Trying my luck in Toronto, Ontario
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Hello all,
I will be doing a major change on mid-july, and going to Canada, Toronto. I have PR card that I rarely used and will expire if not utilized.
I am aiming to stay for 1 year and I think it will be a huge upgrade from living in Jordan, Amman.
Any tips and help is welcome, I did something nice already I have Nokia 2.1 phone with OpenVPN + Viber, and in Viber you can get Canada number, so that was awesome, and now I can call Canada numbers and receive them and I am applying heavily for Jobs.
That said I don't really know anyone in that city, I know my brother lives in Manitoba, but I really want to try to make it work in Toronto and not Manitoba, to avoid the cold.
If you know any tips, like good places to rent a place or anything it will surely help.
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@Emad-R Welcome to the country. While Toronto isn't likely to be as cold as the prairies in the winter, the only place you're going to avoid the cold is on the west coast. Can't really advise with regards to the job hunt, but you might get more help if you specify what kind of jobs you're interested in / what your qualifications are.
Best of luck!
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Thank you, I am looking for Linux Sys Admin positions, and stuff like that.
You can take a look at my LinkedIn profile if you're interested.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/emadramlawi/FYI my CV is heavily inspired (if not stolen) by my great virtual mentor and mentor to a lot of us Mr. Scott Alan Miller.
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I looked at your LinkedIn profile and you shouldn't have a y issues finding something. DevOps is in very high demand in US right now. I'm sure it is in Canada as well.
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Also LinkedIn premium is worth its weight in gold when job hunting. The analytics really help you pick the right positions and the premium status allows you to message hiring recruiters for jobs where you're a perfect fit.
I'd also add that in the west, it's important to be more confident than courteous when on the job search. Being too courteous can hurt your chances or get you less pay.
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@IRJ said in Trying my luck in Toronto, Ontario:
Also LinkedIn premium is worth its weight in gold when job hunting.
I've often wondered what folks thought of LinkedIn Premium.
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@EddieJennings said in Trying my luck in Toronto, Ontario:
@IRJ said in Trying my luck in Toronto, Ontario:
Also LinkedIn premium is worth its weight in gold when job hunting.
I've often wondered what folks thought of LinkedIn Premium.
Definitely worth trying out for free for the first month. If you are serious about job searching during an extended period of time, it is definitely worth the $30 after that. Luckily I was able to get my job hunt done in 30 days so I never had to pay. If it was a bit cheaper like $10 a month, I think I would have just continually subscribed. However I cannot justify $30 when I am not in the job market now.
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@Emad-R said in Trying my luck in Toronto, Ontario:
That said I don't really know anyone in that city, I know my brother lives in Manitoba, but I really want to try to make it work in Toronto and not Manitoba, to avoid the cold.
Toronto is still pretty effing cold. LOL. Welcome to my neck of the woods. Grew up in the US, but close enough that Toronto was our local major city and we used it as if we lived there. Great town.
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@Emad-R said in Trying my luck in Toronto, Ontario:
I will be doing a major change on mid-july, and going to Canada, Toronto.
I'll be in the area briefly when you first arrive, I'll make an effort to pop up there.
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@EddieJennings said in Trying my luck in Toronto, Ontario:
@IRJ said in Trying my luck in Toronto, Ontario:
Also LinkedIn premium is worth its weight in gold when job hunting.
I've often wondered what folks thought of LinkedIn Premium.
I'd never even heard of it before
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@EddieJennings said in Trying my luck in Toronto, Ontario:
@IRJ said in Trying my luck in Toronto, Ontario:
Also LinkedIn premium is worth its weight in gold when job hunting.
I've often wondered what folks thought of LinkedIn Premium.
IF you cancel after a couple of months, they give you discount but you need to be brave and hit the cancel button and they will give you 50% discount for 2 months, I think the InMail feature is great, and like many people said its good just for the time you are hunting
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@IRJ said in Trying my luck in Toronto, Ontario:
I looked at your LinkedIn profile and you shouldn't have a y issues finding something. DevOps is in very high demand in US right now. I'm sure it is in Canada as well.
Thanks, but I reckon there is a change of level from Middle East IT to US/Canada IT, I know for a fact that you guys move faster and all the IT companies are based in US/Canada, for example, Acquia is amazing at Drupal, and Currently at Vardot we are learning from them a lot, so that is also one of the reasons I will move is to be closer to fast-moving tech.
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Toronto can get pretty cold during the winter though definitely not as cold as Manitoba (I grew up there with coldest temp I've experienced being -56C).
I suggest looking into community groups that are from the same geographical area. There should be a few around since TO is one of the largest cities in Canada.
It's a big place. My preference would be to find a place to live on that's close to GO (commuter train) or subway to avoid driving. The 401 can be really fast but mostly at a snail's pace.
Since *NIX is it, look into the various city's job boards (TO is a Megalopolis) as *NIX is not that uncommon there. The smallish city of St. Albert where our business is runs a lot on *NIX. Mississauga is one place that's fairly heavy in tech. Guelph is another. Canadian distributors that may be hiring are SYNNEX Canada, Ingram Micro Canada, Tech Data Canada, and maybe ASI Canada.
If any recruiters reach out make sure to vet them first. Be cautious around big promises.
Things to do: Visit the Tower, catch a Blue Jays game, catch a Raptors game, catch a Maple Leafs game. Check out the various districts like arts and music.
One of my favourite times in TO was spending an entire day going about barefoot (the city is that clean) with my sandals strapped to my belt. They'd go on when entering a building but otherwise they were off. Subway, to trolley, to city bus from park to park, area to area, my buddy and I had a great adventure.
It's a great city.
EDIT: MeetUp is a great resource.
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Im in Buffalo, NY Toronto is our closes big city. I love it but do not get there as much as I would like.
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Welcome to Canada eh!
Here's your first tip...pronounce it like "Trono" instead of "Toronto" and you'll fit right in
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@NashBrydges said in Trying my luck in Toronto, Ontario:
Welcome to Canada eh!
Here's your first tip...pronounce it like "Trono" instead of "Toronto" and you'll fit right in
Omg, thank you @NashBrydges. I'm originally from the GTA (greater Toronto Area) before finally ending up in Alberta. Everyone here pronounces the second T (Tor-on-to) and it drives me nuts
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@manxam said in Trying my luck in Toronto, Ontario:
@NashBrydges said in Trying my luck in Toronto, Ontario:
Welcome to Canada eh!
Here's your first tip...pronounce it like "Trono" instead of "Toronto" and you'll fit right in
Omg, thank you @NashBrydges. I'm originally from the GTA (greater Toronto Area) before finally ending up in Alberta. Everyone here pronounces the second T (Tor-on-to) and it drives me nuts
How do you pronounce it?
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@manxam said in Trying my luck in Toronto, Ontario:
@NashBrydges said in Trying my luck in Toronto, Ontario:
Welcome to Canada eh!
Here's your first tip...pronounce it like "Trono" instead of "Toronto" and you'll fit right in
Omg, thank you @NashBrydges. I'm originally from the GTA (greater Toronto Area) before finally ending up in Alberta. Everyone here pronounces the second T (Tor-on-to) and it drives me nuts
My wife and I took a break in Vancouver from last Thursday to Sunday evening.
We stayed at the Lonsdale Quay Hotel.
We flat landers pronounce the second word: Qway
The locals there looked at us funny, with some snickers, and pronounced it: Kee/Key
Huh?!?
So much for the Queen's English.
EDIT: Oh, and it was Torana with a twist on the Ah at the end when I used to hang-out there. ;0)
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@PhlipElder said in Trying my luck in Toronto, Ontario:
EDIT: Oh, and it was Torana with a twist on the Ah at the end when I used to hang-out there. ;0)
Can't say I've ever heard anyone drop the second t before.
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It's definitely Torono...
As for quay, that's "key" in the "queens english"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quay
