Best location in US to work in IT

What's your opinion of the best location in the US to work in IT? Why?

I'm looking for things like pay:living costs ratio, having things to do in the area, jobs available, weather, a 4:1 women to men ratio, etc.

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vCole

Major cities:

DC
Boston
Atlanta
Raleigh

etc.

astorrs

darkerosxx wrote: »

What's your opinion of the best location in the US to work in IT? Why?

I'm looking for things like pay:living costs ratio, having things to do in the area, jobs available, weather, a 4:1 women to men ratio, etc.

Invalid number of arguments (5) for function location(); You may include a maximum of 2.

rsutton

I live in the SF Bay Area. My thoughts on the area:

Pros:
20 minutes from the Ocean, 3 hours to the snow, nice weather year round.
Lots of hi-tech, biotech, startup, consulting companies in the area makes for a good job market.
Hot females if you know where to go & hot guys if that's how you roll
Lots of night life - clubs, music, art etc.
Great and unique food all over the place

Cons:
Decent houses in good neighborhoods start at a half mil and go up.
Traffic! I work 15 miles from my house but it takes 45 minutes to get there.

levar

FadeToBright wrote: »

Major cities:

DC
Boston
Atlanta
Raleigh

etc.

mind elaborating on Atlanta please

BradleyHU

levar wrote: »

mind elaborating on Atlanta please

Atlanta has alot of companies down there....you'd be shocked. its actually getting upscale more & more every year, compared to 10 years ago.

Charlotte is a spot, that if i were to want to leave nyc for a job, that would be one of my choices. DC being another.

cbigbrick

here ya go...

10 Best Places for Tech Jobs - US News and World Report

hex_omega

LOL.

"4:1 women to men ratio", "Hot females if you know where to go & hot guys if that's how you roll".

You guys are killing me.

ColbyG

DC is awesome for IT. That's where I think I'm going to move in a few years. The cost of living is really high though, and I think my lack of degree could be more of an issue there.

Atlanta is pretty big for IT jobs too, but you'd have to live in Atlanta...

motogpman

Houston is on that list. Personally, after living here for so long, my views of the area are:

Pros:

1. Cost of living is good considering the economy, IT industry is strong. DB/Programmers are in higher demand than network admin stuff over all.
2. Houston suburbs and outlying cities have good/great school district, homes are cheaper for what you get than a lot of other states, several lakes to hangout at.
3. Traffic is getting better, but still isn't as bad as many of its larger city counterparts
4. Dallas/San Antonio/Austin are only hours away in each direction.
5. Large cultural bases and communities.
6.Religion is still a big influence and in the outlying areas people are still "country" friendly. Addressing people with "sir or ma'am" are still widely taught. The saying is is that there's a church on every corner. You can decide if that is a good thing or not obviously.
7. We have concealed carry laws, working on open carry. OpenCarry.org - A Right Unexercised is a Right Lost! I think that overall, for being such a large area, our crime is lower than a lot of other "big" cities. Possibly since 1 out of 2 people are packin, LOL.
7. No state income tax
8. For the most part, still a very Conservative State
9.Hunting/fishing/sports are a way of life. Maybe I am getting old, but I was surprised to see local HS games being televised like it was the playoffs when I moved here 16 years ago.
10. If you are into motorcycles, year round riding and lots of places to go.

Negatives:

1. If you are looking for beautiful Ocean areas, good luck. Until you start getting closer to Padre, the water is dark and not the cleanest. Guess growing up in Cali spoiled me.
2.Houston, over all is not the cleanest city. Probably has a lot to do with the zoning laws and industrial plants. Chicago, for instance, impressed me every time I go there (downtown area ) compared to Houston.
3.Heavily dependant on Energy/Medical industry, so if one or the other tanks, we are going to suffer.
4.Hurricanes can wreak havoc when they come inland. We are still trying to recover from IKE. It wouldn't be as bad currently if FEMA would have given the attention to Houston/Galveston the way Katrina was handled. Don't flame me, I can go into first hand experiences in the way each area was handled after the hurricanes.
5. HUMIDITY. July/August are killer, so either stay inside or you have to get used to it.
6.Crime is on the rise however.

Obviously these are my opinions, you have to look at the good and bad at each area. We have weathered the recession fairly good, Texas over all is actually in pretty good shape I would say.

levar

BradleyHU wrote: »

Atlanta has alot of companies down there....you'd be shocked. its actually getting upscale more & more every year, compared to 10 years ago.

Charlotte is a spot, that if i were to want to leave nyc for a job, that would be one of my choices. DC being another.

thanks, didn't know, but good to know.

cbigbrick wrote: »

here ya go...

10 Best Places for Tech Jobs - US News and World Report

wow I had no idea, thanks.
Lucky me, I guess

Zartanasaurus

cbigbrick wrote: »

here ya go...

10 Best Places for Tech Jobs - US News and World Report

Huntsville, AL. Interesting.

GamingCrazy

darkerosxx wrote: »

What's your opinion of the best location in the US to work in IT? Why?

I'm looking for things like pay:living costs ratio, having things to do in the area, jobs available, weather, a 4:1 women to men ratio, etc.

Atlanta, Dad was layed off and recieved a severans package and was hired in 10 days making more.

TheSweetness

Am I naive to think that any city with a population say...above 200,000 is a good city for IT? Am I naive to think that IT is everywhere supporting every business? So as long as there is business, there is IT work?

What defines a city as "best for IT"? Lots of R&D/Silicon Valley?

darkerosxx

TheSweetness wrote: »

What defines a city as "best for IT"?

This requirement: 4:1 women to men ratio

Onefive

rsutton wrote: »

I live in the SF Bay Area. My thoughts on the area:

Pros:
20 minutes from the Ocean, 3 hours to the snow, nice weather year round.
Lots of hi-tech, biotech, startup, consulting companies in the area makes for a good job market.
Hot females if you know where to go & hot guys if that's how you roll
Lots of night life - clubs, music, art etc.
Great and unique food all over the place

Cons:
Decent houses in good neighborhoods start at a half mil and go up.
Traffic! I work 15 miles from my house but it takes 45 minutes to get there.

I will second this. I Live in SF also, and it is a great place to be. However I commute to San Jose now( Don't get me started on this). But most of the tech jobs are further South, and unless you're lucky, it will be harder to land something good in SF.

ColbyG

I live in Orlando

Pros:
Cost of living is way cheap
No state tax
I have a job

Cons:
IT market is pretty soft, for networking at least
It's so unbelivably hot here
Traffic can get bad, luckily it's not an issue for me right now though

BigTex71

hex_omega wrote: »

LOL.

"4:1 women to men ratio", "Hot females if you know where to go & hot guys if that's how you roll".

You guys are killing me.

Get an IT job in the health care industry. That is where I am and I think we are about a 8:1 female to male ratio where I work. And EMR (electronic medical records) is where ALL health care companies are migrating to, in fact the government is paying clinics to move to EMR systems.

Onefive

BigTex71 wrote: »

Get an IT job in the health care industry. That is where I am and I think we are about a 8:1 female to male ratio where I work.

Hehehe, I never thought of this, but it must be true! Great medical benefits too I would imagine.

Turgon

motogpman wrote: »

Houston is on that list. Personally, after living here for so long, my views of the area are:

I knew someone in Houston a few years back and when the place was bashed on a forum he came out in support of the place. I haven't been myself but overall Im sceptical that it's as bad as somepeople makeout. Some of the pros and cons listed maybe the converse for some folks. I like the sir and ma'am stuff but less comfortable with the idea that lots of people in my local supermarket where I shop with my family are carrying handguns and live ammunition. Then again Im in the UK and you would be quickly swamped with armed police and locked up if someone twigged you were carrying a piece in a public area!

Just out of interest to what extent do NASA employ down there?

Devilsbane

I think it depends on what you want to do. If you want to work for Microsoft, you probably have to live in Washington. But IT people are going to be needed pretty much anywhere.

motogpman

Turgon,

Sorry for the delay, been swamped and am now just able to get online. Now with the current administrations views on NASA's future, I can say that people are very afraid of layoffs right now. I worked for a company who had an IT service contract there, pretty cush job for the 2 guys that were there on site. I have been to the building where they do water tests, basically a big pool where they train for weightlessness and such. It is also by a military base as well as support companies. Down on the South side of town NASA is big business, especially to the local economy.

As far as weapons...... it becomes second nature and in Texas, you have to complete a mandatory course (written test and firing test), complete background check, fingerprints, and the law actually becomes more stringent to someone licensed than Joe Schmo who isn't a lincensed carrier. It is funny how most people have a fear or misunderstanding of an armed society.

The Houston area is heavily populated, but you would be suprised as to how low the crime rate is given it's size. That isn't to say that there is crime, just that when you hear on the news there has been a shooting, a good portion of the time it's the person doing the crime who gets shot. Personally, I think it is a safer place when someone who is contemplating a crime has to wonder if he is going to get nailed by the very same person/people he's about to pull something on. Being from California, this is a big reason why I never went back after the military. We have a saying here, "Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6."

Turgon

motogpman wrote: »

Turgon,

Sorry for the delay, been swamped and am now just able to get online. Now with the current administrations views on NASA's future, I can say that people are very afraid of layoffs right now. I worked for a company who had an IT service contract there, pretty cush job for the 2 guys that were there on site. I have been to the building where they do water tests, basically a big pool where they train for weightlessness and such. It is also by a military base as well as support companies. Down on the South side of town NASA is big business, especially to the local economy.

As far as weapons...... it becomes second nature and in Texas, you have to complete a mandatory course (written test and firing test), complete background check, fingerprints, and the law actually becomes more stringent to someone licensed than Joe Schmo who isn't a lincensed carrier. It is funny how most people have a fear or misunderstanding of an armed society.

The Houston area is heavily populated, but you would be suprised as to how low the crime rate is given it's size. That isn't to say that there is crime, just that when you hear on the news there has been a shooting, a good portion of the time it's the person doing the crime who gets shot. Personally, I think it is a safer place when someone who is contemplating a crime has to wonder if he is going to get nailed by the very same person/people he's about to pull something on. Being from California, this is a big reason why I never went back after the military. We have a saying here, "Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6."

Thanks for the reply. I hope NASA pull through. As for the gun thing my take is that the dynamic in the US is very different from here in the UK and while there is gun crime here its usually headline news.

In your country there is a long standing culture of gun ownership which I understand is even constitutional. Add to which just going by the membership of the forum it seems to me the US is more militarised than my country with so many people either serving or with some affinity to the armed forces.

So you have a country where law abiding people know how to handle their guns and in many cases grew up with them. With so many guns in the hands of lawless people I can see how the idea of detterant would be a powerful one. In mine you dont hear people in residential areas practicing pistols in their gardens. The cops would be round quickly. Comparitively fewer people in the UK have guns much less know how to use one. I have never held a handgun myself.

Turgon

motogpman wrote: »

Turgon,

Sorry for the delay, been swamped and am now just able to get online. Now with the current administrations views on NASA's future, I can say that people are very afraid of layoffs right now. I worked for a company who had an IT service contract there, pretty cush job for the 2 guys that were there on site. I have been to the building where they do water tests, basically a big pool where they train for weightlessness and such. It is also by a military base as well as support companies. Down on the South side of town NASA is big business, especially to the local economy.

As far as weapons...... it becomes second nature and in Texas, you have to complete a mandatory course (written test and firing test), complete background check, fingerprints, and the law actually becomes more stringent to someone licensed than Joe Schmo who isn't a lincensed carrier. It is funny how most people have a fear or misunderstanding of an armed society.

The Houston area is heavily populated, but you would be suprised as to how low the crime rate is given it's size. That isn't to say that there is crime, just that when you hear on the news there has been a shooting, a good portion of the time it's the person doing the crime who gets shot. Personally, I think it is a safer place when someone who is contemplating a crime has to wonder if he is going to get nailed by the very same person/people he's about to pull something on. Being from California, this is a big reason why I never went back after the military. We have a saying here, "Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6."

Thanks for the reply. I hope NASA pull through. As for the gun thing my take is that the dynamic in the US is very different from here in the UK and while there is gun crime here its usually headline news.

In your country there is a long standing culture of gun ownership which I understand is even constitutional. Add to which just going by the membership of the forum it seems to me the US is more militarised than my country with so many people either serving or with some affinity to the armed forces.

So you have a country where law abiding people know how to handle their guns and in many cases grew up with them. With so many guns in the hands of lawless people I can see how the idea of deterrant would be a powerful one. In mine you dont hear people in residential areas practicing pistols in their gardens. The cops would be round quickly. Comparitively fewer people in the UK have guns much less know how to use one. I have never held a handgun myself.