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Escape from California?
An anonymous reader asks: "Is there any escape from California? I'm a very experienced software engineer (7+ years) with a MSEE and lots of great work experience. Even in this market, jobs in CA are easy to grab if I want them. Trouble is, I don't want to live here anymore. Six figures in Northern CA gets mostly pissed away on a mortgage for a house that isn't worth half that anywhere else, and I'm pretty much just waiting for the earthquake to hit and wipe it out. I'd love to move to the midwest, but decent software jobs seem to not exist. I'm more than willing to take a huge paycut to get a job there, but where to even start looking?"
I for one am getting out of california and moving to Nevada. No state tax and it is also not raping the second amendment. As far as jobs go I pretty much plan on getting out of the computer industry as my permanent job. There is always freelance, and frankly I'm getting bored with it.
Depending on where you want to work, you might find something of interest in this region. Besides government work, there are many businesses in Northern Virgnia, and lots of stuff in suburban Maryland. And, hey, housing prices are outrageous in this area too!
I think that would actually be a large hidden benefit of telecomuting with software engineering.
Since you can't glean info from the coworkers in the hall, you'll probably get it from them in writing, and if its in writing, it can be in the documentation, and if you put it in the documentation, then everybody knows.
Need a Catering Connection
Until the beginning of this year, I was working for a large corporation near Portland, Oregon. When they started downsizing, they offered me a generous severance package to leave. I took it and moved to Boise, Idaho, where I'm originally from.
I used the package to buy a house, and started living off of my savings while looking for a job. It took me about three months to find one. I've moved from being a software engineer at $62k per year to being a hardware tester at $15 per hour. But I absolutely don't regret it. I'm very happy here and don't miss Portland at all.
Though my pay has dropped from >5k / month to 2.5k / month, my actual take-home has only dropped to about 60% of what it was because I'm in a lower tax bracket. Further, my mortgage is now $500 / month less than it was, from $1110 to $609.
Start looking in all of the places you'd like to move to. If you've never been there, take some time off and go there, or talk to someone who has. There are relatively few jobs away from the coast, but they are out here. Check the local newspapers, and see what you can find. Find out who the big employers are in the towns you're interested in, and start trying to contact people within them.
Finally, if you're unhappy, move. You only live once.
While were doubtless not the only govenrment hiring, I know Montana's state government is hiring and would love to get smart experienced techs. We're about as different as you can get from California (you will have to enter state of montana in the job type field, I can't seem to find a way to get the URL to recognise any search terms). Understand that your pay will stink, but you can pick up a nice house for 150,000 or so, your commute will be 20 min tops, and I live both down town and a five minute walk from a place that you can see one house far on the horizon. If you do decide to move here, either don't admit you are from California, don't comment on the deal you are getting for your house, and don't tell anyone I told you to come up here. If you wanted more money try Boise, ID or one of the university towns in the west. If the example job is well below your skill level, as it sorta looks, I am sorry, no insults were intended, and a single guy will live like a king here on that salary range.
Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
Damn californians!! stay out of washington!! no more room for you all!! :) (joking!!!!!)
seriously though, a lot of seattlites moving to spokane/northeast WA to get away from the californians coming to seattleish area...
- This isn't the sig you're looking for. Move along, move along..
The fact that you CAN find a six figure job there is a hint you should stay.
I'm not in your shoes but: 5 years exp, no college degree but MCSE, LCA, CCNA, LPI and now RHCE, and the market in Toronto sucks. I am working in a small company helping with the database, and the IT guys are practically fighting over the position. My 6-month long search in various sectors has received abysmal replies. (maybe its just the lack of degree)
I'm looking for an excuse to move to California.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
Last year I saw my company flailing, and I decided to bail. I left Santa Cruz, CA with no job, a dog, and my girlfriend. We moved to Pennsylvania, but I could not find a job due to 911. Fortunately I was able to land a job near Baltimore, and now we are looking at buying a row home in the city. I lost 40 pounds and never felt better, so my suggestion is to just pick up and leave, it worked out for me. One thing that I did was take a pay cut, but I am finding out that I didn't have to do that, or at least not as much. I have a BSEE with 5 years exp and that is worth money anywhere.
move along, nothing to
Well have you considered New Jersey?
Don't believe the common image of the state as a toxic hellhole - that's just the view from NYC (from NYC, you look out onto Newark and Jersey City, so I can understand the confusion). Most of the state is gorgeous, and the real estate prices, while not nearly the deal that they are in some parts of the midwest, are sane.
There's plenty of work as you get closer to New York, especially if you're at all inclined to work in financial or biotech places. (The New Brunswick-Princeton corridor is good too)
As you get closer to Philadelphia, the places that are hiring techs tend more towards regional offices of large corporations. (It's also my impression that there's a good deal of embedded stuff that people aren't allowed to talk about going on in Burlington and Atlantic counties) If you don't mind suburbia, I keep hearing that the Rt. 202 corridor NW from Philadelphia is a reasonably warm tech spot. (And I suppose I should point you at the local job website that found me my job)
If you head further south, into Delaware, you get companies that are all feeding off of subsidiary businesses surrounding the great DuPont, (or weasel businesses playing shell games with Delaware's loose corporate laws) and sales-tax-free shopping too.
I understand that there's tech. stuff both further north and further south, but what I've heard about both the NC (Research Triangle) and Boston area job markets is not encouraging.