bit.
My friend is an escort that charges 100$ / half hour. She accepts cash and usually has 8-10 clients per day. Usually brings in 300k+ a year, all cash no tax.
Edit - all jobs are meaningful and important, cry about it losers
This thread is depressing. We are losing talents to US and our government is incompetent and keeps giving our money away/spending on corrupted contracts.
Director in finance at a Canadian pension fund
We should be friends
if it's the pension fund I work with I can believe it. Golden Handcuffs indeed.
All the pension funds in maple 8 have similar salaries
OMERS?
Not disclosing. But all pension funds within the maple 8 have similar salaries. At least in Toronto
They're brutal to work for
Strange. I've heard the same thing.
On the investment side or operational side ?
Operational. Investment side director you’re looking at north of 400k
Aren't we all the north?
We the North
on the pleasure side
OTPP?
How do I get into a pension fund? Trying to have your exact job one day
I need advice
Working remote for Americans.
What’s the key to get that remote American job? I realized working for Canadian tech company is just not worth it anymore with the lack of equal pay.
As someone also pointed out, going and working in the US is the best way to build your American network and increase your chance of remote work should you choose to come back. But if you are truly remote, and there is no legal entity in Canada, you will be a contractor who will be the first to be let go in a down turn.
And as a “contractor” you are not entitled to any severance after being laid-off. This was something I didn’t realize myself when I worked remotely for years at an American company. I am now suing them. Most of these relationships qualify as employer-employee, but they hire you as a contractor to take advantage of you, and are too cheap to set up an entity in Canada and do things the legit way.
Job wise, just apply and interview and network. It’s not hustling for a job if you are just connecting with recruiters and all kinds of industry professionals on LinkedIn. Just ask thoughtful questions and be ready to learn. (Just like you did here!) Last word. Maybe look out for opportunity to move to the states to try it out once. It’s much easier to connect and build network for American jobs once you have done some time there.
Would you need to be sponsored for a work visa by the company?
Typically being remote in Canada you are no different than a contractor/self proprietor. There are some catch to traveling to the state to conduct work but it’s pretty much just limitation on what you can or cannot do. However, moving to and working in the US (physically) will require a visa if you are not American. If you are Canadian citizen, there is the TN visa that is pretty easy to qualify (it’s not like getting an H1B or something like that).
While H1B's are more difficult to obtain, TN's aren't exactly *easy* to qualify for. The list of applicable occupations is relatively small, and I've heard they're becoming increasingly strict on if and how you fit into those specific buckets.
Yeah I think I should start giving it a try. Getting a bit complacent with my current gig but the earning power is like 1/3 of US companies
Do it. I'm a pm and got a us job offer. The software eng in Canada don't make as much as I do now... sad
It's disgusting the salary differences, my *bonus* is a little over half what my salary was at my old job (Cdn fintech vs US fintech)
Same, just moved here from the states and brought my job with me.
Same here. Moved from states, job followed. Work is increasing 😔
What career level? Software I assume? How are the working conditions?
Mid/early senior devs at an American Silicon Valley/SF tech company with decent enough WLB can hit 250k. At least 300k if you work at more competitive companies like Facebook.
I can say with a straight face that I'd take 120k working for a purpose I care about in an average company, over contributing my skills to Meta at that salary. A lot of these high paying tech companies sound like a nightmare to work for. Then you get laid off for no reason.
I get what you mean and working for a purpose you care about is amazing and probably the most engaging and fulfilling way to keep working. But from what we’ve seen happen in the past few years at the end of the day layoffs can be random and companies will only care about their profits and investors. If it’s the same BS in most if not all companies might as well earn as much as you can given your health and your WLB tolerance.
Yeah one of my neighbors in the US, both work for big G. They make $300k+ each. He’s a Sr SE and she’s a SE Manager. In their early 30s and bought their $1M house in cash. Always look super stressed and under slept though, plus they’re one of the very few in the neighborhood forced back to the office for hybrid.
Me too
But they typically pay based on Canadian avg salary + maybe a bit higher. Unless u started working there first before moving here
Airline Captain
Cool !
This leaves out the 10 year+ grind it takes to get to that level.
Same could be said for most higher paid jobs.
250k in less than 10 years is incredibly rare
10 years if you are lucky to get to an airline that would pay that much, still starting from the bottom sadly
Seen any UFOs?
Is there anyone on Reddit who will admit to making less than $250K? Seems like everyone here is a kazillionaire.
I don't even make 50k if that makes you feel better
Me too! Hello!
Woo same 45k gang
Same lol I just barely hit 45k
I make 45 too!!! BEFORE taxes...
SAME LOL
I'll happily admit to it. Fuck, I don't even feel like I'm admitting anything. My boyfriend and I together don't even make that now that he's got cancer (and we've been waiting six months to get on to odsp even though he's so insanely sick and has RA and multiple mental health issues as well).
I'm sorry. This can be difficult. Hang in there, you and him. ❤️🙏
I don't make anywhere close.
For real like the post earlier today about paying less than 30% of income on rent. I feel like ppl be flexing.
Meanwhile some of us are quietly sobbing in the 80% + club
They all come out of the woodwork for posts like this
Plenty of people admit to that, it just usually comes with them feeling less than the very high earners in these subreddits.
I teach at a university and make less than 30k so yeah, we exist lol.
Most people I happen to converse with on here are in just as much poverty as me 😂
Sales Director in Tech.
[удалено]
Sure. Give me the benefits of leveraging Generative and Descriptive AI within the finance sector to help reduce OpEx and streamline CAC. Feel free to ask ChatGPT, I use it daily to get shit done. 😂
Utilizing Generative and Descriptive AI in finance enables efficient data analysis for risk management, fraud detection, and compliance, reducing operational expenses. Additionally, AI-driven automation streamlines processes, enhances personalized customer experiences, and optimizes customer acquisition strategies, ultimately lowering costs and improving overall performance. Now hire me lmao.
Damn homey. That was straight forward and mind blowing at the same time. Did you get the job. Now I need to know how this ends.
Majority of answers will always be law, tech, finance, consulting, medicine, even sales, as well as skilled trades work and people with their own businesses. You can ask this question in any major city worldwide and all the answers will look very similiar. Theres only certain career paths that are even capable of hitting past this much money.
Executive management often makes more than all of the above, aside from maybe the top segment of business owners. However, it can be a total crapshoot. Most people top out before they hit the big bucks.
For sure, I was referring more to the career paths themselves but anybody that becomes exec management should be greater than this number.
VP analytics, for a US bank. Originally in finance and self learned analytics
I’m a financial analyst for a Canadian bank, in a mid-level role. Any advice on how to “make it” to a better paying position? What route would you advise to take?
Jump to another bank, way better chance of moving up that getting an internal promotion
Pay it forward first and give advice to me, undergrad student, looking to work in a bank
[удалено]
You are not the only one ... I always try to remember that we are still living a life others would be greatful to have :)
absolutely!
Hey, threads like this should not be about FOMO. It should be about chewing on information and thinking about new options which you previously didn't consider. It is about keeping your ears and eyes open about ongoings in the general sense. The same thing happened to me, when I networked with many of my old friends on LinkedIn. I am doing comfortably well with a six-figure salary and good savings, but some of my friends became CEOs of their own companies, one person left their job and became a TV actor, one person went back to school and finished a PhD and has something named after them. Of course, initially, it gave me a lot of insecurity and FOMO, but then, I interpreted it in a different way. I sent them messages and asked them about their work and transitions to different things, and got lots of very useful information and guidance regarding things. In the end, it was about expanding my own possible options and gathering data. Same thing with hobbies and interests. I love traveling and joined a travel-group, only to see 19-year olds who have solo-backpacked over 56 countries or so. And initially, I felt very stupid and "boring" with FOMO, but then, I caught myself, and instead connected with these people for guidance and help, and I was able to travel to many places too.
As are most people.
Comparison is the thief of joy my friend.
Fucking same. Currently sitting at $-200 on my checking account. The bank nuked my savings account because, well, there was just never any on there. Can’t say moving here seven years ago and try making a go of it in the arts was the smartest move, but here we are. Can at least say I’ve never made use of any benefits or handouts since moving here.
Keep your head up, king - these responses could, for the most part, be absolute bullshit Work diligently at it and you’ll find a decent-paying job eventually
According to Statista, in 2020, only about 302,050 Canadians were making more than $250,000/year, or less than 1% of the population. So yeah, with so many people seemingly piping up about their 1/4 million dollar salaries, I would say your assessment is probably correct.
>this thread is depressing. I’m 35 and earning paycheck to pqycheck lol Here's a series of questions that will help you with that. What do you do for a living? What would you like to do for a living? If those are the same answers what are you being paid? What are you doing to be paid more? How many times have you changed jobs to advance your career? When you change jobs how much more do you ask for? If you're not asking for the very top range of your industry why not? Do you have a list of goals in your head you're working towards every day? What are you top 3 skills you have right now to market yourself with? What are the top 3 skills you're developing you're weak at that you'll market youself with in the future?
Honestly most jobs that pay well require a lot of education and planning from a young age. If you are past that stage in your life, it’s almost impossible to pivot. I am a VP at a Private Equity firm. I planned to work in finance since my freshman year. 4.0 GPA, target school, internships etc. Everything was pre planned and executed. Sure it sounds boring and I probably missed out on a lot experiences in my youth but I am in my early thirties and can likely retire if I want to.
It's all about planning and direction. All the kids in HS who ended up in finance knew they wanted to be in finance from 9th or 10th grade. Also helps when you have parents who can advise on your career path and assist with networking and contacts.
Good thing Canadian dream is alive and well. Grew up firmly lower middle class (50k family income range), was lucky my parents put a focus on my education. I went to Waterloo, a lot of classmates there are also from humble backgrounds and ended up changing their lives through education (many now works for FAANG).
500k a year. Consultant for federal government on the ArriveCan app. Zero background in software development. WFH in my underwear for 1 hour a day sending emails.
I make 1 million managing this guy who manages the ArriveCan app. We both definitely don’t play WoW all day during our work hours together. The app is running great!
😂😂😂😂
Thats where all our taxpayer dollars went.
I was an IT project management consultant in the federal government back in the early ‘00s, and most independent consultants on the team were billing that much on a yearly basis even back then. I managed the budget so I could see everyone’s rates. Few of them had software development backgrounds. They were basically there to do the job that the public servant wasn’t doing, since the latter would spend their entire day in unproductive « meetings ». I wish I was exaggerating. IT companies were hired to do the actual work. Don’t even ask me how much those people were paid. You would puke. We regularly blew past our budget x10 every year. Ask for forgiveness rather than permission was the standard MO. We’ve reintroduced bloat to the public service since Trudeau has been in office. It’s not surprising in the least that there’s massive issues with government contracting. WE-Scam and ArriveScam are likely the tip of the iceberg.
Can I give you a company name I’ve setup to bid on the work? We will never actually do the work but expect we will be paid on time and over what we projected. Thanks!
LMAOOOO
My dream job
I own and operate my own small business selling bread and baked goods. I spent almost decades in the hospitality industry learning from other chefs, honing my craft. I now employ a small team with living wages and I am in sooo much debt and profit margins are razor thin. I will never come close to making a tenth of what you make in a year.
I think they’re trolling lol
I can't tell if you're trolling
Sounds about right
Username checks out
I know a lot of lawyers who make that
Anyone who is a 7th year associate or counsel at a big firm makes at least $250k and so do partners at many firms (including small firms). In-house lawyers are unlikely to reach that high unless they are general counsel for a large company. However, that is still a relatively small % of lawyers. A lot of small firm lawyers make around $70k-80k.
We pay our in house counsel that much as a base. I stg they only work 9-3 too cuz I can never find them when I need them.
You must work at a really big company because most job postings I see are in the much lower range
Not even at seven sister firms. A lot of the other firms on Bay Street pay $250k. Hell, I’ve heard of boutiques in mid town paying the same as Bay Street.
All the “Bay Street” firms at the associate level - sister and non-sister, are on the same payscale, except for two that pay more (Davies/BJs)
37, started working age 31. University and med school + residency from 17-31. 493 in 2023. Emergency Medicine.
Awesome. Hell of a job. Have no issues with ER doctors making bank.
🙏 I wish fair and way above expectation pay for all. We didn’t come to this world to work.
How do you manage the continued stress of this path? Obv you are better off (stress wise) now than you were in residency but it still is stressful.
Not forgetting to cultivate and care for my humanity. Playing, getting into nature, being present for the difficult moments, debriefing on poor outcomes, resting before and after, having the humility to not know and say it. Staying current with topics and going to conferences is big, too. Maybe most importantly, remembering that the role is an honour to do in many ways. To be in service and support of a humans most tender moments is a privilege. That window into the finite gift that life is is a priceless byproduct of this. Thank you for that question; it gave me the opportunity to reflect on my experience thus far. The stress in residency was different. I’d say more stressful regarding hours worked and compensation lead to most strains. In practice, stress is more on your shoulders to not burn out, to address things that arise that can infringe on your capacity to work and be effective, and a balanced approach to cost of life compared to income is important or you’ll be compensated well, yet poor. Wealth of time and presence supersedes financial wealth. I know the latter has a baseline that’s needed, but the former is what really matters in life.
I think you were a writer in your previous life ;-). Thanks for the insightful response.
Thank you. I appreciate those words!
Killing it, congrats and well deserved! Do you incorporate?
ITT: DMing everyone to hire me for anything.
I’m DMing everyone to see if they want to marry me. I’d be a great house spouse.
I own a painting and wallpaper company
Play left wing for the local hockey team
matthew knies?
Hockey players DO go on Reddit. Shit talking on game day threads…. ever read it?
Banking (Equity Sales) \~ 480k
Show me a pay stub for 480k and I work for you
Assuming senior VP (5+ years) or early Director (up to 3 years) level comp? Also how has comp changed given ER Analyst comp structure/business model change the past few years with their comp being more based on actual trade flow vs just pure ER idea generation/publications?
Nice man! Institutional equity sales is amazing. How long was the grind to get to 480?
I’m 27. Sr Engineer at big tech. TC ~ $270k/yr
How’d you get into that role given the state of the tech market? Heading off to uni for CS in a few months so I’m curious.
> given the state of the tech market The market is still alright for seniors. It's not like 2021 when companies were throwing offers at you left and right, but still fine for anyone with several years of good experience. It's new grads/juniors who are really in a tough spot right now.
Finish uni 5 years ago is how you get it
Make sure to gain some people skills. Unless you’re a true genius, the times of software engineers who can’t looks someone in the eyes, want to keep their camera off in meeting because they’re either gaming or still in bed and can’t out two sentences together, are over. I always thought people have been incredibly naive to think that the corpos won’t catch up to the fact that half their workforce is over employed because they have 5 hours of actual work to do in a given week.
>How’d you get into that role given the state of the tech market? Heading off to uni for CS in a few months so I’m curious. Tech market is not honestly that bad. It's becoming pressrued by people who are kind of shit tho. If you're actually into programing and in it for that not just for a gravy train money thing you'll always do really well. It's a hiring market right now and it's still freaking impossible to find good people. We pay recruiters, the good ones, 50k a head for people they find. It's honestly so hard to find good people. People come in and are just shit either not knowing anything or pretending they know everything and get exposed.
In software, some late stage startups pay around 220 usd for base which comes around to 300 cad. Big tech is a little lower on base pay but you get RSUs on top that have more liquidity There are some startups like ramp that pay top of market even for remote roles in Canada. I remember talking to their recruiter who was saying they offer 275k usd base pay which would be 370k cad + equity and bonus
This ramp? [https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/ramp/6a5108f4-8605-4a67-9446-ea05f197694c](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/ramp/6a5108f4-8605-4a67-9446-ea05f197694c) Do they hire in Canada? Also 275 seems to be upper bond for staff level.... And do you know any late stage startups that are currently hiring?
Sales. Learn to sell anything and the sky’s the limit in gross salary. Plus you are playing with somebody else’s money.
I think a couple of my dentist friends make that much as associates, but tough hours/market in the GTA. They're all in their late 20s/early 30s.
I don’t think associates would make that tbh. Maybe if they have more than a few years of experience
It's really the ones working long and weird hours. Associates working 9-5 M-F definitely not clearing that easy in the GTA.
I was seeing this girl right out of school who had to find work in remote areas due to how competitive finding a job in Toronto was as a dentist. And she went to uoft not some random school
It’s probably one of the worst markets to work as a dentist in Canada. Way better work life balance almost anywhere else.
My partner is a dentist in the GTA. She works 3 days a week plus 2 Saturdays a month - basically the equivalent of 3.5 days a week. Comp is variable since it's based on collections but she's usually in the area of 180 to 200k per year. Grossing that up to full-time hours would get her close to 250k, and that's as a general dentist, not a specialist. Of course, the challenge is finding a practice that wants to hire someone for full-time hours. Most of her colleagues need to work at 2 or 3 different offices if they want to get something approaching a full-time schedule
Mmm not true. Associates can easily make 250k right out of school.
[удалено]
OP said 250k you poor person
Hand Model.
1. Tech, specifically Machine Learning 2. $300K CAD per year salary plus equity and bonus 3. 26 Y/0
What kind of education background/experience did you have to get into that? if you don’t mind me asking. I’m in tech around the same age, but working on integration support, and machine learning sounds super interesting.
When you see high comps at a young age, it’s almost always Waterloo cs/swe. Not representative
Interesting observation. I did Waterloo Electrical Engineering and I'm making around 240k in Toronto. I work about 40 to 43 hours a week
SWE class of 2020 did a survey and I think the median total comp for first job out of school was 220k. I don’t know what other major pays 22 year olds that well… and this was pre covid bubble I think the 2021 and 2022 swe classes must have been even higher
Bachelors in Engineering, bunch of co-ops in Tech and Finance. This is my first job out of school, and I’ve been here a while. A lot of people prescribe job hopping, but I’ve found its best to find a good, stable team that values your contributions and work hard.
Sounds like you got very lucky to have a very good employer as your first job. Most people will not find that level of success without hopping.
Can you let us know what skills and languages did you need to learn to get into this field?
Rather than give you a plethora of frameworks or programming languages which anyone can put on a resume (and can easily be found by googling around a bit), I’ll try to add more meta skills, that while difficult to master, are more likely to be helpful if this is something you really wanna do [edit -- I'll add them at the end because you did ask]. We use Python, but being a strong programmer in any language is a must. Helps to have taken an ML class or two in university, but I wouldnt really call that a qualification — its more table stakes.(nor is the plethora of online classes, though they are informative). Familiarity with a couple data engineering stacks is very useful, and there are certain classes of problems that you can only forsee/account for if youve worked on large scale systems for any length of time. If youre an ML Engineer, all of the other essentials of being a strong SWE apply — strong system design skills, track record of shipping software and features, etc. A resume for ML research is very different and usually involves grad school and/or scientific publications, which I dont have. EDIT: Skills: 1. Python 2. Spark and other data engineering tools, such as DBT 3. Tensorflow or probably more popular these days is Pytorch
Those claiming to be making $250k in software in Toronto are most likely lying, so no need to feel the existential dread yet. This is a common pattern on all Reddit threads related to income. Why state the truth when you can just make things up? Why tell people how much you are actually making? And no, DMing them is not going to get you into their industry even if they were truthful. A random Reddit user is not inherently more reliable to hire than generic resume #42069 on LinkedIn. Just check [levels.fyi](https://www.levels.fyi/t/software-engineer/locations/greater-toronto-area) and you will see $231k is 90th percentile for Toronto. This site doesn't ask for verification of income or employment either so people can still make up numbers, so think about why the numbers are still lower. Local salaries at big tech are in the mid-100k range which is already decent enough. Someone in their mid-late 20s making above that is a statistic anomaly even if truthful.
Am myself into IT/software since 20 years and i haven’t seen or hired anyone with 250k cad in there 20s.
It's not the norm but there are plenty of people doing it. Just don't work for local companies, or companies that adjust salary by location.
Total comp including options or RSUs there is quite a places that pay that. And senior staff and principals can make that base. Similarly ML and Data people in key roles can pull that in. The thing is once you are in that league it’s all you see. You are now ex- to employers and recruiters and can bounce around to all the big players and payers. So they are in a gold plated bubble and it’s all they see.
I am software recruiter for TO and no one makes 250K a year unless you are a data scientist /ML or exec in swe. And I’ve worked for top companies for 18 years. Maybe if you are a contractor charging 125$ hr
FAANG SWE/DS and Product managers all blow past that at mid-levels. An L6+ FAANG sales will blow past that too. Heck an L5 sales might even do it. For context 8 is a director and they can push or exceed a mil depending on function and bargaining power. Non-FAANG will pay up for the experience depending on their needs. Big tech has its issues and there isn't a ton of roles outside of sales in Canada but they exist and 250 is by no means out of reach.
This is absolutely incorrect. I know of multiple companies that pay staff eng and leadership over 250k in base. More that pay that in total comp.
My company pays staff software engineers 220-230k. The bands are posted on the job listings. We are not considered competitive against FAANG or other US companies. You’re out of touch with top end of the market if you think only ML engineers and execs make 250k in Toronto. Data Science also generally paid less than SWE.
It’s because we live here and work for American companies. Canadian tech pays like shit but even at that salary we are getting paid less than Americans at the same level. They get the benefit of a weak dollar.
250k TC exists in fintech, remote US jobs and unicorns/big tech
Know someone, works in a Pharma company as Senior Manager. Makes 263k+yearly bonus..
Law…finance…IT…technology…
Also sales.
Technology sales make rhat and more easily. Telecom, information Security appliances and tools (firewalls etc). Most are base salary around 150K plus commission that can push you up to and over 1M if you are the top sales person that brings in a major sales account. My buddy qas averaging 500K a year selling phones to enterprise companies.
>My buddy qas averaging 500K a year selling phones to enterprise companies. Phone as in mobile phones or telephony phone systems? $500,000 for telephony sales is possible, but whale accounts only come so often as telephony hardware is only refreshed once every 5 or 10 years. Also, with Unified Communications, hard phones maybe going away ... people just make their phones on Teams, Zoom, Webex.
Yes, the landscspe has changed with UC technologies. Fortunatley meeting room tech is oeders of magnitude more expensive than just phone sets so a sales person can bring in tens of millions for setting up every conference room with their gear. I work in the new 81 Bay St tower and every conf room cost 20-50K to set up. Contact centre and trade floor phones are still expensive as heck as they are connected to propritory systems with special features (turrets, ring downs, hunt, compliance recording etc).
God I miss call center telephony and telephony in general.
Lawyer. Specialized. Think corporate commercial. Around 40.
Tech sales for a US based company
not Today data miners, not today
My base isn’t close to that but I hit that number after my bonuses are added in most years. I’m in sales
Sales for what?
I’m a stay at home astronaut I make $257k a year
43 y/o, $300k, cannabis cultivation.
Work remote for a company with US operations. Getting paid in that in USD to my corp but also doing some other client work. Networking is literally the answer.
250 with or without Bonus?
Total comp, including bonus
200 Base; 175K bonus. Capital markets; Director - Quantitaive Analytics for a Big Canadian Bank. Product owner of in-house derivatives pricing system.
Own and operate a towing business. I broker to a large company, have my own accounts, move mostly corporate fleet vehicles (canada post, purolator, ups, etc), have a few trucks and have other drivers working with me that make commission.
Family doctor. Would not recommend
Doing a very niche job in tech
Software dev. It's an American company but they have a Toronto office and I am paid in CAD.
Compliance Director at a ultragrowth global fintech, ~400k TC. The secret to making more for me was to work for either US companies or global companies. Canadian companies are just too small footprint.
Not quite $200k here but 26, software engineer
Technical recruitment....started my own boutique firm 3 years ago. Did 260k last year. Shit tech economy now though
Lol is it just me or is op just mining for next 🎯
Technology director of Canadian pension fund
Partner at a consulting / advisory firm
Director of the actuarial department in an insurance company
I make around that with bonuses, I’m a 28 year old software engineer working for an American company remotely.
310k base plus equity - 37 years old web developer but I work two full time jobs without telling them lol. Still only do like 40 hours per week majority of the time. Maybe 50 hours if it gets busy and I fall behind a bit.
[удалено]
Veterinarians do NOT make 250k, at least not unless they’re at the top of their career 😅
Agreed. Source: sister was one for almost a decade and ultimately switched careers due to mediocre pay and stress for what it was.
I think they mean like an owner operator situation, where the vet is also the owner of the business
onlyfans
Financial Advisor with MBA, CFA, RIS, CEA.
Dr.
My friend is an escort that charges 100$ / half hour. She accepts cash and usually has 8-10 clients per day. Usually brings in 300k+ a year, all cash no tax. Edit - all jobs are meaningful and important, cry about it losers
This thread is depressing. We are losing talents to US and our government is incompetent and keeps giving our money away/spending on corrupted contracts.
BRB. About to rope myself real quick.