Thinking of relocating to find right job

Hello,

I'm planning for the not too distant future. I'm currently a Network Technician and plan to complete a bachelors degree from WGU in Network Ops and Security in 1.5 years.

My current pay isn't that great, however its great experience. Theirs no higher level jobs or no raise possible at my current employer, and I live in the midwest in a desolate area. Its a horrible market for Tech jobs.

Any recommendations where job market is great and the cost of living isn't too bad?

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mikey88

Texas, Georgia, North Carolina comes to mind... but then again, do your research and figure out where you want to live. Cost of living is not the only criteria.

TechGuru80

COL is all relative...a $2,500 apartment sounds expensive if you make $50,000 but if you make $150,000 it doesn’t sound nearly as bad.

Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Texas are probably the top contenders overall...but states like Colorado and North Carolina are tech heavy and shouldn’t be forgotten.

I would highly recommend you visit any area you are thinking about and get a job prior to moving if at all possible.

joshuamurphy75

Lots of jobs in West Texas now. They are going through another oil boom, so you can walk through a store and get offered two jobs by complete strangers. Most jobs are trucker, welder, or roughneck type work, but there's still some IT scattered around. I'd suggest applying for some remotely before driving out here though as cost of rent tends to skyrocket during the booms.

MeanDrunkR2D2

Lots of places that one could relocate to with lower COL and great IT jobs. Don't discount the midwest as a whole because the "Silicon Prarie" is a thing and there are a lot of IT jobs in the bigger cities and COL isnt' horrible. Instead of finding a city that fits those things with your job, I'd instead focus on what city/state will allow you to do your hobbies easiest. If you love skiing, or cold weather, you'll probably hate Texas or North Carolina. If you want a beach that you can walk on year round or do warm weather fun most of the year, you may hate Minneapolis.

I'm from podunk, small town Iowa and I've moved many times over my life and I'm back in the Midwest again and I can honestly find any type of IT work I want where I am today. There is no shortage of jobs or companies looking for people with these skills. COL is pretty low especially for the size of city it is and there are tons of leisure activities here as well.

Personally though, even though Oil jobs pay well, they usually work you hard and West Texas is more boring than rural Iowa. Not a knock on that state, but it's not my cup of tea. Other parts of Texas (like DFW/SA/Austin/Houston are great) as there is more to do and they have easily accessible airlines for cheap flights elsewhere. But it gets pretty damn hot in the summer.

So TLDR time. Find a city/state that has plenty of things that you enjoy in your free time. If you hate the place you relocate to because they didn't have many options for you to engage in your hobbies/groups you will be miserable no matter how good your job is and how much you can afford in that area. I know from experience.

bEastCoast

TechGuru80 wrote: »

COL is all relative...a $2,500 apartment sounds expensive if you make $50,000 but if you make $150,000 it doesn’t sound nearly as bad.

Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Texas are probably the top contenders overall...but states like Colorado and North Carolina are tech heavy and shouldn’t be forgotten.

I would highly recommend you visit any area you are thinking about and get a job prior to moving if at all possible.

This ^ and also the Northeast has a lot of job openings - Boston area in particular. See a lot of DevOps / Security positions.

masdrobeda

That is what I did about 6 months ago. I moved from Boston to L.A area. I listed cities/states that would be good for my field (Networking Engineer), then out of the 5 top cities, I picked the one that fitted my priorities the most (warm weather, many options for outdoor activities, mid to big size city, beach,etc). I was between Austin and L.A. I liked Austin better due to COL and housing is affordable, but ended up going to L.A area thinking that I always want to move to CA. If CA did not work it out then I was planning on going to Austin.

L.A ended up working for me, found a great paying job in a tech company, and I ride my motorcycle to work everyd ay all year around, which I love.