Pros and Cons about US and Canada Cities

[Lonestar]

Collegestation, Pekka, Collegestation

[Spiffor]

That's carrying the French schtick a bit far isn't it, Lancer?

Nah, it just shows those Montrealians are americanized.

In France, we crap on each other to cover the stench

[cinch]

I can't speak to IT possibilites at all; that ain't my bag... But can reccommend either Edmonton (yay!) or Calgary (yuck!) to suit your other needs.

Cheap, cheap cost of living... Less sales tax than the rest of Canada AND affordable housing!

Calgary is only an hour or so away from the beginnings of Banff National Park and the Rocky Mountains... Excellent skiing and hiking. Edmonton is a short drive away from Jasper National Park (also the Rockies) and it has the longest stretch of urban parkland in North America (the North Saskatchewan River Valley)!

Both cities have hard-working hockey teams that AREN'T full of overpaid sissies like you'll find in Toronto. Plus, both the Flames and Oilers are stacked with Finnish talent: Kiprusoff, Nieminen, Jussi Markkannen, rising star Jesse Niinimakii...

Edmonton, especially, will love any Finn... Just tell them you know Jari Kurri!

PLUS, Alberta has the lowest unemployment in Canada. So if that whole IT thing doesn't work out for you, you'll have other options!

Hooray!

[Hot Mustard]

The pissing is a bit far, but Montreal is closest thing we have to a New Orleans, anyways.

[Lancer]

"In Canada, sanity is the norm rather than the exception "-Spiffor

"That's carrying the French schtick a bit far isn't it, Lancer?"

Naa, just replying in kind to the anti US crack.

[cinch]

ALSO: regarding weather, Edmonton and Calgary will certainly make you feel at home, snow-and-cold-wise.

Like snow? Sometimes we get it in August!

Like cold? How's -40C (some days in January, usually; not the norm, of course... although...)?

And we love it! For the most part, anyways... It's also charming in that we complain about the heat if it ever breaches 30C. I'm not poking fun, either... I'm one of the loudest complainers!

____________________________

And as well, Pekka:

Here's a map of Canada. Vancouver Island is off to the lower-left, just off the coast of British Columbia, near Vancouver. It's a mix of rainforest, beautiful coastline, and charming small-towny-ness (with victorian Victoria thrown in for good measure)... OH, how I wish to retire there!

[notyoueither]

Oh. Well. Carry on then.

Except, he's not from Montreal, and people from Quebec have less use for Parisiens than you do, IIRC.

[PLATO]

Originally posted by Spiffor

In France, we crap on each other

That explains how you treat your allies.

[Lancer]

Vancouver is the most beautiful city I've never seen. I was in the airport once and was amazed by the mountains...wonderful.

[Asher]

Originally posted by dejon
Vancouver definitely fits your initial description better, but you will make more money in Toronto. It should be noted that part of the reason is that the work culture in Vancouver is more laid back - far more a normal 9-5 atmosphere than Toronto, which is more 8-6, or until the job is done.

Pfft, I work about 11-6. Sometimes from home.

Someweeks I work 11-7, then don't work fridays...

[Hot Mustard]

The first year I was out here and was working from home on contract for my old Vancouver company, I kept similar hours.

Then I thought I would try a working for a local company, and my hours changed drastically. There are slow months where I can do the shifted hours (4x10h, one day off), but more often I'm in from about 8:30 to 5:30 or 6:00, with the peons putting in even longer hours. The compensation however, is the compensation.

[Asher]

Originally posted by dejon
I don't think Calgary has much in the way of IT university programs, but I could be wrong...Asher? If Montreal is your bag, that means McGill, definitely.

The University of Calgary's computer science department is underrated these days.

IBM Canada hires more students from the University of Calgary than any other western university (they only hire more from Waterloo and Toronto), for instance. They also have a world-class Human-Computer Interfaces and Cryptography center, and the study and development of programming languages is emphasized (in terms of linguistics). James Gosling, creator of Java, is an alumnus, for example.

The UofC also consistently makes the finals in the ACM Programming Olympic things. Several thousand schools compete worldwide, and only the top 30 teams go to the finals. This year, the UofC was tied at 15th worldwide (Waterloo and UBC were also 15th, and Queen's was 12th...the highest Canadian uni): http://icpc.baylor.edu/icpc/Finals/finals.html

So yes, the UofC's computer science program is very good. Especially in recent years due to Klein's orgasmic funding of ICT in an effort to "diversify" the Alberta economy.

[Hot Mustard]

Asher, cool - I had no idea.

You reminded me of somewhere nobody had mentioned - Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. That is a great school in a mid-sized Canadian town (part way between Toronto and Ottawa) that would also meet a number of the criteria.

[Ben Kenobi]

Pekka, I'll add my vote to Vancouver.

It's a nice city, and so many people come from abroad who end up staying here.

Don't listen to Asher. He's just bitter about getting stuck in TO.

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by The Emperor Fabulous
The only rivals Boston has in colleges are NYC and Chicago, which is saying something for a city of only 500,000.

Ahem. DC is the 2nd biggest college town in the country. Georgetown, George Washington, American, Catholic, Howard, George Mason, Galludet, U of Maryland, etc.

If you like politics, Pekka, this is the spot to be.

Otherwise, I'll cast my vote for Ann Arbor. I grew up in Michigan and its a terrific state. Detroit is hockeytown. The Red Wings are a dominant hockey franchise going back decades. Climate is right, people are nice, etc.

Plus taxes are much lower than Canada.