Working as a Network Analyst in MA looking to move South

Hello,

I currently work as a Network Analyst at a Primary Care Company. I hold a Computer Science degree and I have CCNA, CCNA-DC, JNCIA and WIN 7 certs. I have 10 months experience as Network Analyst.

I am looking to move to a warmer place, from MA to CA,FL or NC.

Can anybody give an input on the job market for IT - Networking on these states? I will be visiting San Diego, CA and San Francisco, CA next month to see if I like the city.

Thanks

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networker050184

SF is certainly a good market, but expensive. Very expensive. So definitely take that into consideration and don't let the big salaries fool you. You get paid a lot out there for a reason.

There is a good market in the Triangle are of NC as well. Much less expensive so of course the salaries will reflect that. It's a great place to live as well. Kind of a halfway between the scorching hot south and cold north climate wise. With all the colleges in the area there is always lot's to get into as well.

Not sure on FL so maybe someone else can help you there.

Codyy

Atlanta, Raleigh and Dallas are all booming from what I've read on here and elsewhere.

wtrwlkr

I'm native to the Florida panhandle (Pensacola, specifically). The market is just okay, though with the government positions, you'll need a clearance to basically land anything. Not sure about anything south of Orlando. I'm wanting to move to DFW myself, as I've heard the market there is very good.

Chadius

My friends in Texas said Dallas and Austin. Both really good markets.

down77

I live in Central Florida and it seems they can't find qualified people fast enough.

dsgm

Im in florida and i am looking to do a move myself, the market down here is just "ok" i luckily landed a NOC position been here for a year, I'm looking to move to Georgia always see job postings down there, just hope when the time comes i can hopefully land something. CA i hear is booming but expensive.

I wouldn't suggest florida but come down here yourself and check it out.

hurricane1091

I have been meaning to ask this too. I am a Network Engineer and am going to get the CCNP next year. For South Carolina specifically (and maybe Florida/VA/NC) what is the market like for mid level Cisco Network Engineer jobs? In Philadelphia, the entry/mid net eng jobs pay like 55-65k (give or take 5k). I am sure that the jobs would pay less there, just curious if anyone has first hand experience.

kiki162

The research triangle region of NC is a good place. In SC, towards the Charleston area you'll find more Gov't/contractor jobs. ATL is a good spot to be as well. Cisco and Apple both have a base in NC, and Google in the ATL area.

Philly area is ok, but stay within the state. You can find some good jobs in the Malvern, PA area as well.

hurricane1091

I live in NJ and have no interest in moving to PA really (NJ tax is awful, but I'm already as far as I am willing to be from the beach and North Jersey sports), and that commute would be terrible. If I move anywhere, it's probably to somewhere warm lol. I have financial and healthcare IT background, so there's opportunity available in Philly for me fortunately - hopefully for the rest of my life. I have searched up jobs in Charleston and there are some, just no idea in the pay.

Polynomial

Wait, you want to move FROM one the top job markets in the country?

Cyberscum

Tx>ca imho

hurricane1091

Polynomial wrote: »

Wait, you want to move FROM one the top job markets in the country?

Me? PHI is okay, wages don't really match the high cost of living in NJ. Even the supposed Network Engineer average in PHI is less than the national average by $3000, yet the CoL is higher here. It's not the most promising area for sure but it's not bad. I think weather, surroundings, and general happiness are reasonable reasons for a person to want to move somewhere though.

scaredoftests

Do not move to Florida. Weather/healthcare/job aspects suck.

hurricane1091

scaredoftests wrote: »

Do not move to Florida. Weather/healthcare/job aspects suck.

I was sold on Florida but I've really realized that 100% humidity probably sucks. I feel like I would rather sweat for 6 months than freeze for 6 still!

scaredoftests

Plus all those snowbirds.

markulous

Job market in SF/Silicon Valley is always going to be good, it's just a matter of if you can afford to live there. I personally don't think you can beat the weather there. It's fairly temperate and not too humid but not too dry. I'm probably going to try to move there at some point (a year or 2 is the goal) if I can get around the 90-100k range, which probably isn't too difficult since they pay pretty high there.

scaredoftests

markulous wrote: »

Job market in SF/Silicon Valley is always going to be good, it's just a matter of if you can afford to live there. I personally don't think you can beat the weather there. It's fairly temperate and not too humid but not too dry. I'm probably going to try to move there at some point (a year or 2 is the goal) if I can get around the 90-100k range, which probably isn't too difficult since they pay pretty high there.

you also have to add in commute. traffic is awful there (though it sucks here in the Wash/Metro region). My husband has to fly out there for business alot and has a co-worker there. He tells me some of the horror stories. Esp the price of homes...

CSCOnoob

As others have mentioned, Bay Area is really expensive. However, if you do not mind living away from expensive areas then it's doable so long as you get a good salary. Traffic has been bad lately. It used to be not as bad as nowadays. Traffic is probably the same as the dotcom days. But, I'd say it's not as bad as LA. I hate LA's traffic. If you complain about the traffic here, then you have not seen traffic yet. It's worse in Asia like Bangkok, Manila, or Mumbai.

markulous

scaredoftests wrote: »

you also have to add in commute. traffic is awful there (though it sucks here in the Wash/Metro region). My husband has to fly out there for business alot and has a co-worker there. He tells me some of the horror stories. Esp the price of homes...

Depends on the area for all of that. If you're actually in San Francisco, then yes traffic is going to be bad. Outside of there, then as long as you're not commuting super far (like from Stockton), traffic can be okay depending on the times. Housing is expensive but not a ton more expensive than the nice areas around here. 600k for a 4 br/2ba house in San Jose/Morgan Hill isn't too bad if you're making 6 figures.

CSCOnoob

That seems pretty cheap for 4br/2ba in SJ. If I were to look for one, I'd go to nice part of Union City or Fremont.

markulous

Check out Zillow. I found plenty of places in that area under 700k in nice areas in good school districts. I could deal with a 2600 a month mortgage if I'm bringing home 8k.

Polynomial

hurricane1091 wrote: »

I live in NJ and have no interest in moving to PA really (NJ tax is awful, but I'm already as far as I am willing to be from the beach and North Jersey sports), and that commute would be terrible. If I move anywhere, it's probably to somewhere warm lol. I have financial and healthcare IT background, so there's opportunity available in Philly for me fortunately - hopefully for the rest of my life. I have searched up jobs in Charleston and there are some, just no idea in the pay.

Nah, the OP. Boston is one of the top job markets in the country.

CSCOnoob

8K after tax? Of course!

markulous

CSCOnoob wrote: »

8K after tax? Of course!

Even 7k after tax I'd be fine with since I have a spouse that works. If someone had a few years experience, certs, and/or a degree I don't think it's unreasonable to find that.

Cisco Inferno

hurricane1091 wrote: »

I was sold on Florida but I've really realized that 100% humidity probably sucks. I feel like I would rather sweat for 6 months than freeze for 6 still!

I used to have beautiful straight long hair to my nipples. I had to cut it short

Also, we are currently in monsoon season. (June-Oct). There will be torrential rain every day at 4PM. Then the sun will come back out and steam everything.

hurricane1091

markulous wrote: »

Even 7k after tax I'd be fine with since I have a spouse that works. If someone had a few years experience, certs, and/or a degree I don't think it's unreasonable to find that.

8k a month after tax is like $140k a year or something like that. I know jobs pay more in California but that's probably high still, even if you were like a Sr. Engineer of some sorts?

I am not familiar with California at all though. But the average salary for a Network Engineer in San Jose is 86k according to Glass Door, which is 14k above national average. So if I tacked on 14k to my current salary (which is going to be less than 86k by a reasonable amount), I hardly feel like I could even survive out there! Is it really that crazy?

hurricane1091

Cisco Inferno wrote: »

I used to have beautiful straight long hair to my nipples. I had to cut it short
Also, we are currently in monsoon season. (June-Oct). There will be torrential rain every day at 4PM. Then the sun will come back out and steam everything.

unfortunate

markulous

hurricane1091 wrote: »

8k a month after tax is like $140k a year or something like that. I know jobs pay more in California but that's probably high still, even if you were like a Sr. Engineer of some sorts?

I am not familiar with California at all though. But the average salary for a Network Engineer in San Jose is 86k according to Glass Door, which is 14k above national average. So if I tacked on 14k to my current salary (which is going to be less than 86k by a reasonable amount), I hardly feel like I could even survive out there! Is it really that crazy?

Hmm I'm not sure on taxes that high either...Wouldn't 100k a year be ~7k+ take home? Maybe my math was off.

I just looked at the job I'm starting at VMWare next week and what they pay out there. They pay about 75-80k a year. I figured if I can get a promotion within a year or so I could be close to 100k and be alright.

It's pretty expensive, but if I lived in the Denver Tech Center here or in the Boulder/Broomfield area, it's fairly close to those prices, so I don't think it's too insane.

hurricane1091

markulous wrote: »

Hmm I'm not sure on taxes that high either...Wouldn't 100k a year be ~7k+ take home? Maybe my math was off.

I just looked at the job I'm starting at VMWare next week and what they pay out there. They pay about 75-80k a year. I figured if I can get a promotion within a year or so I could be close to 100k and be alright.

It's pretty expensive, but if I lived in the Denver Tech Center here or in the Boulder/Broomfield area, it's fairly close to those prices, so I don't think it's too insane.

This calculator says $100k a year is $5328 a month

PaycheckCity.com | Paycheck Calculator Result

But that is single and 0 allowances, so it goes up to around 6 for married and 2 kids. You'd need to factor in benefits and 401k and stuff though which I guess could bring the number down a bit to like $4500 for someone like me, which sounds great until I just found a house around San Jose that wasn't very good at all and it was $600k. Amazingly the taxes was only $5500 a year (the same house would be roughly $150k in NJ and the same amount of taxes, which is crazy). So you're mortgage + taxes + insurance is going to be around $3000 I am guessing, leaving just $1500 for everything else. Of course I don't know anything about CA like I said though and I am sure there is cheaper areas.

So, what I really learned out of all this, was that Uncle Sam wants his cut no matter what, and where CA gets you on the house value itself, NJ gets you on the tax.

What about this though?

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/563-Vernazza-Ave-Dinuba-CA-93618/69311058_zpid/

Is this a bad area or something? Seems really reasonable?

masdrobeda

Thanks for the answers! I am leaning more towards NC, Triangle area. Its close enough to visit my friends in MA and the weather seems to be fantastic. They also have a race track for motorcycle which is a big plus for me.

I will be working towards CCNP to get it mid next year. Meanwhile I will be applying for jobs in CA and mainly in NC.

MA is top for IT and technology in general. However, weather sucks (cold sucks) and its a big part of my quality of life, as I hate cold.