Even in his teens, Albert Lai always knew that if he wanted to make a name for him-self in tech, he had to go to San Francisco.
Driving for the first time down Interstate 280 during the late 90’s, the 34-year-old Toronto native recalled seeing green lawns flanked by giant brick and steel campuses the size of miniature cities thinking, “This is my place.”
Like him, hundreds of Ontarians flock to San Francisco’s Bay Area yearly — joining 350,000 Canadians, who according to The Globe and Mail, reside and work within the region— eager to try their fortune in the world’s largest tech mecca. But the huge influx of Canadian employees leaving this country has created a gaping hole in the industry, resulting in a nascent yet worrying tech brain drain.
In a 2012 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, funding and keeping great talent was found to be the biggest problem for most Canadian start-up CEOs. Sixty-two per cent of the CEOs interviewed said finding qualified tech personnel has been harder as Silicon Valley companies scoop them up.
One of the reasons behind this, according to University of Toronto organizational behavior professor Samantha Montes, is that the younger generation, who are mostly employed in start-ups, is seeking challenges instead of long-term job security.
“The new cohort is more interested in getting experiences that make them more marketable and if they’re not getting it, they may leave,” Montes said.
Lai agreed but said brain drain has been a smaller problem Canada in recent years. He explained that tech employees are finding more reasons to stay in Canada such as: the increase of start-up funding, the prestige associated to working in a local startup and the large amount of high-profile start-ups that have spawned and been acquired in the country.
After co-founding five start-ups and exhausted from living out of a suitcase, Lai decided to set up his sixth start-up Big Viking Games in London, Ontario.
“The cost of living is lower, talent from hotbeds like University of Waterloo and Sheridan College is good and tax credits for building games are impressive,” he said.
Atlee Clark, director of C100, an organization of influential Canadians in Silicon Valley, said that Canadian companies also have the ability to focus on their products away from the pressure of competition.
“People flock to Silicon Valley and though that can be very inspiring to be around, it also means it’s very loud here,” Clark said in an interview from her San Francisco office.
Tunezy CEO Derrick Fung voiced out his agreement, saying that being a big fish in a smaller pond can help propel startups into success. At the same time, Fung, 26, who founded his Toronto-based music-sharing company 10 months ago, acknowledges that “big boys” like Facebook and Google can easily steal away elite employees by offering them more attractive packages.
Tech employee salaries tend to be higher in San Francisco where entry-level incomes start around $60,000–80,000 CDN, while Toronto employees are paid around $40,000–60,000 CDN, Lai said.
Companies like Fung’s and Lai’s, however, have found several ways to stay competitive when hiring.
As a newer startup, Fung said fostering a more relaxed office culture through flexible work hours, stock options, a “mini-Google” setup and offering medical benefits makes his start-up more attractive to employees. Lai recognizes that while there will always be “talented and curious” employees who can’t be held back from wanting to experience working in a tech centre like the Bay Area, there are others who are “talented, but apathetic about location.”
Regardless of location, C100 director Clark said Canadians should support each other. Instead of adapting an “us-against-them” mentality, Canadians, should encourage their peers who come down to the Valley to work, because after all, “the Internet knows no borders.”
Originally published by ONset Magazine
