IT Jobs in the Sacramento, CA area

pwochnick1

My wife and I are planning to move to Sacramento next spring or summer. Currently I am a Systems Administrator in St. Paul, MN with 11 years experience. If any one from the Sac area is out there I'd love to chat. I'm looking for advice on finding an IT job in the area and would appreciate any thoughts you have.

Also, if anyone out there has made the move from one area of the country to another and have some sage words of advice I would appreciate that as well.

Thanks.

Paul

sprkymrk

Hey pwochnick1, I just moved from the midwest (Quad Cities, about 5 hours south of you) to the Charleston, SC area about 2 and a half years ago. However, I had a slight advantage in that I took a promotion within my company to come here, so my job was lined up and I got some moving expenses thrown in too.

Here is the best advice I could give you:

Before you go, scope out the real estate market on the net. Get an idea of the cost of living and housing market. Find a good, reputable (by reference if possible) real estate agent willing to work with you long distance before you go. Plan a week long "vacation" to the area a couple of months before you move there. Scope out houses, neighborhoods and jobs. Arrange ahead of time to spend a day or two with the real estate agent you contacted. Set up 4-5 interviews during this time if possible. Don't go overboard, and don't worry if you only get 1-2, they can be hard to coordinate within a week of each other. Get at least 2-3 estimates on moving companies if you need to use them. Get a solid quote, not an estimate. These guys can be thieves. I got an "estimate", but when they got my stuff here they claimed that the weight was over the estimate and refused to deliver my stuff unless I paid an extra $7000 - double the original estimate. Yes, I had to pay up and no, there was no recourse or small claims court crap.

Can you tell us why you are moving and any other circumstances that may help us help you? Any relatives in the area? Do you own a home currently? Children?

pwochnick1

sprkymrk wrote:

Can you tell us why you are moving and any other circumstances that may help us help you? Any relatives in the area? Do you own a home currently? Children?

My wife is originally from San Diego and she really would like to move back to California (she is not a fan of cold winters). Her sister lives in Sacramento so we decided that if we were to move to California that Sacramento would be the place.

In September we are planning on spending a week in Sacramento and make a firm decision to move there or not. We will be scoping out neighborhoods and such and I am hoping to do a couple of informational interviews. If anyone has done informational interviews before I would love to get some advice on that as well.

Her sister is willing to put us up when we move so housing won't be an immediate concern when we move there. We have one child to consider as well.

Good advice on moving services. Sounds like something to be aware of.

sprkymrk

It will be good having a relative in the area. I prefer winters to earthquakes, but hey, everyone has their preference and the San Diego area is beautiful (never been to Sacramento). I have to contend with Hurricane season here, in Iowa it was winters and tornados.

The week long "recon" will be a good thing too. Check out schools while you are there if applicable to your child (unless he/she is a toddler or home schooled, etc.).

Sorry I've never done an informational interview. Best of luck to you!

binarysoul

I am in Canada, but I can relate to your situation as I'm currently in the process of moving out of eastern Canada to Toronto. I have about five years experience in server and LAN support. I've moved a lot, so I hope my suggestions will help:

1. Don't wait to get there to apply for jobs. Apply at least two months in advance and show a willingness to appear for an interview. This process should at least help you get a feel of jobs and competition in Sacramento. Find a listing of employment agencies in the Sacramento and talk to these folks. They're probably an excellent source to tell you what kinds of jobs are available there.

2. Get some reference letters from your current employers. I'm sure because you've worked there for so many years, you can get good ones. Ensure they will provide good reference when called by potential employers.

3. It's very likely you will get a job within weeks, but be ready to have enough saving to get you going at least for a couple of months. Plan, plan plan

4. When you apply from Sacramento make it clear in your cover letter that you moved there because of family reasons and that you will stay there for years to come; otherwise they might feel you will leave the job and go to another city or back to where you came from. Don't make any assumptions . I've heard people moving to another city just for a change and then leave. So you certainly want to tell employers that is not your intention.

5. After you've done your best, enjoy the adventure and regard it as an opportunity to have fun and meet new people/place

best of luck,

ogadeni

pwochnick1, I live in South Bay about two hours drive shouth i.e. San Jose and planning to move down to Minneapolis. I already had enough sun back in Africa time to cool down in mn . Here is my question with IT degree Netowrk Communication and one and half year experience how is the job market in MN over? My two sisters live in MN and would like to join them? your advice is appreciated. Good Luck on your move to the west.

pwochnick1

ogadeni wrote:

Here is my question with IT degree Netowrk Communication and one and half year experience how is the job market in MN over? My two sisters live in MN and would like to join them? your advice is appreciated. Good Luck on your move to the west.

I believe the job market for IT is still pretty decent in the Twin Cities. It seems like there are less people going into the IT field then a few years ago which has helped stabalize the market. A couple of years ago I completed my 2 year networking degree from St. Paul Tech and at the time they were running about 8 microsoft classes each semester (there are four levels). Now they have reduced that to two per semester.

My company will be posting an entry level IT support position soon. I'll be sure to post the details on here once we post it.