Moving to Canada
Out of context: Reply #37
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- monNom0
I've lived in a few of these places:
Vancouver: Dull! Liberal!
mild weather, sunny days really are spectacular, but 9mos of the year are grey, drizzling, and depressing. In general, people here are aloof, reserved, and cliquey. Tons of exotic cars around and even more homeless people to accost you -- truly a land of contrasts. Housing is ridiculous and wages are no-where near to covering those costs (ie: two 80k incomes, which is a plum job in Vancouver, cannot afford a house anywhere in the city. Avg house price is 1.2M). Video-games and internet startups are big here, as is film and television.Calgary: Friendly! Conservative!
Calgary is hot in the summer, damned cold in the winter (but can warm up to +15 after being -20 the day before), Tons of jobs in the oil and gas industry, but less-so for designers. There are jobs there, but maybe less 'creative' and more corporate gigs.Toronto: Smog! Wages!
Toronto is the center of the universe in Canada, virtually all ad-agencies are run out of there, so there's plenty of work surrounding them. Housing is recently inflated, but more reasonable than Vancouver. GTA is a big big area, I used to commute across the city, scarborough to mississauga, and it took me 2hrs(one way) in rush hour some days. 30 min off hours.Montreal.
Only ever visited, but it seems nice. Really humid/hot in the summer, really cold in winter. Everyone speaks french, but not in the classy Parisian way. Houses are dirt cheap (compared to the other big cities), but the economy is a bit shakey and may cease to be part of canada. Much work would be french language I'd suspect.Ottawa if the center of governement, wages are high on average bu that might be the civil servants skewing things. Never lived here. housing seems reasonable. A solid choice I suspect.
Nelson BC (since it was mentioned): good luck finding a job there! This is a popular pit-stop for people looking to make a better life. Not many stick with it more than a few years. Great location, really out of the way, super chill people, very liberal.
My home-town so I have a fondness for it, but any small-town is going to be tough as a designer unless you can basically work anywhere remotely.- I sound a bit like a bitter vancouverite. If you love the outdoors, Vancouver is the place to be. otherwise steer clear.monNom
- steer clearmonNom
- how do you like the idea of snow boarding and going to the beach on the same day? *vancouverpango
- Vancouver is great, if you like mild weather, but are okay with rarely seeing the sun.ETM
- you go to the beach on a day like today? that's dedication!monNom