Microsoft Vancouver is adding the equivalent of 10 large B.C. tech companies
And other ways to think about the company's recent hiring announcement.
Microsoft announced that it’s adding more than 500 jobs to its Vancouver operations, bringing the company’s presence in the city to a whopping 1,700 employees spread across multiple offices. The roles will focus on key applications in “Intelligent Communications, Office, Azure, OneDrive, Web Experiences and mixed reality.”
Microsoft shared the news as part of a larger announcement of investments into Canadian innovation and growth, which also includes a new Azure Edge Zone in Vancouver.
Edge Zones are extensions of Microsoft Azure’s cloud services and are intended to place infrastructure near customers to support latency-sensitive workloads and improve connectivity to the world’s largest cloud, the company said.
The Vancouver Edge Zone will be complementary to existing Canadian Azure locations and will enable Western Canadian healthcare and public sector customers to address data residency and compliance requirements.
Contextualizing the scope of Microsoft’s hiring plans
Successive BC Technology Report Cards from the BC Tech Association note the threshold to be one of the largest 10% of tech companies in B.C. is an employee count of 50. Considering that fact, we can say that Microsoft Vancouver is adding the equivalent of 10 large tech companies to the province. And here’s another way to think about the announcement:
If B.C. tech workers earn on average $91,520 a year ($1,760 x 52 weeks, per BC Stats), then you could look at this as a minimum investment into talent worth north of $45 million.
(And if you want even more to think about… $45 million is seven and a half times the base budget of Innovate BC ($6.1 million), the provincial crown agency with a mandate to grow B.C.’s innovation economy… 🤔)
Okay, most of you are likely just wondering how to actually get one of those jobs. Don’t worry, we’ve got you.
How to land a job at Microsoft Vancouver
Pamela Saunders, the company’s local head of PR and social impact, shared this recent tip:
In addition, Saunders is this week’s special guest on ‘Morning Coffee’, Vancouver Tech Journal’s weekly show on the Clubhouse app. Join us this Tuesday, March 30 at 9 am PST for an exclusive conversation with insights that you won’t hear anywhere else.
If you need an invitation to Clubhouse, please get in touch: william@vantechjournal.com
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