IT in the Tampa area

My family and I are considering moving to the Tampa area as a first choice and north miami/Boca as a second option. Anyone on here from either of those areas know how the IT market is and can you offer some suggestions on areas to avoid/areas to look in for homes?

I'd like to keep the commute to an hour or less and we prefer rural over suburb but are not too picky for the right area.

Edit: Sarasota is our preferred spot but I didn't see much as far as IT goes in the area. My wife is certified in a few different medical field things and with her degree she won't have much trouble finding work.

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spiderjericho

Hopefully, one of the civilian ITs in Tampa can chime in. But there seems to be a decent job market here civilian/military. Orlando is an hour away if worst case.

My military contract doesn't end anytime soon so I haven't tried the market myself but there is a size able military industrial complex here with MacDill AFB. Obviously, there is a decent sized metropolis with needs too. I've met folks from Bright House, HP, Bucs Stadium, hospitals, etc.

It does also depend on your skills, experience, etc.

--chris--

Thanks spider. To work in the government/military arena you would need to be prior T'S or similar clearance right? There are no "walk on" jobs in that realm?

How are places like land of lakes, brandon, plant city as far as industry/business? Are there areas in tampa that are business centers that I should plan on commuting to for work?

spiderjericho

A lot of times you have to have a Secret or TS clearance to have your foot through the door on this base, especially CENTCOM, SOCOM, SOCCENT and JCSE.

I can't really comment on the IT market outside of the base but it looks like there are pockets of business in Downtown Tampa, by the air port, St Pete, Clear Water, etc.

I was was hoping someone would chime in with the public sector.

NOLAJ

IT Market in Tampa is pretty solid! Anything specific you're looking for, industry wise? I work for a law firm, in its Tampa office (downtown).

--chris--

NOLAJ wrote: »

IT Market in Tampa is pretty solid! Anything specific you're looking for, industry wise? I work for a law firm, in its Tampa office (downtown).

I am still under a year in IT, so I am pretty open to anything as far as the field goes. Moving to Sarasota/Tampa has been a dream of ours for 10+ years, so we are just excited to be in the position to move finally.

I live north of Detroit about 1.5 hours right now (rural and near two failed cities), so I would assume most cities would have a better job market than where I currently live.

I had a few minutes today to look on job boards around Sarasota and honestly it looks good to me. A few NOC jobs, some MSP stuff, JOAT ads...more than I am seeing around here. Am I mistaken?

Can anyone fill me in on "areas" to avoid or rough areas in general?

NOLAJ

--chris-- wrote: »

Can anyone fill me in on "areas" to avoid or rough areas in general?

As far as living or working? I assume living. Pretty cool tool... MyLocalCrime

Congrats on getting out of that s**t hole (Detroit).

JoJoCal19

Hey Chris, I've been in the Tampa area for over a year, moved from the Jacksonville area. Tampa has arguably the best IT job market in Florida in my opinion as the Miami might have a slight edge on numbers of jobs, there are more people there competing for them than the Tampa area (and I've just not heard anything good on these forums about the Miami IT job market). Jacksonville is a close second to Tampa. I know you guys have your heart set on the Sarasota/Tampa area, but I would recommend Jacksonville. The traffic in Tampa is horrendous compared to Jacksonville (I commuted to/from work in Jax from suburbs for 15 years). The drivers in Tampa flat out suck. Insurance is ridiculously higher for both car and home. And sinkholes (however if you live in Sarasota/Bradenton which is in Sarasota and Manatee Co its not an issue). You mentioned you like more rural suburb and I'm assuming commuting to the city for work. The Jacksonville area is great for that. Check out St Augustine, which is where we moved from. You can also commute in from Middleburg, Fernandina/Yulee. You can find nice communities in a more rural setting and be a 30 minute drive into Jax.

Now I'll address Tampa since you specifically asked about that:

Lots of folks live in the Sarasota/Bradenton area and commute to Tampa (via I75N) or St Pete (via Sunshine Skyway/275N). Traffic is really easing heading north from those areas. If you live in the northern Tampa suburbs like me and commute south, it will be hell. I live in Wesley Chapel which borders Land O Lakes. It has the rural feel you want. But I dont recommend moving here (or anywhere in Pasco County) at all. Pasco is stuck in the mid 1900s. Wesley Chapel/LOL area has all the people but you have to commute to BFE Dade City or all the way to New Port Richey to do most gov related stuff like water, tax collector office, etc. It's awful. Also Pasco is sinkhole country. And the infrastructure is so far behind the amount of people that live there. I HIGHLY recommend Ellenton/Bradenton/Sarasota. It's beautiful there and better than living in Pasco county in every way. I researched it highly as if I was staying working in Tampa that's where we would go to live (I've decided to move back to the Jax area). I've already been enough off topic about non IT aspect of moving here so PM me and I'll give you more info on the specifics of where to live aspect.

As for jobs in Tampa, there are more than enough to go around. I will say though you need to step your certification game up. Recruiters do searches by credentials and that is how I keep getting contacted by recruiters on a daily basis. I think there are plenty of NOC, MSP and JOAT jobs in the Tampa area from my research.

Overall, I highly recommend you come spend a week in Florida and check it out for yourself. Target neighborhoods specifically, do the commute to where you think you'd like to work. See what rush hour traffic is like.

--chris--

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

Hey Chris, I've been in the Tampa area for over a year, moved from the Jacksonville area. Tampa has arguably the best IT job market in Florida in my opinion as the Miami might have a slight edge on numbers of jobs, there are more people there competing for them than the Tampa area (and I've just not heard anything good on these forums about the Miami IT job market). Jacksonville is a close second to Tampa. I know you guys have your heart set on the Sarasota/Tampa area, but I would recommend Jacksonville. The traffic in Tampa is horrendous compared to Jacksonville (I commuted to/from work in Jax from suburbs for 15 years). The drivers in Tampa flat out suck. Insurance is ridiculously higher for both car and home. And sinkholes (however if you live in Sarasota/Bradenton which is in Sarasota and Manatee Co its not an issue). You mentioned you like more rural suburb and I'm assuming commuting to the city for work. The Jacksonville area is great for that. Check out St Augustine, which is where we moved from. You can also commute in from Middleburg, Fernandina/Yulee. You can find nice communities in a more rural setting and be a 30 minute drive into Jax.

Now I'll address Tampa since you specifically asked about that:

Lots of folks live in the Sarasota/Bradenton area and commute to Tampa (via I75N) or St Pete (via Sunshine Skyway/275N). Traffic is really easing heading north from those areas. If you live in the northern Tampa suburbs like me and commute south, it will be hell. I live in Wesley Chapel which borders Land O Lakes. It has the rural feel you want. But I dont recommend moving here (or anywhere in Pasco County) at all. Pasco is stuck in the mid 1900s. Wesley Chapel/LOL area has all the people but you have to commute to BFE Dade City or all the way to New Port Richey to do most gov related stuff like water, tax collector office, etc. It's awful. Also Pasco is sinkhole country. And the infrastructure is so far behind the amount of people that live there. I HIGHLY recommend Ellenton/Bradenton/Sarasota. It's beautiful there and better than living in Pasco county in every way. I researched it highly as if I was staying working in Tampa that's where we would go to live (I've decided to move back to the Jax area). I've already been enough off topic about non IT aspect of moving here so PM me and I'll give you more info on the specifics of where to live aspect.

As for jobs in Tampa, there are more than enough to go around. I will say though you need to step your certification game up. Recruiters do searches by credentials and that is how I keep getting contacted by recruiters on a daily basis. I think there are plenty of NOC, MSP and JOAT jobs in the Tampa area from my research.

Overall, I highly recommend you come spend a week in Florida and check it out for yourself. Target neighborhoods specifically, do the commute to where you think you'd like to work. See what rush hour traffic is like.

Thanks a ton, its that kind of input I was looking for.

I will PM you shortly, thanks!

@ NOLAJ, we are looking forward to getting away from both Detroit and Flint! We are sandwiched between them, getting all the crap that goes with it.

6502

I live north of Miami in Ft Lauderdale and commute to Boca. You might have an edge in Miami if you can speak Spanish. I mainly targeted Broward County and Miami in my job search and didn't feel there was a lot of opportunities.

The drivers in S Florida are dangerous, so a short commute is better. Also be careful of the schools. I don't know about Tampa but we have a lot of bad schools in Broward.

w00t

I lived in Bradenton/Sarasota my whole life basically. (I was born in Sarasota and grew up in Bradenton.) I moved away to Georgia Atlanta because I couldn't seem to get any better jobs there. I thought about Tampa myself, but I was ready to get out of FL at this point. I can definitely say Bradenton/Sarasota is a good area, but not that many IT jobs there. I tried to find another one and I did not have much luck for anything better then I currently had. If you decide any Sarasota/Bradenton areas, I can let you know what areas are safe or to stay away from.

W Stewart

I haven't had any trouble finding linux admin jobs in Tampa. I'd suggest living in St Petersburg and commuting to Tampa. You'll be going against traffic in the morning which will definitely make for a less stressful commute. At a previous place I worked at, my coworkers who lived in St Petersburg made it to work faster than me because of all of the traffic I was sitting in. St Pete is also a nice quiet town where everything is close. Another thing to consider is Clearwater. St Petersburg is closer to Clearwater than Tampa and you may just end up finding a decent opportunity out there.

W Stewart

--chris-- wrote: »

I am still under a year in IT, so I am pretty open to anything as far as the field goes. Moving to Sarasota/Tampa has been a dream of ours for 10+ years, so we are just excited to be in the position to move finally.

I live north of Detroit about 1.5 hours right now (rural and near two failed cities), so I would assume most cities would have a better job market than where I currently live.

I had a few minutes today to look on job boards around Sarasota and honestly it looks good to me. A few NOC jobs, some MSP stuff, JOAT ads...more than I am seeing around here. Am I mistaken?

Can anyone fill me in on "areas" to avoid or rough areas in general?

Stay away from Temple Terrace(Tampa). Not as bad as detroit but the cops around there are crooked and so are most of the apartment complex managers. They may change their name from time to time in an attempt to escape their reputation.

--chris--

W Stewart wrote: »

I haven't had any trouble finding linux admin jobs in Tampa. I'd suggest living in St Petersburg and commuting to Tampa. You'll be going against traffic in the morning which will definitely make for a less stressful commute. At a previous place I worked at, my coworkers who lived in St Petersburg made it to work faster than me because of all of the traffic I was sitting in. St Pete is also a nice quiet town where everything is close. Another thing to consider is Clearwater. St Petersburg is closer to Clearwater than Tampa and you may just end up finding a decent opportunity out there.

We found some really affordable homes literally on the beach in St. Petes (Madeira Beach area), but I always thought it was a) rougher area and b)over populated. You say st. petes is a pretty nice area?

St. Pete/Clearwater has some amount of business/industry that may offer jobs as well?

Success101

W Stewart wrote: »

Stay away from Temple Terrace(Tampa). Not as bad as detroit but the cops around there are crooked and so are most of the apartment complex managers. They may change their name from time to time in an attempt to escape their reputation.

From my experience...anything East of 275 isn't worth the risk. I was told this when I first moved to Tampa and it seems to be very true.

--chris--

Living somewhere like st Pete's (which is a big island), is home owners more expensive than say somewhere inland like land o lakes?

We have always been very rural but have warmed up to suburban life if we could find a community that offered the benefits of a good community (events, parks, etc...).

I have been talking with a realtor but I like to bounce her answers off someone that doesn't stand to profit from me.

Back to IT. If we move I need to focus on becoming marketable to potential employers that probably won't recognize my small private colleges name and want other forms of certifiable knowledge.

should I continue straight on through to CCNA or pick up sec+ before moving on?

spiderjericho

Are you trying to be specialized or go for the generalist technician? CCNA would help you get a junior network administrator position in the greater Tampa area. Sec+ would be good for 8570 compliance if you're looking to get a job on base.

SteveO86

I lived down in the Palm Beach area for a good 4-hours, lived up in the Spring Hill area for another 4 years, and now I'm down in the Bradenton/Sarasota.

The Bradenton/Sarasota does not have a lot of options in regards to IT positions. (Not many network engineering positions anyway)

Tampa or St. Pete area would be your best bet for jobs. When I lived up in Spring Hill it was a good 45 minutes to some parts of Tampa.

The medical field is pretty big in the Sarasota/Bradenton area though. Same with Tampa there are quite a few larger hospitals.

--chris--

spiderjericho wrote: »

Are you trying to be specialized or go for the generalist technician? CCNA would help you get a junior network administrator position in the greater Tampa area. Sec+ would be good for 8570 compliance if you're looking to get a job on base.

With less than a year of experience on my resume, making a big move like this and in general now knowing what I want to do in IT yet (aside from eventually get into policy/procedure creation in the risk management/security realm) I am more concerned with getting a job than specializing.

@Steve, thanks for the confirmation. I have been visiting dice, indeed and CL daily looking for jobs in both the st. pete/tampa area and the Sarasota area. Seems like the Sarasota area has fewer jobs, but the ones that are their are either desktop or Joat jobs. Where as Tampa has everything + some I have not seen yet.

We are looking at homes in the Belair/Clearwater area near the coast. Anyone know how this area is? A little expensive, but it seems to be worth the premium.

SteveO86

Clearwater is a nice place. Tampa will most likely have most of the options, however once you get settle in you probably won't have problem.

From Clearwater to Tampa you could be looking at an hour commute if you don't mind the drive. (rush hour over the bridges can be fun if your not used to it)

--chris--

SteveO86 wrote: »

Clearwater is a nice place. Tampa will most likely have most of the options, however once you get settle in you probably won't have problem.

From Clearwater to Tampa you could be looking at an hour commute if you don't mind the drive. (rush hour over the bridges can be fun if your not used to it)

Thats what I was hoping to avoid by looking in clearwater. Id like to keep my commute to 30 maybe 40 minutes including traffic. I've done long haul commuting, it blows.

From my searching around, it appears Ruskin to Sarasota would be an area that would fit that bill and get me to I4 & I75 in around 45 minutes right?

JoJoCal19

--chris-- wrote: »

Thats what I was hoping to avoid by looking in clearwater. Id like to keep my commute to 30 maybe 40 minutes including traffic. I've done long haul commuting, it blows.

From my searching around, it appears Ruskin to Sarasota would be an area that would fit that bill and get me to I4 & I75 in around 45 minutes right?

It's not long haul commuting, it's ungodly amount of traffic commuting

The exit I live off is 10 miles from my work exit and it still takes 30+ minutes to commute in. And that's at 6:10am. If I leave like 10 minutes later it adds like 20 minutes to that commute. With working in Tampa you can basically choose to commute a long distance from Manatee/Sarasota counties which will take 40 minutes over a longer distance but not deal with sitting in traffic as much, or you can choose a short commute by living most anywhere else but still have 40+ minute commute times. The only way you're escaping a long commute timewise is to live near your work, and depending on where you work you really dont want to do that.

JoJoCal19

And to add, WHATEVER you do, absolutely, positively avoid commuting on 275 Southbound into Tampa near the I4 merge. No no no no no.

SteveO86

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

And to add, WHATEVER you do, absolutely, positively avoid commuting on 275 Southbound into Tampa near the I4 merge. No no no no no.

+2 to that!

As others have mentioned it's the not distance that gets you, it's the traffic. Unless you nail some off-beat hours it's almost impossible to avoid. I had 2 jobs that started @ 9am so it wasn't too bad coming in at the tail end of traffic.

--chris--

SteveO86 wrote: »

+2 to that!

As others have mentioned it's the not distance that gets you, it's the traffic. Unless you nail some off-beat hours it's almost impossible to avoid. I had 2 jobs that started @ 9am so it wasn't too bad coming in at the tail end of traffic.

How is traffic coming in from Plant City?

@ JOJO, thanks for the insite. Well timed comment I made this morning. This afternoon on the way back from a clients office I spent 2h 10m commuting in rush hour across metro Detroit (~25 miles). Hands down; I would prefer a 45 minute long haul over a 45 minute stop and go, shorter commute.

JoJoCal19

--chris-- wrote: »

How is traffic coming in from Plant City?

@ JOJO, thanks for the insite. Well timed comment I made this morning. This afternoon on the way back from a clients office I spent 2h 10m commuting in rush hour across metro Detroit (~25 miles). Hands down; I would prefer a 45 minute long haul over a 45 minute stop and go, shorter commute.

I only drove in from the Lakeland/Plant City area towards Tampa in the morning once, after an interview, but it was at like 10am and I got off on I75N so I can't comment on the rush hour traffic further into Tampa. I will say that a lot of people in the Lakeland/Plant City area commute into Tampa via I4. If you work off I75 you'll be fine. If you work farther in downtown Tampa, then you will have to contend with the DREADFUL I4/275S merger area that I spoke of, and you absolutely do not want to do that. It doesn't matter the time of day, its always stopped. I take my lunch break to run to a cycling shop there and its the same. I learned my lesson and now take the Selmon Expressway (toll road) to head into downtown.

Honestly if you want the longer haul over stop and go, you will wan't to commute NORTH, so from the Ruskin/Sun City Center/Bradenton/Ellenton/Sarasota areas. I75N is what you'll want to take (keep in mind depending exactly where the work is, it will be stop in go in the heart of the city). Try to find a job that is off of I75 and you'll be set.