Advice on settling in @ Canada

[Lovian]

thanks for the continued advice. Good to know that there are Belgium like beers thought i was going to miss out on my hoegaarden with a slice of lemon in the summer (already had the allotted 8 days of sun in Scotland so now expecting it to rain the rest of the summer).

Looking to go into IT and heard that the GTA is the best area to do that, though RIM is out over towards Cambridge so if they are hiring might try for there. I also have a degree in Genetics and while i've not done that in a few years I could easily go back and do lab work if there is any sort of skilled worker shortage in that field.

Leave in 2 weeks time so not long to go.

C

[Bikpik]

thanks for the continued advice. Good to know that there are Belgium like beers thought i was going to miss out on my hoegaarden with a slice of lemon in the summer (already had the allotted 8 days of sun in Scotland so now expecting it to rain the rest of the summer).

Looking to go into IT and heard that the GTA is the best area to do that, though RIM is out over towards Cambridge so if they are hiring might try for there. I also have a degree in Genetics and while i've not done that in a few years I could easily go back and do lab work if there is any sort of skilled worker shortage in that field.

Leave in 2 weeks time so not long to go.

C

Being that you're from Scotland, the East Coast would be kinda like home to you. I know some Newfoundlanders with a thinker accent than any Scot.

RIM also has an office in Halifax, Nova Scotia (which means new Scotland if you didn't know), and I might be biased here, but with the recent oil money coming into Newfoundland, it's really easy to find any job here now. If you don't mind flying, you could look into getting an IT job on the oil rigs, they're shift work, month on, month off kind of think and they start off 100k+ a year, which in Newfoundland would let you live really comfortable.

[Lovian]

Being that you're from Scotland, the East Coast would be kinda like home to you. I know some Newfoundlanders with a thinker accent than any Scot.

RIM also has an office in Halifax, Nova Scotia (which means new Scotland if you didn't know), and I might be biased here, but with the recent oil money coming into Newfoundland, it's really easy to find any job here now. If you don't mind flying, you could look into getting an IT job on the oil rigs, they're shift work, month on, month off kind of think and they start off 100k+ a year, which in Newfoundland would let you live really comfortable.

Tempting to do that at least for a while, would get me the all important Canadian experience i have heard all about. Not sure how liberal NS is or how well i would fit in. I would hope that being away from the real Scotland NS has got its own identity and doesn't have the social issues over here.

Its good to hear about the different parts of Canada its a huge country and i realise that each province and even areas within have their own "personality".

C

[Deadgye]

Stay away from cars with square wheels.

[Lovian]

Am i right in thinking that Canada is lagging way behind the rest of the world in their range of mobile phones and their networks aren't compatible?

[Elesirdur]

No, that's just all of Canada. We're only just getting companies set up that are promising to offer mobile service like they have in the rest of the world (except the US): ie. no contracts, pay as you go, will work on any GSM/3G phone, carrier sharing, etc. Canada's cellular service is dominated by the old telecom companies, and they manager and administer mobile service like it's a landline, which means expensive contracts and very expensive rates for service that's laughable for a first-world country compared to the EU, South Korea, and Japan.

Not only that, but if you want to buy a mobile, you have to buy one that "works" with the carrier. You can't just use any cellphone and get a SIM card for the carrier, as the carriers have some kind of proprietary bullshit to keep you using the phones they get from the manufactures on specific agreements. All of the big three carriers - Telus in the West, Rogers/Fido and Bell, both nationwide - sell specific handsets, with the iPhone and Blackberries being the very rare crossovers between carriers. Companies like Wind Mobile, which is just starting up, and Virgin do sell pay-as-you-go phones and services, but their networks are very limited and really don't offer any coverage outside major metropolitan centres. Because of all this, there's a small underground industry of people who will "crack" a phone purchased outside of Canada to get it to work on a local carrier. However, it's pretty hit or miss since you can easily brick your phone, and you won't get any support at all from the carrier if it doesn't work properly; I've even heard stories of people having their contracts terminated (with all the penalties!) because they used a cracked phone. All Internet stories mind you, but the telecoms are pretty ruthless here and don't give two shits about their customers.

There is some justification for it all though. Canada is a geographically massive nation, with a sparse and spread out population. Because the nation's population is twice that of the Netherlands, but orders of magnitude higher, infrastructure costs for telecom and internet services are much higher than they would be in a more densely populated, compact nation. Canada used to have some of the best broadband Internet in the world (back in the early 2000s), but now we're pretty bad on a price/speed metric.

PS: Oops, I read "Canada" in your post as "Calgary" lol

[Meian]

Tim Horton's isn't that great either and you begin to hate the word "timmies"..

Haha friend use to work there throughout high school and university and was treated like crap the entire time XD Now he's out in his major at least

[ODF]

If you want nightlife your destination is Montréal ... even my VW dealership close at 2am. You can also live in that city with a very minimum of french knowlegde but people will hate if you don't try to learn a little bit of it.

Nice people, safe place ... huge nightlife. Also québec city is beautifull place with a friendly population but you have to speak french.

[Belragga]

For everything you need to know about Canadian culture simply sit back, crack open a beer and relax while enjoying our greatest entertainers in the epic known as Trailer Park Boys.

[wagon]

the only good things about canada are the girls, national heathcare and cirque du soleil

[Aesctaa]

even my VW dealership close at 2am.

Thats pretty awesome lol.

[Siniroth]

the only good things about canada are the girls, national heathcare and cirque du soleil

true

[bluefan]

The only thing the 'Peg has going for it is...well, cheap cost of living.

Though we did just get a new stadium that should be done in a couple of years and the Human Rights Museum...if that ever gets done.

Other then those things, not much else going for us. Whatever we have, it's already somewhere else in Canada, and most likely bigger and better.

[Elesirdur]

The only thing the 'Peg has going for it is...well, cheap cost of living.

Though we did just get a new stadium that should be done in a couple of years and the Human Rights Museum...if that ever gets done.

Other then those things, not much else going for us. Whatever we have, it's already somewhere else in Canada, and most likely bigger and better.

Except for mosquitoes and black flies.

[bluefan]

Except for mosquitoes and black flies.

Actually, in the past couple of years, our mosquitoes haven't been that bad. The city has a decent guy with a big background in entomology working for us and he's kept all manner of pests in decent control.

It's the lazy bastards who don't do their part on their property. Just dump your damn still water people! It's not that hard!

[Lovian]

No, that's just all of Canada. We're only just getting companies set up that are promising to offer mobile service like they have in the rest of the world (except the US): ie. no contracts, pay as you go, will work on any GSM/3G phone, carrier sharing, etc. Canada's cellular service is dominated by the old telecom companies, and they manager and administer mobile service like it's a landline, which means expensive contracts and very expensive rates for service that's laughable for a first-world country compared to the EU, South Korea, and Japan.

Not only that, but if you want to buy a mobile, you have to buy one that "works" with the carrier. You can't just use any cellphone and get a SIM card for the carrier, as the carriers have some kind of proprietary bullshit to keep you using the phones they get from the manufactures on specific agreements. All of the big three carriers - Telus in the West, Rogers/Fido and Bell, both nationwide - sell specific handsets, with the iPhone and Blackberries being the very rare crossovers between carriers. Companies like Wind Mobile, which is just starting up, and Virgin do sell pay-as-you-go phones and services, but their networks are very limited and really don't offer any coverage outside major metropolitan centres. Because of all this, there's a small underground industry of people who will "crack" a phone purchased outside of Canada to get it to work on a local carrier. However, it's pretty hit or miss since you can easily brick your phone, and you won't get any support at all from the carrier if it doesn't work properly; I've even heard stories of people having their contracts terminated (with all the penalties!) because they used a cracked phone. All Internet stories mind you, but the telecoms are pretty ruthless here and don't give two shits about their customers.

There is some justification for it all though. Canada is a geographically massive nation, with a sparse and spread out population. Because the nation's population is twice that of the Netherlands, but orders of magnitude higher, infrastructure costs for telecom and internet services are much higher than they would be in a more densely populated, compact nation. Canada used to have some of the best broadband Internet in the world (back in the early 2000s), but now we're pretty bad on a price/speed metric.

PS: Oops, I read "Canada" in your post as "Calgary" lol

Thanks for the heads up, was hoping on getting one of the new HTCs (desire/incredible) but from my quick searches online thats not going to happen for another few months and by that point newer 1.5GHz phones will start coming out*. The network seems to run on slightly different bands as well which limits compatibility of phones brought in unlocked (something that has become wide spread in the uk).

My french is up to standard grade level thats like 4 years of high school french, so while i know some its not the greatest. If i was to move to Quebec i would want to fit in as best as possible so would mean a lot of french lessons.

Good to hear that Manitoba is working on what its most notorious for, bugs. I don't know much about the province at all and looking at maps it just seems to be a huge amount of space and Winnipeg.

Thanks for all the advice guys 13 days to.

C

*even the iPhone *SPIT* is not due to be release at the same time as the uk and usa and if i see another person advertising it i swear the beheading on the Manitoba bus will look like a paper cut.

[Kaisha]

It's almost as if I don't live there.

Besides, people get heads cut off in buses in Manitoba.

Better than getting gunned at over here in Ottawa.

Granted, I find our OC Transpo a hell lot easier to work with than Toronto's TTC & GO, but perhaps part of that has to do with Ottawa being fucking tiny compared to Toronto.

Word of advice? Be prepared to replace a lot of your electronics or buying DC converters for all of your electronics. And if you end up living in the city, never be on foot alone at night.


And yeah, our cell phone services blow. All about contracts and being locked into carrier phones, no freedom whatsoever. Granted, I'm thankful for the iPhone being as popular as it is as it appears to be driving the demand for better data plans for the average consumer, as they were fucking horrible 3-4 years ago.

[Elesirdur]

If you move to Quebec, the provincial government will actually let you take French classes for free. I hear they are quite intensive, but do get the job done.

[Lovian]

I'll need to see where the work is, got some contacts from work i have done for a company over there before. I've pretty much picked up a bit of everything done web design, programming in a few different languages, IT admin work, desktop support and lots more.

Anyone had IT job specific advice, or should i just take up molecular biology lab work again? (not done that since 2001) Not sure if age will be a factor either i'm 30 though look a bit younger.

C