Security job market in Austin, TX

EngRob

Hey everyone,

I've seen some mention before about the IT market in Austin being pretty good and wondered if anyone on here that's living there had some insight into the Security job market. My family is considering moving out of Florida in 2-4 years and Austin seems to have everything we're looking for.

I'm currently in Security Engineering (Firewall, IDS/IPS, Proxy, AV, etc etc) and Incident handling/Forensics but will also have Penetration testing experience by the time we would move.

Anyone in the Austin area that can share their experiences? (jobs and/or areas to live).

colemic

I'm not in the Austin area but you should look at attending LASCON next year. Or BSides Austin. That would be a great way to meet people and organizations in the security market there.

EngRob

Thanks colemic! I'd completely forgotten about B-sides. Will definitely make it out to the 2015 event. Also hoping to attend the Austin SANS event in May.

Mitechniq

I live about an hour north of Austin but receive plenty of job offers from companies in Austin. I would almost dare to say Austin has become the Silicon Valley of the south.. Many companies like oracle, cisco, HP, Apple are driving the enormous growth of IT positions there, and Austin still provides a relatively low cost of living compared to any of the coasts.

dmoore44

There's a pretty decent security market up in Dallas - HP, Dell, Firehost, IBM, and several others are currently hiring.

If you're looking at the Austin area, I would also take a look at the San Antonio market. There's a 80 mile difference between the two, but there's a large difference in the types of jobs available.

210mike

Austin's housing market is going insane. Yes there is plenty of work there, but housing prices are getting insane. Affordable housing is located in the suburbs North and South of Austin(Round Rock, Georgetown, Kyle, Buda). The problem with that is you're looking at a hour long commute to get to/from home if you work normal business hours. Traffic in Austin is on another level. I live in the Schertz, TX area which is a suburb of San Antonio, but I'm in Austin several times a week as I support an office we have there but time my drive around the traffic. We have an office in the 183/Braker area and it takes many people I work with there 45 minutes to an hour to get home.

San Antonio is home to Joint Base San Antonio and contractors for the Air Force/DoD are always in need. Lots of security work, especially if you can or already have a clearance. Cost of housing is a lot less as well. I honestly wouldn't move to Austin, but I'm a introverted guy in my mid 30's with a couple of young kids. I don't care for the active nightlife, music scene, or anything else that supposedly makes Austin so awesome. My quality of life in SA is much higher than it would be in the Austin area. I'm only 60 miles away from Downtown Austin, and can easily drive up for any cool event I feel like attending.