Is Canada suitable for Indian IT Professionals?
As an immigrant myself (Asia-Australia-Canada and the USA); I also have plenty of Indian friends living in Canada & the United States; I would like to share some points in these forums to help prospective Indian immigrants to decide about their future.
Canada has been the top immigration destination for Indian professionals; the Indian community is the fastest growing ethnic community in Canada, particularly in Ontario and also in other booming regions like Alberta and BC.
Here are some points I have collected which can help you to decide if Canada is suitable for you:
IT Professionals: Where are the jobs?
Canada is not the USA, you have to remember that, the majority of the IT companies are headquartered in the United States, not in Canada. The close proximity to the USA provides both pros and cons for IT professionals.
USA not setting up regional HQ in Canada: This means, most of Canadian offices are more for sales, marketing and supports, while the HQ remains back in the US. This means, if you are a software engineer or involved in the product development – these jobs are remained in the United States.
Canadian companies are aggressive, they compete with US companies actively, being close to the US also means you are right next to the biggest IT market in the world, and this sector has not shown any sign of recession at all.
You would see a lot of Indian IT professionals taking up IT jobs while the family stays back in Canada. This is particularly in the case for Seattle, Boston and New York, as well as Chicago. Travel distance is not that far between Canadian & American cities, if that is an option.
If you are an IT professional, where should you look for jobs in Canada?
My suggestions will be:
1) Look for Canadian IT companies – these companies are headquartered in Canada, and they will have more jobs available outside the sales & marketing or supporting roles.
It is worth noting however, that their US counterparts had acquired many Canadian IT companies in the past decade.
The Canadian Government wishes to reinforce their IT talent, and have been making good progress in encouraging local IT companies to set up across Canada, this is particularly in the case for Toronto, Montreal and Calgary.
2) Find companies with large IT departments. Who are these companies? A good starting point with Canada’s major financial companies, which are amongst the world’s best class financial institutions with very strong balance-sheet and most of them are upgrading their IT systems.
These include Canada’s major banks, stock exchange and also insurance companies.
Canadian retailers are also performing very well these years, and a number of them are upgrading their entire IT systems such as inventory systems, billing systems and new back-up sites.
Telecommunications companies – Canada has some of the world’s largest telecommunications companies and they are also in the middle of major upgrades as they are moving to launch 4G services as well as enhanced applications.
3) IT Services companies are currently dominated by American companies. However, more and more American IT companies are setting up their regional office are likely to become a trend in future.
4) Government organizations and utilities companies – both sectors are major employers of IT professionals. The utilities companies are performing well in Canada, and many are undertaking major upgrades to their infrastructure at moment.
5) Mining Services – Canada is the world’s largest mining economy. This has also reflected on its competencies in mining related IT services and products. This is a key sector that many IT professionals have overlooked, check out mining companies that are engaged in software development, analysis or project management programs – these companies are likely to recruit software engineers to develop their new products.
6) Animation and Virtual Design Studios – this is the industry that Canada wishes to promote and develop, and it has been successful so far particularly in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. There are now various Canadian companies specialize in developing animations for games, entertainment and marketing activities.
Hopefully you will find this article useful, we will publish other related articles as we analyze more sectors in North America.
