Hi j9lad, I am guessing you read my experience here.
Regarding your questions:
- I did not end up talking to the company on the US side as I was just casually browsing what companies are posting jobs and ended up interviewing with a few. Having said that I (and many others) can confirm that the salary/TC follows this order:
US company, US location > US company, Canada location > Canadian company, Canada location
My personal opinion is that you can try all that you mentioned but it will depend on the company. And moving from the US to Canada (changing your location) will lead to reduction of total pay. I remember my friend had to move from Amazon Seattle to Amazon Vancouver and got paid in CAD (given that Amazon is one of the highest paying employer in Canada, it was lower than what the US branch was paying).
As for starting from scratch, I don’t think they will ignore your US experience. I had a similar opinion as you do, but I was proven wrong right away during the interviewing process. Canadian companies (at least the tech ones) do value your US experience. So go ahead and apply for the level you think you deserve
- Yeah Toronto definitely has way more opportunities. However opportunities are growing in both the cities. And yes you can try a remote role from Toronto firm. It will basically boil down to whatever offers you get but I don’t think the offers are going to be that different based on the city afaik. You will definitely see a stark difference in pay between US companies and Canadian ones (maybe Shopify and some others might be able to match US company in Canada compensation)
All the best with everything!