Moving to Montreal...

Bonjour!

I've recently been thinking about making the move to Canada, with Montreal top of the list.
I've been living in Australia for almost 2 years now and feel the time has come to move on.
I've met a fair few Canadians during my travels and have to say they were a friendly and intelligent bunch.

So I've made the decision to make a new start there probably around July/August this year.

My questions are:

Working in IT (web/software development/management), will it be difficult to get work?
I have intermediate level French, but it's my aim to become fluent.
I've worked in IT for about 3 years now.
Also, I'm Irish and 25 years old. I'm guessing a visa should be easy to get?

What areas/neighborhoods do people recommend.
I'm basically looking for somewhere fairly central, easy for going out, etc.
I like French/European style architecture, so that would be a bonus!

Cheers,
Nigel Reply to this

Ah, Montreal. What a fantastic city.

Based on my friends who are completing their "before-30" checklists, it should be fairly easy to get IT work despite your non-fluency en francais.
I lived for several years in Montreal, and I lived mostly central. The areas I've lived: just west of the McGill campus (downtown or centre-ville), Quartier Latin and le Plateau.

I adored the Plateau...rents can be a bit pricey but there are still some good deals to be had. Many of the buildings are older with the post-card Montreal image of the spiraling staircase. I lived on Coloniale for a while, great street! Lots of students though! But if architecture is your thing, you'll love the Plateau.
I also lived near the corner of Amherst and Ontario, which is in the Quartier Latin...great option with groceries, a veggie market and bakery, several choices of buses and metro stops (Berri, Sherbrooke, Beaudry), close to St Denis and St Laurent (yay awesome restaurant's and great bars!)
Living closer to Cresent and Bishop is quite a bit more pricey, unless you decide to head towards NDG, which is a bit of a bus-ride or metro ride but some great deals for apartments can be found there.
I find that the further you get away from the McGill University campus, the cheaper the rents. A few years back there was a bit of a housing crisis and rental prices near the university went up dramatically.

July/August, eh? What an awesome time to be in Montreal. Fireworks, comedy fest, fringe fest, movie fest...so much fun!!! Reply to this

Generally IT jobs do not require that you are fluent in French (but always tell them that you are going to work on becoming fluent in French). But you may find that it is difficult to get a job in IT in most hospitals in Montreal if you are not fluent in French. Some hospitals are more English-speaking than others although they are all supposed to operate mainly in French. The more English speaking ones are The Royal Victoria (downtown), The Jewish General (central) and the Lakeshore General (in Pointe Claire - a western suburb). Good luck. Reply to this

best place for moving.
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