Seriously considering moving to the Seattle, WA area

[wip3outguy7]

We are currently living in Austin, TX.

My wife and I have been toying with the idea of moving into or around the Seattle, WA area for couple of years now. We had always been intrigued by the place and after an extended trip to the area, we decided to eventually end up there. With the way things are going for us now, we can probably make the move in at least a year. We have a few financial loose ends to tie up and a bit more money to save but it's a done deal if we decide to uproot.

So the reason for this post is to ask those of you who live in the Seattle area or are moving there, or have made a recent move there - what can we expect?

I currently have no college education but I have a long history working in technical support for personal computers. I currently work support for a computer manufacture here in Austin. I may be able to transfer with my company but I haven't looked into it yet.

My wife has some college (Associates) and has been working for a popular hotel chain for the past 3 years. She may be able to transfer. With her background I have no doubt she would find work easily.

I know this is an odd question to post on Racketboy but I feel I will get a lot more honest answers here than at City Data where the usual response is, "there are no jobs here, stay in Texas!"

[aaron]

i would contemplate moving to the Seattle, AL area, or the Seattle, UT area instead.

[equalsign]

i would contemplate moving to the Seattle, AL area, or the Seattle, UT area instead.

Wtf Seattle, Utah ?

[lordofduct]

Let me first say,

I LOVE Seattle. I hope to one day live there or back in New England... I used to live out in Yakima (middle of the desert about 2 or 3 hours west of Seattle depending the route you take). Going over to Seattle was always a treat for me... though I have to say, I've been there numerous times and have never seen it rained. They call the damn place the "rainy city" and I've never seen it rain. I now live in South Florida and they call this shithole the "sunshine state" and it rains nearly every God damn day! (for some data, I've lived in all 4 corners... washington, LA, New England, and South Florida. WA has so far been my all time fav).

Anyways...

as work goes. Well your wife sounds like she'd have a good chance there. The service industry there is rather booming and if she's in the hotel business she really shouldn't have a problem. Not sure if she'd slide right into management or anything, but could easily build into it or something. So yeah she shouldn't have a whole lot of problems.

As for you though... I regret to say it will probably be a bit more dog eat dog. Seattle is one of the technology hubs of the nation with thousands of people already there and in the business if not heading there. Bar in mind you got Microsoft right there, and if you head just down to Oregon you got Mac as well. Both have very big centers going on there. And of course tons of other industry majours are going to pop up around them just to be near the action.

Now this does mean tons of jobs... but the accessibility to the jobs is a different issue. You're walking into a room with several other people who could easily out match you in experience. The entire west coast is plagued with over-qualified people working low-level jobs because the higher-level jobs are overpopulated with people over-qualified for them. So when you're sitting down near the bottom of the pile its hard to really get yourself in there.

Not to say you can't, you certainly can, it'll just take some wits and hard work. Get to know people, etc etc. Companies love fresh meat that show pure dedication and love for their field. If you can show to them that you've got potential and will go places, they'll certainly look your way.

Definitely take to your current employers. If they've got offices located there, or sister companies, try to get a transfer from there. That's the easiest, best, and most secure way into the door.

Other then the work situation, the city is prime stuff. Just keep in mind, the homeless LOVE traveling there and cluttering up the streets. Not sure what your stand is on that, but there is a whole lot of them, and they smell funny in my opinion. I once road into Seattle on a road trip... I hadn't bathed since Louisiana and felt I must be in horrible condition... until this homeless guy we meet nearly knocked my friends and I over with his own very unusual smell.

And don't forget about the Mountains! Can't beat that shit. Mt. Rainier is my all time fav... I've sled and had snow ball fights with my lil' brother in the dead of July on the top of that mountain... don't have that here in Florida... weeee. Though yeah, the route that goes up there was washed away by a flood like 6 years ago, but they should be fixing it.



Oh I should consider in cost of living. It ain't cheap in Seattle, but what majour city is. If you want to live in a city that people on the otherside of the world can easily identify (LA, New York, Seattle, Miami, DC, etc) don't expect to be living lavishly unless you're a millionaire. With that said though, most people working there commute in from surrounding areas like Tacoma where the cost of living is reasonably lower. Consider it like living in Jersey or on "the island" and commuting into Manhattan for work. (I hate that phrase, 'the island', so many don't think Queens is the island... tell me, where's the body of water separating Nassau from Queens???)

[Dylan]

Seattle is a great city, and I never miss an opportunity to head up there. Never looked for work there, but I'd imagine it's brutal. I'm I'm going to try to go to college there though (UW), which would be a blast.

[MrPopo]

Yay! LoD is alive!

So I'm living in Seattle; I moved here a little over two years ago from Illinois to work from Amazon. I was hired out of college so I really am not too up on how the job situation is. I know Microsoft was not interested in extending me a second interview back when I was in school but Amazon seems happy with me. It seems that we are not hiring too many people for software developer positions; I'm not sure what the market looks like for someone with your background.

As LoD mentioned, cost of living is high. I live in an apartment on the edge of downtown. It's a one bedroom and with water, sewage, and parking it costs me $1500 a month. Things get cheaper once you get further south. One of my coworkers is in the middle of house hunting and it seems that if you look for a house north of Lake Washington/Lake Union it's going to run you an extra 50k over a place that's south of the city.

In terms of rain, it really isn't as bad as people like to make it out to be. Annual rainfall is less than many other major cities such as Boston. The big thing we do have, though, is a lot of cloud cover. Annually there are more overcast days than sunny days. You'll also find that Seattle proper tends to be 5-10 degrees colder than Redmond, Bellevue, and Tacoma.

JT also lives here; he might be able to also toss some info your way.

[Zeonik Freak]

Its been like 15 years since i lived there, all i remember was:

1) it rained/overcast, alot
2) pools are heated, because it doesnt get to hot up there (of course global warming changed that)
3) Mt Raineer is awesome!!!!

i was about 5 when i went to an ice cave in Mt Raineer, the coolest thing ive ever seen.

One of my friends in High School moved up there like 4 years back, last i heard, hes a welder.

Well, good luck man...

[wip3outguy7]

Thanks for the replies.

I already know I'm facing an uphill battle in the job market. I may need to change careers entirely... which isn't such a bad thing.

The cost of living sounds similar to Austin. I think apartments in the downtown area here go for $1100 and up. A simple shift to the surrounding areas presents a nearly $300 drop in rent. However, the pay in Austin isn't nearly as high as what I've heard from Seattle so things may balance out.

Commuting doesn't bother me so much. I am "that guy" who prefers to work his weekends in favor of weekdays off and who would rather come in at 10am and leave at 7 or 8pm.

I will embrace the weather with open arms. I have lived in Texas all my life and this state can take the 100°+ summers and shove them. Give me rain and give me overcast days.

My god the scenery. That is the number one reason we are moving there. Olympics, Cascades and Puget Sound oh my!

[gradualmeltdown]

yeah economy is really tight in the PacNW. I'm in Portland which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. Seattle has a little more going one but like others say the competition is hardcore. If you are an industry expert and have experience there is likely a job for you. Anything less and you will be in a dog fight to pay the bills. I feel lucky to even have a job in Portland and I am a local badass in my field.

[Boaradoor]

Are you wanting to move into Seattle? The city itself? Or just one of the cities near it? I live about 23 miles south of Seattle! The economy isn't so bad here... I guess the cold weather well be a relief!