Final Decision : India or Canada - 15 days left to decide.

[subodhp]

Hi Everyone, who posted feedback and stories of each. That was quite helpful... So now, here is my conclusion when i matched what people say and what my situation is :

I am (35) & we are family of three. Wife (33) & Kid(3). We are all PR holders of Canada under the Nova Scotia provincial nominee program. This year we are planning to make a permanent move to Canada within the next 30-40 days.

On the professional front, I have been working as an Oracle DBA since the past 11 years with Amdocs & Infosys in India.

Before making the move we started researching and taking feedback from many people in Canada through various mediums (personal contacts, WhatsApp, Facebook, etc.) regarding the current job scenario for new immigrants. From most of the people, the feedback we got was that it does make sense to make the move in our case due to age, technology(DBA) & financial savings. On checking further we found people in the IT industry were quite positive. But again, when we checked more we found that the IT people who were happy about coming to Canada were all developers and testers.

At the same time we started checking various job portal and found there are very few jobs for DBAs and even if they are there, most of them required MS SQL server skills.

So ultimately when we matched my skills (Oracle DBA) with the available jobs, we found it negative and stuck in dilemma. We went further and started talking with DBAs who are currently working in Canada and found that DBA work is mostly handled by internal people and there are very chances that the organizations put up the job openings for DBAs.

From all these conversation & research, we concluded a few things and started finding answers for the same. It would be really great if you can share your advice on the same and we would be highly glad if you can help us in any way to get into the first job at any level.

Below are the concerns that we are facing now and finding out the way to get over them.

1) How is the job market for Oracle DBAs in Canada? Is the DBA job market dying in Canada? If Yes, where are the people moving from DBA profile?

2) Are most of the DBA jobs looking for MS SQL Server instead of Oracle?

3) Or are most of the DBA jobs looking for multiple technologies?

4) Are the DBAs in Canada moving to become Data Engineer? If yes, how easy is for them to get jobs as data engineers? Is there any good training or internship programs where we can get into the industry at a beginner level and move up from there.

5) How can I improve myself to get a good job in Canada with an oracle DBA background? Also, I would like to honestly state whatever work I have done in DBA experience is very superficial and was never much challenging. I started to move my career towards AWS and also completed AWS cloud certification but never got a chance to work on an actual project.

I am attaching my resume for your reference.

Thank you so much for the time & support you are providing.

It seems like you are on right track, as you notice the answer to move or not can be very personal depending upon your situation and priorities. Generic advice on this website from strangers like me can only mean so much. Do your research, continue speaking to friends if any, colleagues/strangers in similar profession to get a better idea of what your cash for will look like (since that seems like an important aspect based on your reply). One note for you is cost of living is quite different (cheaper) in Nova Scotia when compared to Toronto.

 

[kn2172]

From a fellow Indian who was earning exactly the same amount in India in 2015 at the same age - was working in Accenture though and in .NET. In short:

DON'T MOVE

1. The money you are making in India in terms of purchasing power parity is close to 200k in places like Toronto.
2. Very unlikely that you will get a perm job with 200k in next 5 years.
3. You will forever have to stay in a Cockroach and Beg Bug infested apartment and drive an old car in Toronto if you plan to SAVE money with a full time job in Toronto.
4. The moment you come you will see the immense backlog in day care(s) - you can be lucky if you start the process the day you land here.
5. The only option which you will be pushed into to maintain your lifestyle - is contracting. And the stress wouldn't be worth it.
6. Don't listen to the BS of child s education - there are way affordable private education options in India which will be very close to the public ones here. You won't be able to afford private education in Toronto.
7. Last option - both of you work full time then you will spend whatever you save on the down payment of a condo. The cycle will continue again.

Hope this harsh truth helps.

PS: Don't think you can survive in Canada on $100k - those (as you mentioned in your post) are appealing to developers not people with our profiles.

This is from Toronto perspective - don't think NS will be very different.

Thanks , Did you move to canada and still there or Moved back to India?

 

[canuck78]

From a fellow Indian who was earning exactly the same amount in India in 2015 at the same age - was working in Accenture though and in .NET. In short:

DON'T MOVE

1. The money you are making in India in terms of purchasing power parity is close to 200k in places like Toronto.
2. Very unlikely that you will get a perm job with 200k in next 5 years.
3. You will forever have to stay in a Cockroach and Beg Bug infested apartment and drive an old car in Toronto if you plan to SAVE money with a full time job in Toronto.
4. The moment you come you will see the immense backlog in day care(s) - you can be lucky if you start the process the day you land here.
5. The only option which you will be pushed into to maintain your lifestyle - is contracting. And the stress wouldn't be worth it.
6. Don't listen to the BS of child s education - there are way affordable private education options in India which will be very close to the public ones here. You won't be able to afford private education in Toronto.
7. Last option - both of you work full time then you will spend whatever you save on the down payment of a condo. The cycle will continue again.

Hope this harsh truth helps.

PS: Don't think you can survive in Canada on $100k - those (as you mentioned in your post) are appealing to developers not people with our profiles.

This is from Toronto perspective - don't think NS will be very different.

Said similar things. If you are making a very good income in your home country it doesn’t make sense to move unless you are unhappy with your life in India. The reality is that the jobs you are qualified for will not be in NS. You are likely looking at living in one of the more expensive areas in Canada. If your wife doesn’t want to work full-time it is a pretty obvious decision. You would need 2 good incomes to have close to a similar lifestyle in Canada.

 

[leothelion123]

Thanks , Did you move to canada and still there or Moved back to India?

Yes partially we moved over since this year. Being TN eligible now I just might explore that route in the coming months.

 

[leothelion123]

Said similar things. If you are making a very good income in your home country it doesn’t make sense to move unless you are unhappy with your life in India. The reality is that the jobs you are qualified for will not be in NS. You are likely looking at living in one of the more expensive areas in Canada. If your wife doesn’t want to work full-time it is a pretty obvious decision. You would need 2 good incomes to have close to a similar lifestyle in Canada.

That's where the question lies - how is life "significantly better" then? I have found no answer yet if you aren't a rich dad's son / daughter which unfortunately I am not.

Also Toronto s median income has been almost stagnant over last few years whereas housing prices have almost doubled over last 5 years.

 

[leothelion123]

It seems like you are on right track, as you notice the answer to move or not can be very personal depending upon your situation and priorities. Generic advice on this website from strangers like me can only mean so much. Do your research, continue speaking to friends if any, colleagues/strangers in similar profession to get a better idea of what your cash for will look like (since that seems like an important aspect based on your reply). One note for you is cost of living is quite different (cheaper) in Nova Scotia when compared to Toronto.

Seems salaries might be much lower and jobs will be much lesser too in NS? Whenever I do a country wide search for opportunities I can see jobs (almost 90%) from Toronto and Vancouver.

 

[canuck78]

That's where the question lies - how is life "significantly better" then? I have found no answer yet if you aren't a rich dad's son / daughter which unfortunately I am not.

Also Toronto s median income has been almost stagnant over last few years whereas housing prices have almost doubled over last 5 years.

Incomes have been stagnant for longer than that and house prices have doubled in more like 8-10 years. If you are expecting to move to Canada to become wealthy that will unlikely be the case. You have to look at what kind of lifestyle your salary allows you to have in India. As a family have you decided whether your wife wants to work or stay at home. Can your wife stay at home in Canada if that is what you want. Parent sponsorship is not guaranteed if you are counting on this. This is a personal decision but when people are making a good income in their home country and actually have access to more opportunities to create wealth in their own country it becomes a tough choice.

 

[canuck78]

Seems salaries might be much lower and jobs will be much lesser too in NS? Whenever I do a country wide search for opportunities I can see jobs (almost 90%) from Toronto and Vancouver.

Of course. When new immigrants decide to relocate to New Brunswick due to the very low housing prices they don’t realize the wages, salaries and opportunities often coincide with areas where housing is less expensive. Home ownership in NB isn’t that exciting if you are still struggling to get by. You are expected to land in NS and try to find employment.

 

[mahi2020]

That's where the question lies - how is life "significantly better" then? I have found no answer yet if you aren't a rich dad's son / daughter which unfortunately I am not.

Also Toronto s median income has been almost stagnant over last few years whereas housing prices have almost doubled over last 5 years.

Canada/Australia are more of an escape land for third world ppl who cannot move to USA.

All other reasons seem trivial for ppl who want an escape.

 

[subodhp]

If one is already earning well in their home country, economics may not be the best reason to settle here for most professions. It is often something else that pulls such folks across the seas, maybe just a need to live a new life, maybe free healthcare, maybe travel opportunities, maybe a try at US, maybe existing family members, or even just a need to move into a new life.

If it is just economics, you obviously want to start by looking at what place is best for your profession/growth and then decide based on that. Currently it seems like you are working on it differently by having decided on NS and then trying to find jobs. That tells me that economics may not be the only motivation.

 

[canuck78]

If one is already earning well in their home country, economics may not be the best reason to settle here for most professions. It is often something else that pulls such folks across the seas, maybe just a need to live a new life, maybe free healthcare, maybe travel opportunities, maybe a try at US, maybe existing family members, or even just a need to move into a new life.

If it is just economics, you obviously want to start by looking at what place is best for your profession/growth and then decide based on that. Currently it seems like you are working on it differently by having decided on NS and then trying to find jobs. That tells me that economics may not be the only motivation.

In many places it has been engrained in people since they were in secondary school that they should immigrate to Australia, Canada, the US or the UK. How are people not doing this research before applying for immigration and not right before they are about to not make their RO or have to land. I see tons of very educated professionals who are so focused on qualifying for immigration they never looked into whether their skills are needed, will they be able to transfer their skills, what will be the cost of living, does immigration actually make sense, etc.

 

[mahi2020]

welcome aboard kn2172.

Go Halifax