Relocating out of the City

Hi, I am thinking of moving out of the busy city (New York) into a quieter state. I really want to get out of the hustle and bustle and live comfortably in a nice state where the cost of living isn't so high but yet there are still opportunities in IT. I am currently employed so would be just quitting and taking a chance in another state (interested in San Francisco) be a good idea? What states currently allow IT workers a comfortable life as well as opportunites to grow? I would like to hear some of the people in this board chime in with some experiences of their own.

Thanks.

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JDMurray

San Francisco is one of the most "hustle and bustle" cities in the USA. 750,000 people and twice that many vehicles are squeezed into 47 square miles almost entirely surrounded by water. Also, the city of San Francisco has one of the highest costs of living outside of New York City. Even if you were to live in "the Burbs" and fight the traffic to work in "The City," it doesn't sound like the kind of place that you are looking for.

Do you like the high desert? Las Vegas has lots of technology and IT, but you can very quickly get away from the crowded hotel/casino areas here you are likely to work and live quietly in the nice surrounding communities, and relatively inexpensively depending on how you want to live.

routingbyrumor

Thanks Jdmurray,

I'll look into Nevada as a possibility. Not too sure about the desert thing though.

xlg123

But it's a dry heat

I was there in 1996 for a NTOA class and it was the middle of July. It wasn't that bad, really. We were out in the sun running, etc. Florida seems hotter with the humidity. Day time heat was arond 102, nights got down to around 65-70. I thought of moving there myself years ago. Away from the strip there are plenty of nice places, and the cost of living seemed more than reasonable. Granted this was 10 years ago, but I've heard it's still prety good. I think there are a few people that live there that are on the board if you are interested, I'm sure they can provide more.

BTW, NTOA is National Tactical Officers Assocaiation (police related) not a new type of cert. Didn't want to through out a new acronym, we have enough already.

Trailerisf

San Fran is way out of the budget on cost of living... Friend of mine moved down there and was doing sales for ~100k a year... His apartment that was a 90 min drive away was 4k/mon.

What he made more by moving, he lost by paying out.

routingbyrumor

Damn 4k in San Francisco!! If that's the case I'll be better off just staying put in New York.

JDMurray

If you are going to pay big bucks to live and work somewhere then make it Hawaii. You'll pay more for food, gas, and housing there than anywhere else in the USA, but who cares?

jlhct

I have a friend that moved from here to SF as well. It is nice, but VERY expensive. I'm in the NE but not in NYC and SF is just as bad if not worse.

I'm in the process of moving to Phoenix, there seems to be a lot of opportunity there as well and the cost of living is much more reasonable.

JDMurray

jlhct wrote:

I'm in the process of moving to Phoenix, there seems to be a lot of opportunity there as well and the cost of living is much more reasonable.

I have friends that live in Phoenix who spend more than $400/month on electricity to air condition themselves through the 115F summer heat. If you move there, get a job at a place with a nice, cool server room and don't leave it from May to October.

jlhct

jdmurray wrote:

jlhct wrote:

I'm in the process of moving to Phoenix, there seems to be a lot of opportunity there as well and the cost of living is much more reasonable.

I have friends that live in Phoenix who spend more than $400/month on electricity to air condition themselves through the 115F summer heat. If you move there, get a job at a place with a nice, cool server room and don't leave it from May to October.

Yeah, it gets hot...but I prefer it much more than driving to work in snow, and paying 400/month for oil to heat the house with over the winter months

sprkymrk

jlhct wrote:

jdmurray wrote:

jlhct wrote:

I'm in the process of moving to Phoenix, there seems to be a lot of opportunity there as well and the cost of living is much more reasonable.

I have friends that live in Phoenix who spend more than $400/month on electricity to air condition themselves through the 115F summer heat. If you move there, get a job at a place with a nice, cool server room and don't leave it from May to October.

Yeah, it gets hot...but I prefer it much more than driving to work in snow, and paying 400/month for oil to heat the house with over the winter months

If you have to pay for oil to heat your home in the winter, that just means you don't own enough computers.

famosbrown

Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and many other Midwestern states are very cheap to live in. It all depends on what areas you want to live. Indianapolis is very cheap and you will get your money's worth. Columbus, Ohio is a nice place and cheap as well. Many of the big cities offer many I.T. jobs...you just have to find them. Some are listed on the job search sites and soem aren't. Sometimes it may take a Headhunter to land you a permanent job outside of the state. There are TONS of I.T. jobs in the Maryland, D.C., and Virginia states. Cost of living is high in some areas, and pretty cheap in others...you just have to be willing to commute if needed.

I suggest the Midwest if you are looking to relocate to a place where cost of living is cheap. In Indianapolis or Colubus, Ohio, you can buy a house for 150K, and it would literally be the equivalent to a house in Maryland that costs 280K. I was shocked to see the price difference when my cousin showed me a bunch of houses online. He's a Real Estate agent on the side. But he did show me soem areas where the prices were a little bit more reasonable. I would say hop on careerbuilder, monster, dice, usajobs, etc., and start searching for the jobs in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, etc., and then look for the surrounding areas that usually offer less cost of living expenses. I can tell you this...the pay isn't much lower in the midwest than the East Coast...if at all. I live VERY comfortably.

Famos

keatron

sprkymrk wrote:

jlhct wrote:

jdmurray wrote:

jlhct wrote:

I'm in the process of moving to Phoenix, there seems to be a lot of opportunity there as well and the cost of living is much more reasonable.

I have friends that live in Phoenix who spend more than $400/month on electricity to air condition themselves through the 115F summer heat. If you move there, get a job at a place with a nice, cool server room and don't leave it from May to October.

Yeah, it gets hot...but I prefer it much more than driving to work in snow, and paying 400/month for oil to heat the house with over the winter months

If you have to pay for oil to heat your home in the winter, that just means you don't own enough computers.

I agree with that one. My office at home is usually about 15 degrees warmer than the rest of the house!!!!!! (the racks). I grew up in Biloxi Mississippi and only been in Chicago about 6 years. Yes the winters are brutal but I rarely drive in the snow (thank you Chicago Transit Authority). Also, it's so cold and nasty here in the winter, you don't wanna do anything but go to work, then come home. Why is this good? Well, plenty of time to read encryption books, practice man-in-the-middle attacks, write exploits, and things of that nature. All you need is a big coffee maker, VMware or Virtual PC, and a credit card to have books delivered to your front door from amazon, borders, etc. I love these miserable winters here!!!

Trailerisf

And a postcard of some hot chick on a beach...

keatron

Trailerisf wrote:

And a postcard of some hot chick on a beach...

One word; Steganography. I've found no greater use than that of having pictures of Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry and others as the wallpaper on my pc's in the "cage" (this is what my lady calls the my home office, mainly because you can't enter it without a fingerprint scan, a keycode and a keyfob). The catch is that these pictures have various passwords to various things hidden behind them. I associate a device/site/login with a given picture. For example Cisco 1721 enable password? See Brook Burke. Admin password to Apache server? See Ms. Angelina. So you need to run the photo through the appropriate Steg program and enter the appropriate password to reveal the hidden text behind, within this text somewhere is the prospective password to the device, that each picture represents.

Now that I think about, I guess I really have gotten too into my work. I can't even think about hot chicks without associating them with network devices and servers

goforthbmerry

Seriously research NC. Lower cost of living and plenty of IT going on. Many of the larger banks are headquartered here. Some companies you made have heard of Microsoft and IBM also have large offices here. If you want to go into security move to Colorado Springs.

jlhct

sprkymrk wrote:

jlhct wrote:

jdmurray wrote:

jlhct wrote:

I'm in the process of moving to Phoenix, there seems to be a lot of opportunity there as well and the cost of living is much more reasonable.

I have friends that live in Phoenix who spend more than $400/month on electricity to air condition themselves through the 115F summer heat. If you move there, get a job at a place with a nice, cool server room and don't leave it from May to October.

Yeah, it gets hot...but I prefer it much more than driving to work in snow, and paying 400/month for oil to heat the house with over the winter months

If you have to pay for oil to heat your home in the winter, that just means you don't own enough computers.

LOL thats probably true...I just have 2, and one is not used nearly as much as the other one