Ask HN: People working in Canada, how do you like it?
How do you find the quality of life?
Healthcare costs and quality, raising children etc are of special importance.
Any special things to keep in mind?
Personal experiences welcome, thank you.
Healthcare costs and quality, raising children etc are of special importance.
Any special things to keep in mind?
Personal experiences welcome, thank you.
Personally, I live in New Brunswick and am very happy. There is a decent tech sector (nothing compared to Toronto/SV/etc obviously). Housing costs are relatively low, I purchased a two story 4 bedroom home in a nice neighborhood for <200K.
I make more money where I live than I would in Toronto at an equivalent job when you factor in cost of living. There is absolutely no way I would have the standard of living I do now in a big city.
My healthcare costs are low as I have good insurance through my employer.
I do not have children so I can't really comment on that but I did grow up in the area and had an excellent childhood in my opinion. I will be raising my own kids here someday.
Public transit where I live is not very good. Bike lanes are also limited.
Most places outside of major cities in Canada will require that you own a vehicle.
I can probably help answer any other questions if you are interested in anything more specific.
What are one's options if you don't have decent healthcare through your employer?
Any idea about the schools?
Also, is the 'it's always cold', true for that region?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Canada might have some valuable information for you. Also, most employers usually offer some form of additional coverage. Even minimum wage, part time jobs often do.
My experiences with the schools were good. I feel like I got a good education growing up.
As far as temperature goes, it kind of depends on what you are used to. If you are coming from somewhere that doesnt see sub zero (Celsius) temperatures you'll probably find it chilly and it could take some time to be comfortable.
Where I live, a really cold winters day might hit -25C before the windchill and a really hot summers day might hit 30C. The summers where I live are fairly humid though.
Something else people interested in moving to Canada sometimes ask is whether or not there are dangerous wildlife all over the place or anything. I've seen a wild bear once in my life. The most dangerous animals around me are probably deer and moose at night while driving.