Salary In Montreal

melong · May 2014

Hi guyz,

I don't know if this question has been asked specifically but i didn't find anything about it when searching.

I recently had an offer from a company based in Montreal.
From what i have now and the information i could get, i find this is a rather low offer but i really have no idea what money my profile can make over there.

So i'm a generalist game artist since almost 8 years mainly on mobile phones. I do really various tasks from concept, 2D to 3D, animation with a main focus on dynamic stuff like rigging, animation, FX, shaders, tech art (i can code in CG/GLSL, C#, Python) etc...

The salary i have been offered is 45k$ CAD a year.

It would be really helpful if some of you had some numbers to throw around in relation with my background and in the area of montreal.

Thanks in advance!

shaderfx · May 2014

$45k is low for Montreal (for your experience/skills...going by only what you said, not being able to verify). Like Hermit said, it is on the top-end of junior pay.

Alphavader · May 2014

you could also try pages like "Glassdor" to get an insight.
Good side - would be nice, if more people give some anonymous insight
about salarys and reviews!

LMP · May 2014

I left you a PM. I didn't feel comfortable posting about my past salary in Montreal publicly. I've got less than 3 years of experience and that number sounds kinda low to me.

Clos3d · May 2014

I live and been working in MTL my whole life, 45k is a Junior salary.For 8years of experieces, as you said, is low.

A standard offer for your level will be 2-3week vacation and at least 55-60K.

This is standard for mid to AAA studio.

PixelMasher · May 2014

even 55-60k still seems a bit low for 8 years experience, but then again most companies will lowball you. 45k is pretty laughable, especially if its a larger company making you an offer. but also, depends on the strenght of your portfolio. get ready to be ass raped by taxes here.

MagicSugar · May 2014

You should check an online Canada salary calculator that'll factor in taxes and maybe cost of renting.

If you're outside Canada, familiarize yourself with the tax rates. It's different between provinces. Hopefully you can find a realistic balance as far as your expectations are concerned between quality of life (vibrant vs boring but cheap city, for example) and job benefits (so-so salary but working at brand name studio, etc.).

melong · May 2014

@Hermit: Yes my website is not really up to date, i should work on that actually

The problem is i didn't spent 8 years to work on the same field so my skillset is scattered across a lot of different areas and that might reflect on my portfolio.
I only shifted recently (a couple of years) toward more technical stuffs like FX and shaders. I learned C# also to be able to build dynamic effects by myself without the help of a programmer.
It proved to be really helpful in my actual company but i guess being so scattered does not help me much if i want to move to other companies.

Anyway thank you guyz for the informations. That is really valuable.

Bruno Afonseca · May 2014

It really depends on the studio and the position. People that mentioned their salaries to me were between 42 and 60. You can live comfortably with 45k for sure.

JacqueChoi · May 2014

I came here when I was already a Senior so I can't speak for certain.

But 30-35k as entry level seems to be pretty standard.
Juniors go as high as $50k.

Intermediates go from 50-65k

Seniors/Leads start around 65k and go as high as they are valuable (A few senior character artists around town were pushing $160k, but they are very well known 'names').

Hazardous · May 2014

160k as a character artist?!?! Why am I not in Canada?!?!?!

Blond · May 2014

Hazardous wrote: »

160k as a character artist?!?! Why am I not in Canada?!?!?!

Maybe he was art lead or something like that...

MagicSugar · May 2014

Blond wrote: »

Maybe he was art lead or something like that...

Headhunted!

Many big studios there, if you're a stud they'll outbid each other to get you. Happened before.

xvampire · May 2014

Tax ischoking here. Dont get blinded by big raw Number.

Bruno Afonseca · May 2014

xvampire wrote: »

Tax ischoking here. Dont get blinded by big raw Number.

Yup, expect to have 35% of your salary to vanish before it gets to you. Sales tax is about 15%.

Goeddy · May 2014

fonfa wrote: »

Yup, expect to have 35% of your salary to vanish before it gets to you. Sales tax is about 15%.

pffffff 35% thats nothing.
try living in soviet europe

Baj Singh · May 2014

d1ver · May 2014

55 would seem a bit more fair to me purely from the info you've given us, but you know, it's extremely hard to judge. I can just second that even on 45 you can survive quite all right especially if you're single. But it doesn't mean that you shouldn't seek what you feel is fair compensation.

Glassdoor is really helpful here or you can just apply to every other company in Montreal and see if they will offer you something better than that

Best of luck mate!

MagicSugar · May 2014

d1ver wrote: »

I can just second that even on 45 you can survive quite all right especially if you're single. But it doesn't mean that you shouldn't seek what you feel is fair compensation.

There are two income taxes, look at this site http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html

There's Federal: 22% for under $87K (2014 tax rate)

Then there's Provinical: Quebec's rate 20% http://www.revenuquebec.ca/en/citoyen/impots/rens_comp/taux.aspx

44% plus I dunno, some other bullshit cuts like pension and health insurance (you gotta find out if these'll apply to you), that'll leave you what...around $25K net. Maybe half your monthly pay will go to rent alone unless you like to share wiith roomies.

Like I said, balance your expectations with reality. Opportunity could be a stepping stone to bigger pay in another North American studio. But you may want to delay your desire to buy toys for at least one dev cycle.

Live on poutine! It's good over there.

Salary In Montreal

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