Hi, Reddit.
I'm a new graduate of the University of Regina in CS. I want to find a good high tech company to work for in Silicon Valley North (ie: Ottawa/Kanata). Any suggestions?
Your help is appreciated.
Posted May 4, 2010, 3:57 PM UTC
My buddy graduated as a C.S. from Carleton this year and had 2 co-op postings at IBM and now pushing carts for the past 3 months.
Another buddy is looking for the same positions but works at a Gas Bar ... dry market.
[deleted]
I'd add Avaya and Ericsson, they own most of what was formerly known as Nortel. I'm not sure how much they're hiring at the moment, but they are a large presence. General Dynamics also has a presence in Ottawa. After all the private sector there is still a public jobs in the federal government.
Then, theres a large number of small companies such as Nakina Systems in the Kanata area.
Silicon Valley North is pale shadow of what it used to be. Now that Nortel is dust, the only big tech player left in Canada is RIM, and they are mostly based in Waterloo.
There is no advantage to Ottawa over any other place in Canada, unless maybe you speak French and have access to government jobs. Every other major city in Canada has nearly equal opportunity for CS grads. Getting out of Regina is a smart thing though.
Here is what I would do if I was you: I would pick a city in Canada, based on it being a place I would actually want to live and JUST MOVE THERE. Finding a job via proxy while not living in a city is difficult at the best of times. You will reach your goal faster if you move first. Yes, you might end up working at Wal Mart for a while as you search for a real job but it's not the end of the world and in the long run it will be good for you.
Personally, I would pick Montreal, Victoria, or maybe Vancouver, just because I like those places. There are a surprising number of programming jobs in Victoria.
Just choose your city wisely or you might end up stuck there (like I am in Calgary).
Suggestions:
Halogen Software Bridgewater Systems
Both are our clients, and are doing well.
One more option - Momentus, but I've heard that they're not so hot in terms of working conditions. They expect a lot, and have high turnover of their J2EE guys.
This was about 2 years ago I'd applied.
as a new graduate, you probably want to make getting into the Public Service your highest priority. From here you'll be able to accumulate enough experience and contacts to launch yourself into the wild several years down the road.
Working as an employee of a 3-letter consulting company is something you should avoid, as the corp. will poach away much of your per-diem (40-60%), and ditch you the moment you end up on the bench. If you are interested in consulting, your only viable option is to subcontract, where you will keep a much larger (75%-95%) of your per-diem.
Some of the small/medium software shops can be OK, although they can be sweatshops, long hours, no OT. Don't be duped by promises of growth or defer compensation for some future promised options.
At some point in your career, you'll want to form a very small startup with 4-5 near-equal peers and begin to grow that.
You've pretty much just detailed my plan. Aside from the world conquest part, anyway.
I take it that you're in the Public Service now, or have you gotten to the startup phase?
as a new graduate, you probably want to make getting into the Public Service your highest priority. From here you'll be able to accumulate enough experience and contacts to launch yourself into the wild several years down the road.
This is some of the best advice I've ever heard. Learn to network and you will could find yourself having lunch with some global players. My experience in education is that personal relationships will go a long way to tearing down walls, especially if you are friends with some of the long timers there. The less ambitious and more personable often worked with the more ambitious who have found there way into higher ranked positions over the intervening decades.
* 3M
* Adobe Systems
* Agere
* Agilent
* Alcatel-Lucent
* BelAir Networks
* Bell Canada
* Breconridge
* Cisco Systems
* Cistel Technologies
* Corel
* Cognos - Bought by IBM
* Convergys
* CGI Group
* Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
* Dell
* Dual Code Inc
* Fidus
* General Dynamics
* GridWay Computing Corporation
* Hittite Microwave Canada
* Hewlett-Packard
* IBM
* Intel
* JDS Uniphase
* Komokoa
* Level Platforms
* LogicVision
* March Networks
* MBNA Canada Bank
* Mitel
* Neterion
* Nortel is currently in Chapter 11
* Pythian
* Research in Motion
* Rogers Communications
* SITEL
* SkyWave Mobile Communications
* SMART Technologies
* STMicroelectronics
* Sybase
* Telus
* Tundra Semiconductor
* Xandros
* Zarlink Semiconductor
If you can join the IT department of the Government, that will help you with stability. But the government may not be as tech-savvy as you'd like. There's a small company called Lixar you can check out.
Tim Hortons
Are there any left?
Seriously though, the market isn't what is used to be. Corel is now privately owned. Rational, Cognos and Watchfire have all been bought by IBM. Dell closed their call center. Nortel is split, etc. etc.
Apparently Waterloo is hosting job fairs up here to convince people to move there for jobs instead. For software work in Ottawa, there are either very small companies, IBM, or the Government (or consulting firms that work for the them, such as CGI)
(Written by someone employed in Ottawa by a giant three-letter-acronym company, and worked for many years at one of the companies mentioned above).
If anyone knows differently - please comment. I'd love nothing more than to be proven wrong on this one.
Yeah the silicon valley of the north is far from it now a days. This hopefully will change though as Venture Capital laws have been opened up and the telecomm market is opening up again. Ottawa has always been and is still to some degree a decent startup location yet the money isn't there just yet.
It will be hard to find good jobs outside of IBM/RIM/Government and competition for those is only increasing. However, I think the market will begin to get better. There are still some exiting companies in Ottawa yet many are more focused on r&d right now rather then development.
Ottawa is still a pretty good tech center but the job opportunities are saturated. I have seen some Waterloo opportunities and I would say if you find a great one there (and you should be looking) it is a great place to live (especially if you are going to build a family).
There is still a lot of demand for on call/traveling IT jobs but you may not want to get into that (takes a certain type of person) and finding a good paying opportunity can be hard.
If you want to expand your horizons though there are a lot of CS opportunities all over the world. Many places are starving for talent.
I can vouch for a traveling IT job - I did it for 5 years (2.5 in Europe) and I got to see pretty much did everything on my "bucket list" before I hit 30, largely while being onsite with clients all over the world. I had to expand the list in the end.
:-)
On the downside though, eating nothing but hotel food is very bad for you. Jet lag and 8 hours of being "on" for a client really kills your motivation to stay in shape. Also, it's pretty much impossible to maintain a decent relationship. You can only do it for so long, but it's fun while you're young.
An out of shape IT professional? I don't believe it.
You'd be surprised - many of the people I worked with were in fantastic shape (cycling out to Kanata every day). Personally, I'm back to within about 10-15 lbs of my 'ideal' BMI weight, now that I rarely travel.
Although being in front of a computer for 8 hours per day isn't particularly good for you, it's not totally insurmountable. Most of the companies in Ottawa are pretty good about work/life balance. However, if your job is mostly travel-based, it's much harder to maintain that balance.
Such as? Honestly, I'm in Regina - and because of the provincial hiring freeze, none of the crowns are hiring here, and the consulting companies (CGI, etc) are hiring a bit, but not that many.
I am totally open to relocating anywhere that speaks English, I just want to narrow down the options a bit and thought that the Ottawa/Kanata area had a lot more jobs than here.