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How do we retain talent in KW?
#31
I know. I thought that too
The only thing I can think of is targeting current residents
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#32
(02-07-2019, 09:23 PM)panamaniac Wrote: Odd to exclude the East End, given the proposed developments, no?

According to the City of Kitchener, the East End is already represented by the King East Neighbourhood Association.  When you look at the City's map, the new proposed association would be in area that is currently unrepresented.  This is largely likely because until recently, there was not much residential use in the an otherwise industrial/commercial zone.
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#33
(02-09-2019, 01:26 AM)nms Wrote:
(02-07-2019, 09:23 PM)panamaniac Wrote: Odd to exclude the East End, given the proposed developments, no?

According to the City of Kitchener, the East End is already represented by the King East Neighbourhood Association.  When you look at the City's map, the new proposed association would be in area that is currently unrepresented.  This is largely likely because until recently, there was not much residential use in the an otherwise industrial/commercial zone.
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#34
(02-07-2019, 09:23 PM)panamaniac Wrote: Odd to exclude the East End, given the proposed developments, no?

I think they are basically covering the downtown core that's not included in any of the existing neighbourhood associations.That's the afore-mentioned Victoria, Weber, Benton and Joseph area, plus the part between Benton and Queen south to Courtland (which adds two fairly large condo buildings and one apartment building).

   
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#35
Is there a way to find out what percentage of students stay vs leave after graduating?
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#36
I would also be interested in knowing how many return.
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#37
(03-02-2019, 02:22 PM)Spokes Wrote: Is there a way to find out what percentage of students stay vs leave after graduating?

I know that about 10% of Waterloo Software Engineering students stay in the region and another 20% stay in Canada these days. I don't have any more representative info.
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#38
Wait, 70% leave the COUNTRY??
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#39
(03-02-2019, 10:31 PM)Spokes Wrote: Wait, 70% leave the COUNTRY??

Well, two-thirds. Yes. Salaries in the US are like 50% higher. That's not completely fair, because housing is also insanely more expensive (but Toronto's not that cheap either).
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#40
Wow. Thats astonishing I had no idea it was that high
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#41
(03-02-2019, 10:31 PM)Spokes Wrote: Wait, 70% leave the COUNTRY??

That seems about right. A new grad software dev in Canada makes $60-70k CAD at a lot of local companies, while in the US it's easily $120k USD + stock/bonus that makes it more like $150-160k USD.

Housing costs more in SF, but it doesn't cost anywhere close to that much more. Any rational person would do it.

There's some local companies, like Shopify, that pay competitively with the US. And of course working for Google in KW pays a lot more than the local companies. But for the vast majority, it's just so much of a better career move to go to SF or NYC.
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#42
Wow. I had no idea it was such a large gap. Do you think that's something that might change in the future?
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#43
One imagines it could change quickly if the local market began offering competitive wages ...
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#44
Remember too that the vast majority of Waterloo students aren't coming from local high schools, and especially for a program like Systems Engineering - the school has global name recognition in Mathematics and Engineering and draws from many places. It means that it's a population already willing to leave their home for schooling and are likely to be more mobile in general.

70% leaving the country is significant, and some of those folks are definitely Canadians, but without knowing the intake values, the outflow ones are not as meaningful as they may seem. It would also be worth comparing the numbers at Laurier (especially for Business programs) and Conestoga. I'd suspect Laurier also sees a lot of folks leave the area, but Conestoga grads seem more likely to stay local.

I've asked a fair number of folk - in HR in the tech community, as well as some connected to Communitech - if they have any insight into the intake numbers (which percentage are from Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada and International) and I've never gotten a definite answer. I don't have anyone at the school itself that I know well enough to ask directly but I don't think those numbers are published or broadcast.

Some of that difference of availability is because it's much more interesting to generate and promote the brain drain narrative. I'm not suggesting the narrative is false, just that it's a good, reliable, long-lived story and so more work has been done to surface and publicize numbers that support it because they're regularly included.
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#45
(03-04-2019, 10:50 AM)panamaniac Wrote: One imagines it could change quickly if the local market began offering competitive wages ...

The wage difference is used to promote the Region to corporations considering setting up offices here as well. It's explicitly the model for Terminal for example, and every service-focused company I've worked at uses both the lower cost of living (which is a lower cost of labour for them) and the value of the Canadian dollar as competitive aspects. We do more with fewer dollars is presented as a point of pride.

This piece written by Stephen Lake (co-founder of North and given recent events maybe less effective an appeal to authority than normal, also just in general likely incentivized to save money with lower salaries) in 2016 argues that the cost of living here makes the salaries more effective than elsewhere: https://medium.com/@srlake/debunking-the...828cbf6698.

I'm not arguing in favour of any this position necessarily, nor against it. From a personal experience standpoint, my salary is competitive based on my understanding of the local market, which is not super broad. It's higher than people I grew up with who have similar levels of post-secondary education and while I like to think I'm quite good at what I do, a lot of the basis for that difference is the industry not me.
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