Which city has more IT (System/Devops) career opportunities - Toronto or Vancouver?
Toronto. Without question. Fully half of all jobs in IT are based in Toronto and the surrounding area. Vancouver (where I work in the IT recruitment industry) has comparatively few IT jobs.The main correlation here is number of head offices. In general, head offices are where most of the business units are located; including IT. According to Statistics Canada (as of 2011), Ontario has 40% of all head offices in Canada, followed by Quebec which has 20.3%, Alberta which has 14.2% and BC which has 11.5%. Head offices are smaller in BC too, with only 7.4% of all head office employees working in BC.All that said, there are fewer IT Professionals in Vancouver competing for those fewer jobs. The IT employer landscape consists largely of startups and small-and-medium-sized businesses, so its a great place to work if you enjoy the startup scene. Plus Vancouver is a great place to live and work.Besides startups, the larger IT employers tend to be public sector (that's how few head offices we have) and include our Health Authorities, workers compensation branch (WorksafeBC), auto-insurance provider (ICBC) and public utility provider (BC Hydro). Notable exceptions are some of the larger mining companies (Teck Resources, GoldCorp), TELUS, Electronic Arts and a few others that are starting to get large-ish by national or international standards (i.e. Hootsuite).Hope that helps. I'd be interested to hear what someone from Toronto has to say.
LAKES ...Within 2 hour drive from Surrey (vancouver)?
I live in surrey and I wanna take my girlfriend to a lake to chill for a day..not staying overnight. so whats a good lake to visit for scenery, trails, canoe maybe...I like sand by the lake. Within 2 hour drive from surrey.. So far my dad suggested: cultus lake, bunzten lake, golden years park.. I've never been to any of those.
Is 4,000 CAD per month enough for a couple to live decent in Canada?
It depends very much where in Canada and what you consider decent living. For reference according to CBC average rent prices for a 2 bedroom can range from $594 to $1552 per month: Rents increasing at twice the rate of inflation across Canada, CMHC saysKeep in mind these are average prices that people actually pay. Because of rent control, the actual price you’d pay if you were to rent an apartment today would be higher than that. In case you are unfamiliar with rent control this means that a landlord can only increase your rent by a certain % per month. But if you move out they can set the price for the next tenant as they see fit. In Toronto specifically this generally means hundreds if not thousands of dollars higher.Even within a city the price can vary wildly. A studio apartment downtown Toronto can go for $2000/month. While out in the outskirts you can find something for $1000/month or less.In terms of lifestyle, what kind of neighbourhood do you want to live in? How many bedrooms? Do you want a car? How often do you go out for food and/or drinks?Here are some numbers for Toronto specifically. Other places in Canada for example Montreal or Halifax can be drastically cheaper.Rent$800-1000/month for a 1 bedroom in the outskirts.. this would likely be in a basement with poor access to public transit$2500/month for a 1 bedroom downtownOwning a car$150-$400/month car insurance depending on car and length of driving record$200/month parking downtown or free in the outskirtsGas $1.20/litreAn oil change $40Public transport$3-$3.25 per one way trip depending how you buy the ticket$146.25/month for a pass2 people going out for food and 1 drink each$15 at a cheap fast food$30 at a cheap restaurant$120 at a fancy restaurantGroceries$200-$400/month/person depending on how frugal you are