Our Billion Dollar Industry

[StevenB]

I love how Castanet continues to share the propaganda of how the Okanagan has this AMAZING tech sector, filled with thousands of lucrative, six-figure jobs just waiting to be eaten up.

As someone who has worked in the industry for quite a few years now, let me give you the true details of the Information Technology sector in the Central Okanagan...

The majority of jobs currently available on the market are for office IT management, or computer hardware rebuilding. Without getting into much detail, these jobs offer you one of two things: being a punching bag for your office as the printer decided to jam again, or a part time employee at Best Buy as a member of their Geek Squad. Are you a programmer? System Analyst? Network Engineer? Well, you're pretty much screwed if you live in the Okanagan, as these jobs are rarely available, as they are held by should-retire baby boomers.

However, some of you may ask: "but I see jobs for X all the time, what are you talking about?". To these people, I ask you to investigate a little bit more closely...

Our beautiful city has this self-described levy called the "sunshine tax". I don't know who coined it, but every employer I have ever worked for has mentioned it at least once in my time with them. If you're not familiar with "The Sunshine Tax", it works like this: it's sunny here, so we're going to pay you $15.00 an hour, even though you're worth $30.00+ in any other city. Don't believe me? Google the term. "Sunshine Tax is an ironic term used to describe the phenomenon that salaries are often much lower than the national average, in places which have a desirably temperate climate... in places such as Hawaii, California, Florida, and the Okanagan region of British Columbia". This one is hard to prove as most employers purposely do not post wages in job postings - but trust me. Any person in this industry can guarantee my statements provided, with few exceptions.
Are you a recent graduate with little-to-no experience in the industry? Well, you're pretty much screwed. Add the fact that Kelowna has the HIGHEST unemployment rate in the country, and your suddenly have a better chance at winning the lottery.
In addition to the points I've made above, I couldn't forget to mention about how employers expect individuals in this industry to have the knowledge of not one, but several specializations of IT. As an example, I recently saw a job posting hiring for the position of a Network Administrator. In addition to the requirements of being a basic IT admin, they were also requesting a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science with the addition of seven years experience - including coding experience, and a portfolio of recent projects. Wait... what? Do you ask your carpenter if he has any experience at being a welder, and then offer them a wage half of what either job is worth?

Why do companies in this city generalize all computer studies as "the same thing", and assume it's all "the same computer stuff"?

(The aforementioned job posting was paying $24.00, which personally is an insulting offer with the amount of experience and credentials they were looking for. Anyone with these credentials and experience in Vancouver, would easily be making over $100,000)

So the next time you have the audacity to tell me that our technology sector is booming Castanet, please feel free to talk to some individuals in the actual industry. The only reason it is booming is because employers are jumping down the necks of their employees, paying them half of what they are worth, and then forcing them to work hours of overtime WITHOUT overtime pay.

Did you know that in British Columbia, any employee who works with "Computer Systems", or "Computer Networks" is exempt from overtime pay? You read that correct. Your employer can make you work hundreds of hours of unfairly paid overtime. And the best part? "Computer Systems" and "Computer Networks" are such a broad description, they apply to almost all fields of IT.
Are you a salary employee? Well, I hope they'll give you banked hours, because then you are DOUBLE screwed.

Obviously, there are rare exemptions to what I have stated, and yes there are definitely some great companies in the Okanagan - but the general consensus from the majority of employees here is that THIS PLACE STINKS!

News stations, schools, and employers will say otherwise, but I feel like the truth has to be told.

[Nasturtium]

Thanks for your insightful post StevenB.

I couldn't agree more. Many professionals I know - especially women - with years of experience, work for less than half the $ paid to them in city centres, yet their bosses make the same amount acoss the board in BC

[LANDM]

And, the absolute beauty of it is, nobody is forcing you or anyone else to accept a job here, or move here, or work for lower wages. Isn't that wonderful?

All you have to do is move back to Vancouver or Toronto or wherever else you want to make the bigger dollars. And then you get the "big city tax", which means you pay more for housing and, depending on the personal situation, either enjoy a lower or higher standard of living on the personal end of things.

Having the freedom to make those choices, instead of bitching about them on a local forum, is a wonderful thing!!

[Nasturtium]

And, the absolute beauty of it is, nobody is forcing you or anyone else to accept a job here, or move here, or work for lower wages. Isn't that wonderful?

All you have to do is move back to Vancouver or Toronto or wherever else you want to make the bigger dollars. And then you get the "big city tax", which means you pay more for housing and, depending on the personal situation, either enjoy a lower or higher standard of living on the personal end of things.

Having the freedom to make those choices, instead of bitching about them on a local forum, is a wonderful thing!!

Could have set my watch to the response

[TylerM4]

Steven, sorry to hear about your challenges finding employment.

I'm curious. What education and experience do you have?

I look around my IT shop, lots of younger folks working there. In fact, very few of them are 50+

[lesliepaul]

What a complete B.S. success story.........again........only from the complete losers on Kelowna city council. If you are bragging, I certainly do not see benefits here (other than lower paying tech jobs and owners lining their own pockets with cheap labour) as I see in other locals that TRULY have a tech industry of some magnitude. Hey Basran........I suppose we are the same as Boulder, Colorado now (hope you enjoyed your holiday there on our dime)! If you had some kind of education you would certainly see we will never be what others are.

[LANDM]

And, the absolute beauty of it is, nobody is forcing you or anyone else to accept a job here, or move here, or work for lower wages. Isn't that wonderful?

All you have to do is move back to Vancouver or Toronto or wherever else you want to make the bigger dollars. And then you get the "big city tax", which means you pay more for housing and, depending on the personal situation, either enjoy a lower or higher standard of living on the personal end of things.

Having the freedom to make those choices, instead of bitching about them on a local forum, is a wonderful thing!!

Could have set my watch to the response

Thank you. Maybe I was Swiss in another life. I pride myself on acting quickly when I see lunacy.

[Even Steven]

Apparently the tech sector grew by 30% in Okanagan over the last three years.

Good to see.

[36Drew]

As someone who has worked in the industry for quite a few years now

If you really have the chops, then you should move somewhere that has the real jobs with the real salaries. As you've already identified, most of the jobs there are of the office IT type, or as a network engineer.

That stuff is boring. Boring stuff sucks the life out of you, is uninspiring, and (to be honest) an office IT monkey is dime-a-dozen... especially around the Okanagan.

Come down to the coast. Go play with the likes of CA, SalesForce, Amazon (AWS), Microsoft (Azure), or any of the plethora of smaller players that have real cashflow and are doing cool things. If you're more of an IT/Networks/Systems guy, go work for an integrator/consultancy like Trinimbus.

The Okanagan (and Kelowna in particular) have been pimping the Silicon Vineyard mythos for nearly two decades now. It's been a non-starter the entire time. Maybe one day they'll get it right, but if you're a skilled and well-practiced technologist, you shouldn't have to suffer for it.

[HP]

If you really have the chops, then you should move somewhere that has the real jobs with the real salaries

That can be much easier said than done. I question many people actually having the 'chops' either - and there are very few employers willing to hire somebody with, let's say 15 years 'Okanagan' experience but a lot of potential.

I think the complaints come from people who want to build up their experience but have discovered that there is no way to do that in Kelowna building excel spreadsheets and making sure printers are functioning. That's the trap - you get lulled in with images of this vibrant, multi-billion dollar industry only with lots of 'entry level' opportunity only to discover after a few years that the experience you're gaining is almost useless, there are no more senior jobs if you look behind the curtain, and that prospects for anything else aren't much better. Mix in wife, kids, and roots in the ground and suddenly just pulling up stakes and going someplace else isn't a choice.

I'm lucky, I do have the chops and I have found a way to make a good living in technology without needing to rely on the local guys who believe that MS Access is cutting edge technology. I'm highly critical of most of the local tech believers because I've seen them for what they are. I learned some valuable things along the way from them too -

• partnership in business is more than just raiding the other guy's client list,
• never ever ever ever work for a family business where more than one family member is employed in the organization,
• if the boss and his wife arrive at the same time but in separate cars, don't talk to either of them
• "if you're not in sales, you're overhead" is something that people actually say and seriously believe
• a 40 year old man will work for $13/hr if he's despondent enough
• Keep a close eye on your boss's car - when it gets a few years old there could be layoffs
• You can run a 24x7 shop on 4 people and a modest coffee budget
• You've been promoted to manager = I need to deliver bad news and I'm scared
• If you can't get orders, just hire a call center and run the credit card numbers they collect quick
• Don't ask too many questions if you meet the 'investors'. There are some things you don't want to know.

I might sound jaded but I'm not inventing anything in the list - these observations have all come from personal experience working for many of the pretend organizations in Kelowna. The beauty is that my list could translate to any industry in any city but I think this is also endemic within the Okanagan tech ecosystem. In tech, we want to believe that somehow we are above Radio Shack and I think, for the most part, we are considerably above that unless you're actually working at Radio Shack (the source.. I know). My experience in Kelowna is that most business leaders have come from early-career retail environments (i.e. they owned a franchise of some sort or their business caters to that kind of retail environment) where they made a few dollars and they're just practicing what they know. I'm not trying to validate their approach, only to understand it.

There are very few true leaders in the Okanagan tech industry. What there are is a lot of people trying to prove that the myth of the Okanagan lifestyle is attainable but those guys aren't setting an example of business excellence, they're contributing to the dumbing down of the whole scene. There is a disproportionate number of employees who are taking MUCH bigger risks working for their company than their owners are by being entrepreneurs. This points to my observation above - more interested in boats and toys than the people slugging it out in the trenches supporting your aspirations. When the business is teetering on the edge, you stand to lose your boat - I don't eat. Something doesn't seem right if your boss isn't in the trenches with you when the bullets are flying - I don't care if you don't know how to shoot a gun (that's my job) but you can at least bring me some bullets.

There is a certain sense of cosmic justice that I've come to expect. I want fundamentally bad things to happen to people who do bad things and I want to see failure as a consequence yet I see positive outcomes and reinforcement. I can't reconcile the situation.

I don't want to leave this missive on a down note. There are some tech organizations in the area doing some truly interesting things in a good way but most people haven't heard of them. If you know them, you know who they are and they don't need a stream of press releases to try to convince the world they're relevant. They're also not hiring because they're not churning through employees due to bad practices.

From time to time I miss the neat rush that comes from working for an organization where you aren't sure if it's going to be there tomorrow or not - it's hard work and it's 'fun' at the time because you see differences being made and maybe things will be OK if we all just pull together. For that fleeting moment I consider working for a local employer again then I look at my bills and remember the same 'rush' trying to figure out how to pay $2000 of bills with $1000 of income, consider everything I've written about the amazing tech industry in the Okanagan, and elect to just lay down until the feeling goes away.

[lesliepaul]

Well said HP.........I doubt our free-loading mayor would read this since it would be too lengthy and he gets bored real fast.

You hit the nail on the head. Like so many business's here.........the owners believe in minimal effort for maximum profit and with that attitude tech jobs and wages will always be a joke and provide little "true" experience for the employee to take and move forward with in their tech careers.

[Retrosnap]

http://www.hrtechgroup.com/files/PDF/HR%20Tech%20Group%20BC%20Tech%20Survey_9.20.16_FINAL.pdf

This year’s survey expanded to include British Columbia’s growing visual effects/animation industry.

Ten major film and/or animation companies took part in survey, including SONY Pictures Imageworks,
Industrial Light & Magic and Technicolor’s MPC. Some of the highest salaries in that industry include
Specialist Lighting Artists and VFX Artists ($105,000/year) and Senior Animators ($93,000/year).

“The VFX/animation sector is one of the most dynamic and fastest growing industries in the BC economy
and the increased participation from these firms in the BC Tech Salary Survey proves that,” explained
Rutherford. “HR Tech Group is pleased to be able to showcase, in detail, how much this industry is
thriving and providing high-paying jobs in our province.”

While visual effects and animation jobs are finding their place among the top paying jobs in BC, more
traditional technology positons in the software industry remain lucrative and also saw steady gains:

- Junior Software Developers (with two to four years of experience) earned an average salary of $75,400/year (up from $73,000 in 2015).

- With four or more years of experience behind them, Senior Software Developers earned an average of $93,900/ year, up 5.4% from the previous year.

Here's the list of surveyed employers. I recognize one that has a Kelowna presence. Are there any others from Kelowna? I know that there are plenty of Kelowna companies NOT on this list. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that their responses would have brought the average salary way down.

http://www.hrtechgroup.com/files/PDF/Overview_of_Survey_Participants_2016.PDF

[36Drew]

Here's the list of surveyed employers. I recognize one that has a Kelowna presence. Are there any others from Kelowna? I know that there are plenty of Kelowna companies NOT on this list. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that their responses would have brought the average salary way down.

I recognize most of the names on the list, and they're based down here. One thing I'm certain that has not been accounted for in the salary report is bonuses. Those are base salaries.

I can only speak for the games industry, but very typical are:

Stock (not options) grants. The larger studios all do this. It's not insignificant, either. 10-20k/yr. Grants are awarded for hires, promotions, and performance rewards. They're typically in large blocks that are released at a rate of 1/3 over 3 years. My spot-stocks (performance rewards) are released all at once.
Performance bonuses. Working in tech means unpaid overtime. They compensate for that with crazy-ass bonuses. up to 20% of your base salary.
...and a lot of places have RRSP matching and ESPP programs. Here, your ESPP purchases go a long way. There's two 6-month periods, and stocks can be purchased at a rate of 15% below the lowest strike price of the preceding six months. It's an instant 15% gain.

I don't need to get into any appendage-waving contests, but the above can add up significantly...

[HP]

I doubt our free-loading mayor would read this since it would be too lengthy and he gets bored real fast.

I don't know our mayor personally so I don't know if he's a freeloader or has a short attention span but he's really only a victim of being the latest cheerleader for this charade. Let me flip the situation around - assume it was all doom-and-gloom. "No point investing in Kelowna, it's a technology wasteland".... that won't really address the matter either. He's a cheerleader for the community and that is exactly what I expect from our mayor.

Stock (not options) grants. The larger studios all do this. It's not insignificant, either. 10-20k/yr. Grants are awarded for hires, promotions, and performance rewards. They're typically in large blocks that are released at a rate of 1/3 over 3 years. My spot-stocks (performance rewards) are released all at once.
Performance bonuses. Working in tech means unpaid overtime. They compensate for that with crazy-ass bonuses. up to 20% of your base salary.
...and a lot of places have RRSP matching and ESPP programs. Here, your ESPP purchases go a long way. There's two 6-month periods, and stocks can be purchased at a rate of 15% below the lowest strike price of the preceding six months. It's an instant 15% gain.

Yup. These things really add up and they really do exist. I'm not in the gaming industry but another industry and these things exist elsewhere, too. They don't gloss over all the shortcomings but it becomes much easier to want to invest in the success of your organization when you're seen as more than just overhead.

[twinm3t3or]

Well said. This is just a parasite tech economy which robs employees of a respectable wage & does not contribute like a real economy does. I work out of town, drive an hour to work everyday and I STILL make a better wage then the scraps that Kelowna employers pay you.