Job Market In Florida

What's up everyone!!!???

I'm getting married in November of this year and my fiancé and I were THINKING of making a move down to Florida. We’re not totally sure about this but I was wondering what the job market is like in Florida for I.T. folks like us?

Any advise would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks again!

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Comments

NPA24

The job market in Florida is highly competitive and scarce. If you have like 5-10 years of experience and have certs your golden. If not, good luck!

BigO1120

Well, I have over 6 years of experience doing support and I just got my A+ and Network+ certifications under my belt for now. I'm planning on going for my XP Prof. exam next.

Would it be even worth making the move to Florida?

wirerat

I have to agree with NPA24 that the job market here in Florida is very competitive and scarce. I would recommend searching online job sites like monster, dice, etc. I would also recommend if you don't have a set place to move to down there, then look into the larger cities. Orlando, Tampa, and pretty much Boca Raton down to Miami are all booming places in Florida right now that I know of. Check out the local papers to each city and watch the want ads.

Main Event

wirerat wrote:

I have to agree with NPA24 that the job market here in Florida is very competitive and scarce. I would recommend searching online job sites like monster, dice, etc. I would also recommend if you don't have a set place to move to down there, then look into the larger cities. Orlando, Tampa, and pretty much Boca Raton down to Miami are all booming places in Florida right now that I know of. Check out the local papers to each city and watch the want ads.

I would recommend Orlando, stay outta South Florida...prices are sky high and the job market isn't great at all, I would say lackluster at best. Orlando or Tampa is your best bet.

Keep in mind that Florida isn't known for Information Technology like that, Florida's economy = low busget labor, you might take a pay cut down here as opposed to Jersey.

Good luck.

ja5983

I am in central FL (daytona actually) and i must say from my experience the job market is not that great down here.

I currently hold my A+,NET+,SERVER+,SEC+,TICSA w/about 4 years in the field and am a security specialist/IT Dept supervisor (actually for the week i am the acting director of IT YAY!) for a state govt agency and i would say i make...15-17G BELOW what i should be making...and i am happy for that because it was pretty much the only job in the area!!

jacksonville and orlando both have jobs but they seem to be mostly for .NET developers and such...

make a long story short...the jobs around Central FL are scarce except for temp jobs which seem to abound and those that exist are very low paying (though good for experience)

however, if you are coming from some place like kansas or idaho or something, then the job market may seem abundant to you...i guess its all perspective

BigO1120

That sucks! I hear that the cost of living in Florida is GREAT! My fiancé’s parents just bought a real huge lot of land and are building a GEORGOUS house for about $150,000 - $160,000. This thing is a MANSION! I’m from NJ and if you buy a house for that much up here it’s not going to get you $H!T. My fiancé and I are trying to see if we could get a house as far away from NYC as possible because the cost of living is not as expensive and Florida is a very interesting place for us right now!

So then my best bet would be to look at either Orlando or Tampa ?

Baredor

ugh. Not what I wanted to hear from you Florida locals. We're trying to move down to the Orlando/Space Coast area currently. My ultimate goal is to obtain a security clearance and work for a defense contractor like Lockheed or Northrup. Of course that's several years off, and I'm looking at anything in the mean time.

I've been hitting up the job sites and it seems like many of these construction contractors are wanting people for Solaris, so I will definitely be continuing my plans to pursue some linux education. If any of you guys might have any recommendations at all for entry level stuff, I'd love to hear it. My only constraint is it has to be full time with insurance. Can't survive without it.

NPA24

I'm in Orlando right now and it took me a good year after graduating college to find a job. I did do helpdesk for 3 years while in college which helped a little. The trend I see is that you do need certs to just get an interview. Also ever since I got this IT job and also got some certs under my belt, I've been asked to do contract work throughout the central florida area.

You could always start with those if you have a hard time looking for full time position. You are right with the prices of houses here and also the standard of living is cheaper here I believe. The price of houses is slowly creaping up to over $200,000 for just a normal house so if you want to live here move now and buy yourself a house before it gets too expensive.

ja5983

the cost of living and the cost of housing are two different things... I am actually from NYC (lived there all my life but the last 2 years) and i will tell you that though housing is cheaper down here (BY A TON!!)...nothing else is...food, clothing, entertainment. etc is all about the same as NY if not more expensive for some things at times....and the way they have the tax system (ie 300$ to register your car..$50 a year for registration, $80 every few months for an occ license if you work for yourself, etc, etc) life ends up costing just as much down here as it did in ny (with the exception of the house).

Also, you forget that in NYC you would be paid $55,000 for a $35,000 here...$65,000 for a $45,000 here, etc, etc so it really evens out very much so.

If you are trying to find a job down here though i would definately go orlando

I also agree that if you dont have certs down here you wont even get an interview...the only reason I got mine was because of my sec+ and Net+

BigO1120

What's the percentage of tax in Florida?

ja5983

sales tax is close to that of ny... i think its like 7.5%?

there is no income tax..but trust me...they get theirs...

BigO1120

What about hurricane insurance?

darkuser

I'm remodeling my house right now .... in NJ to the tune of 244 k .....
and my wife just got laid off by symbol yesterday.
i tink i needs my ccie .... now!!!

filkenjitsu

Come to knoxville Tn!

You can build mansions for cheap, cheap land, Low cost of living, lots of IT jobs, etc. The only problem is the IT jobs pay lower than some area's for the same work, but cost of living is so low who cares!!

ja5983

bigo,

im not sure of an actual price for huricane insurance everywhere but I live within 400 feet of the ocean an i know that it is astronomical here.

goasakawa

Miami is pretty hot lately .....IF your bilingual /spanish speaking .

KGhaleon

Finding work here in florida is *hell*.

I've been looking since sometime last year and I still haven't had any luck. I've been thinking about moving away somewhere where I can find IT work. Any suggestions?