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Comment by AnthonyWnC | Hacker News Reader

Also Toronto native; was making just under 100k ~ 3 years ago in SysEng/devops role. Now working in NYC in similar role at ~ 185k (Cdn). Even with CoL (housing) of NYC, my savings is much higher.

Personally I much prefer to live in Toronto but the salary is just too low.

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Agreed. I moved from Montreal to SF a few years back and although my rent tripled, so did my income. The net result is much more savings than I would have gotten if I had stayed in Canada.

If you're a saver/investor then it makes much more sense to move to the US for a little while, save up a decent sized nest egg, then move back.

One wonders how difficult is it to work remotely for a US firm while in Canada.

Based on my anecdotal experience, it would depend entirely on you: your experience, your reputation, and your negotiating ability. If you're a top senior engineer or a celebrity like Tim Bray (https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/) then you can probably swing something with the BigCos, but for a regular junior/intermediate developer you'll have a tougher time getting a deal like that.

I decided to look for a remote job recently. I went down a list of various job sites specializing in them, and a few days later I had a remote job that pays six figures.

I would say it's not difficult at all - there were hundreds of job listings.

I did it briefly. It was fine, but made easier because I have citizenship in one country and the right to work in the other.

How difficult is it to move that nest egg back to Canada?

Out of curiosity, why would you prefer living in Toronto vs NYC (setting salary aside)?

Toronto is a much cleaner and nicer city, I can drive around everywhere (initially I thought I would not miss my car; I was wrong). I am also Canadian so I prefer to stay in Canada if possible.

"Toronto is NYC if it was run by the Swiss."

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