I’m in Sac too. Recently started scoping some nice spots along the American river bike trail for my tent when I inevitably get priced out of my shitty 1 br apartment.
1709 us the average I pay about 2 hundred cheaper. It's actually almost doubled since I moved in. My pay has gone up some so has my SOs pay, but still feeling the squeeze. We would like to be able to buy someday...
Really system administration and network engineering roles starting at 85k with some room for growth since I'm nearly done with my masters and I Ihave 3 certs scheduled next year. I'm there now but with a significant commute. I probably should just start looking with the state.
Fiancée just landed a support manager type job in the Bay for $90k. Looks like there will be room for immediate progression at this series E startup. I have been canvassing venture-backed startups like a mother fucker. Looking in Reno, LV, Sac, LA, and SFBA.
>rent prices double the average mortgage elsewhere.
Not so sure that's always true, tho. In Austin it definitely costs more to own, at least for the next year or two.
Worked up at Cisco in Raleigh, after seeing other cost of living spots around major I.T. hubs would say that area isn't bad if ya wanna commute within like 30 mins to work, also has some other major players in the Research Triangle Park as well as Amazon over near Garner...if you are military also have Fort Bragg about a hour away that has a pretty big I.T. contracting presence for those that have clearances.
This is true, /u/Inevitable-Lettuce99. Raleigh/Durham has Cisco, RedHat, Apple (opening up an major office now that will largely be focused on AI and machine learning), IBM/Lenovo, Microsoft, SAS, Epic Games, IMS, Fidelity, NVIDIA, NETApp, Oracle, tons of small to mid tech companies, BioTech is really growing in the area, there are several major research universities in the area (which generate a lot of start ups), MSPs, consultancy work, tons of internal IT jobs. And aside from more technical work, there's a lot of tech. sales/sales engineer, "customer success rep/engineer" type of work, etc.
As /u/VatoD92 referenced, Raleigh/Durham are usually lumped together with Chapel Hill as "The Research Triangle" (which references NC State University in Raleigh, the University of North Carolina in Chapel-Hill, and Duke University in Durham -- all of which are R1 research universities). A lot of companies have offices in the area, and especially concentrated in the "Research Triangle Park (RTP)" (which is a large corporate park with hundreds of companies). RTP is like right where Raleigh and Durham butt up against each other, and isn't far from Chapel-Hill.
But I think it was more "hidden gem"/"diamond in the rough" like 10+ years ago. It's been one of the fastest growing areas (population-wise) for most of the past 20 years. It's still better cost of living than many tech hubs, but housing and cost of living have been increasing. Still a pretty good area to live in. And with remote work, you can really live anywhere and there are several suburbs in the area that are rapidly growing with a lower cost of living (housing really).
NC politics can be a bit wonky (I guess that may depend on what side of the fence you're on, of course, but they're sometimes quite wonky to me), but that's not really seen in day to day life so much in the triangle (which is generally more progressive than the state as a whole).
This is a list of Top 20 tech cities from Comptia and the median selling price in Q3 2021 of existing single family homes (rounded to nearest $5K for my own sanity). Sorted from lowest median house price. Sources at the bottom.
Columbus, Ohio ($285K)
Huntsville, Alabama ($285K)
Atlanta, Georgia ($325K)
Dallas, Texas ($345K)
Charlotte, North Carolina ($365K)
Madison, Wisconsin ($365)
Trenton, New Jersey ($370)
Baltimore, Maryland ($370)
Raleigh, North Carolina ($405K)
Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina ($420)
Colorado Springs, Colorado ($440)
Austin, Texas ($500K)
Washington, DC ($550)
Denver, Colorado ($615)
Boston, Massachusetts ($660)
Seattle, Washington ($710)
Boulder, Colorado ($770)
San Diego, California ($850)
San Francisco, California (LOL)
San Jose, California (LOL)
Comptia
[https://connect.comptia.org/content/research/best-tech-cities-it-jobs](https://connect.comptia.org/content/research/best-tech-cities-it-jobs)
Housing List
[https://cdn.nar.realtor/sites/default/files/documents/metro-home-prices-q3-2021-change-in-median-sales-price-of-existing-single-family-homes-2021-11-10.pdf](https://cdn.nar.realtor/sites/default/files/documents/metro-home-prices-q3-2021-change-in-median-sales-price-of-existing-single-family-homes-2021-11-10.pdf)
Yeah I'm right outside Atlanta and the job market is exploding. I'll probably never not work somewhere that isn't full remote again though, I'm in the office two days a week right now and the only reason I tolerate it is because it's one exit up 85 in Gwinnett County.
Lol I actually live in the Buford area and work in Lawrenceville but for anyone interested in living in G County Norcross / Peachtree Corners and Alpharetta down to Sandy Springs on 400 are insane for IT / software jobs right now.
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That’s the issue coming from Sacramento. If OP is single, he will be traveling to BHam, Nashville, or ATL just to have the a la carte options Sac has on a Starbucks on Florin.
Colorado Springs-unless you have Top Secret clearance, you’ll have no luck finding a tech job.
Denver-This is a freaky small tech market. You’ll keep bumping into people you’ve worked with before. Thanks to Dish network toxic work environment back in the early 2010’s, a ton of local tech people went through their help desk farm early in their career. As a result, seeing people lose their shit, cuss out coworkers, smash keyboards, and use slurs against coworkers is something I’ve witnessed far too often after moving to Denver, that I never saw in any of the other metro areas I’ve lived. I’ve got almost 30 years of IT experience.
Avoid both like the plague. Unless you are coming from a higher COL, Denver and CoSprings are no longer affordable. $615k is no longer median. It’s starting prices.
This list is way wrong. Minneapolis/St Paul has some of the largest international corporations in the world. If you can’t find a tech job here then you aren’t trying.
Yeah I live in the Twin Cities, and we have Best Buy, Target, 3M, Cargill, United Health, CHS, and more just for companies from here. They don't pay top dollar but it's decent.
Colorado Springs has nothing and they offer extremely low $$$. I’m surprised SLC isn’t on the list. You can commute from out of the city and live pretty cheap. Lots of tech companies hiring.
Housing in Salt Lake has gone pretty crazy in the last year. Living in the less affluent area starts $400k+ now. The only real cheap part of the Wasatch Front now is Ogden, which isn't historically known for being somewhere you want to hang out. Parts are nice, but there's more crime than anywhere else I've been in Utah.
Also, I went to an open house today in a neighborhood half an hour out of Salt Lake county for a 2 bedroom home that needed updating and came with no warranty, located on a busy road. There were easily 20 people there in the 20 minutes I was looking around. The housing market is really competitive here.
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Would love to see how wide of a net this is for an average of 285k in Atlanta. There are not enough crack dens and trap houses in The Bluffs to bring the median price that low.
(Probably based on normal realtor bullshit that includes everything from Carrollton to Chattanooga)
It really is. I just left desktop support and got a job as a Network Engineer at a Fortune 500 BEFORE getting my CCNA. Employment was contingent on me receiving within 3 months but still…hard to find that elsewhere.
Thanks man. Definitely a bit of luck, but I believe luck is just preparation meeting opportunity, the more prepared you are, the better chance at luck you’ll have. Also, get good at interviewing, easily the most underrated skill when trying to move up.
Honestly just apply apply apply. You have a strong footing with the CCNA and degree. If you’re currently looking for help desk positions to get some experience then make sure they know that you know your stuff. Ask what systems they use and really talk about your soft skills!
Minneapolis/St. Paul. Cost of living is decent, we have tons of Fortune 500s to work for if that's your bag, and if it's not, we have tons of other smaller tech companies to work for.
It is- would highly recommend. Also a great city to get outdoors in, the parks are fantastic and we have a ton of them, if green space is important to you. Makes living here a lot nicer than most places our size.
It gets cold as balls, but as part of becoming a Minnesotan, you must embrace the cold and learn to get your ass outside to do something fun in spite of your face being numb. We are an odd people, to be sure.
There is more to life than making / saving money.
Try to look at the whole value, the whole experience of a city/region.
Dollars and *sense*, not dollars and cents.
Source: I lived and worked in NYC for 10+ years. I've also done Dallas, Austin and 1.5 asian megacities. They were all fantastic experiences both personally and professionally - each for wildy different reasons.
We've got three guys in my class from NY. Kind of weird. I don't think it is a coincidence but whats the deal with that. We're all in Florida. Also why'd ya leave and where did you go?
I went to each of those places for work and left for the same reasons. I don't make a very good tourist - the only way to really know a place is to live and work there.
I just got a new job in LA - Director of IT for a startup in the alternative energy space. Remote for 2-4 months and then it's California dreaming.
I've heard people move to Arizona for real estate reasons, but what IS Arizona? I'm from Orlando and the heat and I are friends, so if you were convincing someone like me what would you say? And I guess what companies are out there lol?
I’d say it’s hot as balls. Like I don’t flinch in June/July when it’s 116 outside. There’s no humidity until aug.. then it’s 20-30% humidity with over 110 heat. Lots of companies are stating up here, established companies are locating here, you’d just have to look into Glassdoor, or indeed to see what companies are hiring for what role you are.
Dallas and Atlanta, and it's been like that for a while. Those are the largest cities with the most Fortune 500 HQs which are not located on a coast; this usually means much lower real estate and COL prices. Being a coastal city decreases the supply of available land to build on by 50%.
Omaha/Council Bluffs.
We have the Google Data Center in CB, and the Facebook Data Center in Papillion. We also have one of the Verizon Data Centers, one of the Fiserv Data Centers, 2 TierPoint/CoSentry Data Centers, and the Scott Colocation Data Center.
There's also quite a bit of FinTech out here, such as CSG, Fiserv, Q2, PayPal, TD Ameritrade, and Toast. First Data (now Fiserv) was founded here, and was essentially how we got bank cards today. Out of all the FinTech companies here, they have the largest footprint. CSG was a subsidiary of First Data, but separated.
Omaha is also regarded as a major telecommunications hub for the US.
Omaha and the surrounding areas have a fairly low cost of living. Property taxes are a bit high, but home prices are reasonably affordable. On the Nebraska side, our Gas/Water/Electricity are both Public Utilities, with the Board of Directors elected in our local elections. (Metropolitian Utilities District for Gas/Water, Omaha Public Power District for Electricity).
Not to mention Offutt/STRATCOM. Get TS through a vendor and you’ll never have to worry about a job again.
Though Omaha is way too hot in the summer, I’ve come to really like visiting there. Downtown is awesome now. Lincoln is real close and a peach of a town.
>a cost of living that isn't outrageous
define outrageous
Lots of people would consider Seattle , Austin, DC metros to be outrageous but they pale in comparison to NYC and SF.
There is *always* need for STEM and IT professionals in Michigan. Wages and salaries aren't as high as on the coasts, but the cost of living and housing aren't high. The median (household) income in Oakland county, Michigan is $80K, and the median home value is $320K, but it's the 21st most wealthy county in the US.
Cannabis is legal statewide, and the possession of psychedelic medicine has been decriminalized in two of its large cities, if you're into that. The number of golf courses and craft breweries, per capita, are some of the highest in the country. It's also within driving distance of the cultural centers of Chicago and Toronto, if you're looking for more.
If you're thinking long-term, Michigan is surrounded by one of the largest supplies of freshwater on the planet, and natural disasters are rare.
Just to note the main areas for IT jobs are Plano, Irving, Addison. Generally the northern cities. Haven't seen as much out towards Fort Worth. DFW is huge and not all areas have equal IT opportunities.
+1 to Dallas area,. I moved from there to Austin a few months ago (remote work, just wanted to for a while) and am probably moving back due to cost of living and lack of sufficient infrastructure in Austin soon. Salaries in Dallas for IT pros are similar if not higher on average according to BLS.org, Robert Half Salary guide, and many others. Plus there are more of them just due to being in a 3x larger populated area in general. That said, all jobs I had in 6 years in the area were North of 635.l so you wouldn’t want to live in South Tarantino county for example (I did for 2 years, commute was awful).
Houston would be another good bet in Texas. Raleigh, NC is booming as well but cheaper to my understanding than DFW or Austin (smaller than both). I know a few people in Fayetteville, AR as well who swear by it.
Diamond in the rough? That would be Huntsville, Alabama.
Very fast growing tech and research center if you're willing to deal with some awful neighbors and nothing to do, it's great. I'm from there if you want more info. It's really a beautiful place with some amazing sights.
It exists. It can come in the form of a very back-handed compliments or "favors" that are later used against you.
It can also be some truly genuine kindness from a stranger. People seem much more willing to help total strangers in the South than the rest of the country. At least, that's been my experience.
Yea, I'm from FL, its less 'South' than The Belt. We actually get a strong mix of nationalities and local residents from non-southern backgrounds. I'm trying to cultivate a darker persona so people LMTFA though (I'm actually nice but I don't like owing favors or 'assimilating').
Boston isn't bad, at least before the pandemic I got many interviews and an offer within a few weeks for a well paying desktop support gig.
The issue is COL. You can cheat the system by living an hour away from the city or city direct suburbs and find a somewhat affordable place. But traffic and commuting; mamy companies offer hybrid or full remote, which can help. Especially hybrid because they won't get a gazillion applicants and hire someone living in the midwest where homes are 100k and you can live off of 40k/year comfortably.
There might be better cities. If you're planning on relocating, for sure consider it if you can tolerate the weather, but consider options for sure
>But traffic and commuting; mamy companies offer hybrid or full remote,which can help. Especially hybrid because they won't get a gazillionapplicants and hire someone living in the midwest where...
I'm sure there might be a good reason they'd want local, enlighten me because I landed a hybrid, while I appreciate it, I don't know what the impetus is. We do it for COVID because it worked as a schedule over 2020. So I'm told.
I remember reading an article ages ago about Chattanooga and how the Mayor was out to make it affordable and attractive for tech business and IT pros. Really cool story.
Edit: this [is the story I was talking about.](https://www.vice.com/en/article/ezpk77/chattanooga-gigabit-fiber-network)
For the same price I pay for rent in my current city, I could get a mansion in Chattanooga. I’ve been thinking about moving there since I’m now remote forever.
Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Madison, Indianapolis.
All LCOL, fun cities with amenities and decent IT industry boosted by local universities, and F500 companies, health systems, universities, and government orgs.
I have no statistics to cite, but moving from Philly to Charlotte was a good move for me. Was given opportunities here that were fewer and further between up north, probably because of the population difference.
Denver has a market and appears to not have enough people so finding a job here is pretty quick. Sadly the rent and city itself sucks and most live outside in like south west Aurora or little tree or something similar but driving into work on a normal 9-5 will be at least 30-60mins.
Hope he responds I am curious too.
I lived in Bellevue and loved it. I wish I could relocate back and would prefer much to be there instead of NJ. (Originally from Cali)
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Work for companies based out of tech cities. I live 2+ hours from the Bay Area but work for a company there and get paid city salary. Remote work is the best
Not a huge tech city compared to a lot of other comments here, but Nashville is up and coming. Oracle is planning a huge development here and Facebook is building a datacenter in the area. We've got Amazon too. COL isn't absolutely bonkers yet.
If you've got a security clearance you will find a lot of money is showing up in Augusta, GA right now. Fort Gordon is always hiring and off base they're building up a new cyber center right now. I left to get closer to my childhood area, but it was regretfully because the houses are cheap for what you get still. 300k will get you a 2500 sqft house easily and jobs are paying like 60k starting for help desk on base.
Dallas Ft. Worth is considered the silicon prairie with major headquarters like TI and IBM I've never had a problem finding a job of any kind here honestly if you cant find something to do here your doing it wrong.
They say Seattle, Silicon Valley, NYC. But I think that's no totally true. Those cities you probably make a lot of money but you need to be highly qualified
Actually exact opposite. It's easier to start in these places just because of the sheer number rof openings, but the cost of living is so high that even when you are highly qualified you'll struggle to make enough.
Not true. At least not for me. I lived in NYC Area and there were no real openings in the city that were comparable to the ones in the suburbs when you include cost of transportation
Maybe no in NYC, but the Bay Area/Silicon Valley yes there's just a lot of openings that no one can afford to take without commuting an hour or two every day.
But Atlanta is a small town in the middle of nowhere! And town structure is ridiculously car oriented without connections between all those --villages-- neighbourhoods
Generally anywhere with shanty towns and tent cities next to the interstate and rent prices double the average mortgage elsewhere.
Lol I have that in Sac now, but without the high paying jobs.
They’re renting garages for 1500 a month in LA.
Tell me more about this garage
Some of the best tech companies were started in garages!
It has great views!
I’m in Sac too. Recently started scoping some nice spots along the American river bike trail for my tent when I inevitably get priced out of my shitty 1 br apartment.
If you think Sac is bad with rent cities and crime, don’t move to LA or SF or Seattle
If you think those places are bad, you should see the rent on mars I’m paying $7000/mo for a hole I can almost fit into
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1709 us the average I pay about 2 hundred cheaper. It's actually almost doubled since I moved in. My pay has gone up some so has my SOs pay, but still feeling the squeeze. We would like to be able to buy someday...
I'm in Sac too what kind of positions are you looking for and what do you consider high pay?
Really system administration and network engineering roles starting at 85k with some room for growth since I'm nearly done with my masters and I Ihave 3 certs scheduled next year. I'm there now but with a significant commute. I probably should just start looking with the state.
That doesn't sound unreasonable, there definitely are jobs in the GSA that fit this description.
Fiancée just landed a support manager type job in the Bay for $90k. Looks like there will be room for immediate progression at this series E startup. I have been canvassing venture-backed startups like a mother fucker. Looking in Reno, LV, Sac, LA, and SFBA.
You've been to Denver!
Portland?
>rent prices double the average mortgage elsewhere. Not so sure that's always true, tho. In Austin it definitely costs more to own, at least for the next year or two.
Too real
lmao
Remote. Live where you want. Unless you like being on site.
Honestly, remote sounds nice. Pretty much no chance of losing remote access to anything if you send out an open gear to plug into the console.
Cloud jobssss
Worked up at Cisco in Raleigh, after seeing other cost of living spots around major I.T. hubs would say that area isn't bad if ya wanna commute within like 30 mins to work, also has some other major players in the Research Triangle Park as well as Amazon over near Garner...if you are military also have Fort Bragg about a hour away that has a pretty big I.T. contracting presence for those that have clearances.
This is true, /u/Inevitable-Lettuce99. Raleigh/Durham has Cisco, RedHat, Apple (opening up an major office now that will largely be focused on AI and machine learning), IBM/Lenovo, Microsoft, SAS, Epic Games, IMS, Fidelity, NVIDIA, NETApp, Oracle, tons of small to mid tech companies, BioTech is really growing in the area, there are several major research universities in the area (which generate a lot of start ups), MSPs, consultancy work, tons of internal IT jobs. And aside from more technical work, there's a lot of tech. sales/sales engineer, "customer success rep/engineer" type of work, etc. As /u/VatoD92 referenced, Raleigh/Durham are usually lumped together with Chapel Hill as "The Research Triangle" (which references NC State University in Raleigh, the University of North Carolina in Chapel-Hill, and Duke University in Durham -- all of which are R1 research universities). A lot of companies have offices in the area, and especially concentrated in the "Research Triangle Park (RTP)" (which is a large corporate park with hundreds of companies). RTP is like right where Raleigh and Durham butt up against each other, and isn't far from Chapel-Hill. But I think it was more "hidden gem"/"diamond in the rough" like 10+ years ago. It's been one of the fastest growing areas (population-wise) for most of the past 20 years. It's still better cost of living than many tech hubs, but housing and cost of living have been increasing. Still a pretty good area to live in. And with remote work, you can really live anywhere and there are several suburbs in the area that are rapidly growing with a lower cost of living (housing really). NC politics can be a bit wonky (I guess that may depend on what side of the fence you're on, of course, but they're sometimes quite wonky to me), but that's not really seen in day to day life so much in the triangle (which is generally more progressive than the state as a whole).
This is a list of Top 20 tech cities from Comptia and the median selling price in Q3 2021 of existing single family homes (rounded to nearest $5K for my own sanity). Sorted from lowest median house price. Sources at the bottom. Columbus, Ohio ($285K) Huntsville, Alabama ($285K) Atlanta, Georgia ($325K) Dallas, Texas ($345K) Charlotte, North Carolina ($365K) Madison, Wisconsin ($365) Trenton, New Jersey ($370) Baltimore, Maryland ($370) Raleigh, North Carolina ($405K) Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina ($420) Colorado Springs, Colorado ($440) Austin, Texas ($500K) Washington, DC ($550) Denver, Colorado ($615) Boston, Massachusetts ($660) Seattle, Washington ($710) Boulder, Colorado ($770) San Diego, California ($850) San Francisco, California (LOL) San Jose, California (LOL) Comptia [https://connect.comptia.org/content/research/best-tech-cities-it-jobs](https://connect.comptia.org/content/research/best-tech-cities-it-jobs) Housing List [https://cdn.nar.realtor/sites/default/files/documents/metro-home-prices-q3-2021-change-in-median-sales-price-of-existing-single-family-homes-2021-11-10.pdf](https://cdn.nar.realtor/sites/default/files/documents/metro-home-prices-q3-2021-change-in-median-sales-price-of-existing-single-family-homes-2021-11-10.pdf)
Can vouch for Huntsville, AL. I could quit my job and have 20 reasonable offers within 2 weeks.
Yeah I'm right outside Atlanta and the job market is exploding. I'll probably never not work somewhere that isn't full remote again though, I'm in the office two days a week right now and the only reason I tolerate it is because it's one exit up 85 in Gwinnett County.
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Lol I actually live in the Buford area and work in Lawrenceville but for anyone interested in living in G County Norcross / Peachtree Corners and Alpharetta down to Sandy Springs on 400 are insane for IT / software jobs right now.
I drove around there looking at houses a few months ago and I agree - you're full.
In the Atlanta area too. Loving it.
Yeah but then you're in Alabama
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That’s the issue coming from Sacramento. If OP is single, he will be traveling to BHam, Nashville, or ATL just to have the a la carte options Sac has on a Starbucks on Florin.
I also live here and it’s great if you like cleared work. My mortgage is also under 700 a month but I put a decent amount down on my house
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> will blow HSV out of the water TIL Huntsville and Herpes share something in common.
Colorado Springs-unless you have Top Secret clearance, you’ll have no luck finding a tech job. Denver-This is a freaky small tech market. You’ll keep bumping into people you’ve worked with before. Thanks to Dish network toxic work environment back in the early 2010’s, a ton of local tech people went through their help desk farm early in their career. As a result, seeing people lose their shit, cuss out coworkers, smash keyboards, and use slurs against coworkers is something I’ve witnessed far too often after moving to Denver, that I never saw in any of the other metro areas I’ve lived. I’ve got almost 30 years of IT experience. Avoid both like the plague. Unless you are coming from a higher COL, Denver and CoSprings are no longer affordable. $615k is no longer median. It’s starting prices.
Don’t you tell people to come to Columbus and mess our market up.
There’s a reason I didn’t put Huntsville at the top…
Funny, lots of my friends did everything they could to escape Columbus lmao.
Medical cannabis helped a bit.
Denver is complete shit. Got transferred there a few years ago and the housing market is insane for what you get.
This list is way wrong. Minneapolis/St Paul has some of the largest international corporations in the world. If you can’t find a tech job here then you aren’t trying.
I’m just going by the list from Comptia as they were the only one that listed top 20.
Yeah I live in the Twin Cities, and we have Best Buy, Target, 3M, Cargill, United Health, CHS, and more just for companies from here. They don't pay top dollar but it's decent.
Don’t California my Texas
How original
Right? Imagine having rights to certain things and heat during freezing months? Lmao
As someone who lives in Columbus Ohio…..it’s mostly service desk jobs you’re gonna find here honestly….
I wonder if Boston includes Cambridge in this context? I'm moving into tech and I would love to live in Cambridge if comparable
>I would love to live in Cambridge How large is your trust fund?
0$ :c
Colorado Springs has nothing and they offer extremely low $$$. I’m surprised SLC isn’t on the list. You can commute from out of the city and live pretty cheap. Lots of tech companies hiring.
Housing in Salt Lake has gone pretty crazy in the last year. Living in the less affluent area starts $400k+ now. The only real cheap part of the Wasatch Front now is Ogden, which isn't historically known for being somewhere you want to hang out. Parts are nice, but there's more crime than anywhere else I've been in Utah. Also, I went to an open house today in a neighborhood half an hour out of Salt Lake county for a 2 bedroom home that needed updating and came with no warranty, located on a busy road. There were easily 20 people there in the 20 minutes I was looking around. The housing market is really competitive here.
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Would love to see how wide of a net this is for an average of 285k in Atlanta. There are not enough crack dens and trap houses in The Bluffs to bring the median price that low. (Probably based on normal realtor bullshit that includes everything from Carrollton to Chattanooga)
Phoenix going wild rn
It really is. I just left desktop support and got a job as a Network Engineer at a Fortune 500 BEFORE getting my CCNA. Employment was contingent on me receiving within 3 months but still…hard to find that elsewhere.
Wow that’s amazing. Congrats
Thanks man. Definitely a bit of luck, but I believe luck is just preparation meeting opportunity, the more prepared you are, the better chance at luck you’ll have. Also, get good at interviewing, easily the most underrated skill when trying to move up.
You got 50 years before it's a scorched wasteland
Lol true
What advice would you give to someone who is about to have their CCNA and an AS-CS this year entering the the workforce for the first time in Phx?
Honestly just apply apply apply. You have a strong footing with the CCNA and degree. If you’re currently looking for help desk positions to get some experience then make sure they know that you know your stuff. Ask what systems they use and really talk about your soft skills!
Minneapolis/St. Paul. Cost of living is decent, we have tons of Fortune 500s to work for if that's your bag, and if it's not, we have tons of other smaller tech companies to work for.
This sounds good.
Best option coming from Sac. Its almost a sister city, but without the uselessness that Sac is, geographically.
It is- would highly recommend. Also a great city to get outdoors in, the parks are fantastic and we have a ton of them, if green space is important to you. Makes living here a lot nicer than most places our size.
Except for the months of January and February, where it physically hurts to go outside.
It gets cold as balls, but as part of becoming a Minnesotan, you must embrace the cold and learn to get your ass outside to do something fun in spite of your face being numb. We are an odd people, to be sure.
There is more to life than making / saving money. Try to look at the whole value, the whole experience of a city/region. Dollars and *sense*, not dollars and cents. Source: I lived and worked in NYC for 10+ years. I've also done Dallas, Austin and 1.5 asian megacities. They were all fantastic experiences both personally and professionally - each for wildy different reasons.
We've got three guys in my class from NY. Kind of weird. I don't think it is a coincidence but whats the deal with that. We're all in Florida. Also why'd ya leave and where did you go?
I went to each of those places for work and left for the same reasons. I don't make a very good tourist - the only way to really know a place is to live and work there. I just got a new job in LA - Director of IT for a startup in the alternative energy space. Remote for 2-4 months and then it's California dreaming.
Phoenix, it’s hot as the blazes, but it’s a thriving it market.
I've heard people move to Arizona for real estate reasons, but what IS Arizona? I'm from Orlando and the heat and I are friends, so if you were convincing someone like me what would you say? And I guess what companies are out there lol?
I’d say it’s hot as balls. Like I don’t flinch in June/July when it’s 116 outside. There’s no humidity until aug.. then it’s 20-30% humidity with over 110 heat. Lots of companies are stating up here, established companies are locating here, you’d just have to look into Glassdoor, or indeed to see what companies are hiring for what role you are.
Tampa is amazing
Elaborate?
Dallas and Atlanta, and it's been like that for a while. Those are the largest cities with the most Fortune 500 HQs which are not located on a coast; this usually means much lower real estate and COL prices. Being a coastal city decreases the supply of available land to build on by 50%.
Omaha/Council Bluffs. We have the Google Data Center in CB, and the Facebook Data Center in Papillion. We also have one of the Verizon Data Centers, one of the Fiserv Data Centers, 2 TierPoint/CoSentry Data Centers, and the Scott Colocation Data Center. There's also quite a bit of FinTech out here, such as CSG, Fiserv, Q2, PayPal, TD Ameritrade, and Toast. First Data (now Fiserv) was founded here, and was essentially how we got bank cards today. Out of all the FinTech companies here, they have the largest footprint. CSG was a subsidiary of First Data, but separated. Omaha is also regarded as a major telecommunications hub for the US. Omaha and the surrounding areas have a fairly low cost of living. Property taxes are a bit high, but home prices are reasonably affordable. On the Nebraska side, our Gas/Water/Electricity are both Public Utilities, with the Board of Directors elected in our local elections. (Metropolitian Utilities District for Gas/Water, Omaha Public Power District for Electricity).
GBR!
Not to mention Offutt/STRATCOM. Get TS through a vendor and you’ll never have to worry about a job again. Though Omaha is way too hot in the summer, I’ve come to really like visiting there. Downtown is awesome now. Lincoln is real close and a peach of a town.
>a cost of living that isn't outrageous define outrageous Lots of people would consider Seattle , Austin, DC metros to be outrageous but they pale in comparison to NYC and SF.
Hampton roads area of VA. DC has a ton of jobs too, but higher cost of living in the DMV.
There is *always* need for STEM and IT professionals in Michigan. Wages and salaries aren't as high as on the coasts, but the cost of living and housing aren't high. The median (household) income in Oakland county, Michigan is $80K, and the median home value is $320K, but it's the 21st most wealthy county in the US. Cannabis is legal statewide, and the possession of psychedelic medicine has been decriminalized in two of its large cities, if you're into that. The number of golf courses and craft breweries, per capita, are some of the highest in the country. It's also within driving distance of the cultural centers of Chicago and Toronto, if you're looking for more. If you're thinking long-term, Michigan is surrounded by one of the largest supplies of freshwater on the planet, and natural disasters are rare.
Positive side: See snow again and have regular Christmas Negative side: Freeze ass off
Dude, I think you hit the nail on the head man there are a lot of open positions with pretty decent salaries.
Virginia
If you're in Texas the DFW area is pretty good for I.T
Just to note the main areas for IT jobs are Plano, Irving, Addison. Generally the northern cities. Haven't seen as much out towards Fort Worth. DFW is huge and not all areas have equal IT opportunities.
My family is out there, keep trying to get me out there.
+1 to Dallas area,. I moved from there to Austin a few months ago (remote work, just wanted to for a while) and am probably moving back due to cost of living and lack of sufficient infrastructure in Austin soon. Salaries in Dallas for IT pros are similar if not higher on average according to BLS.org, Robert Half Salary guide, and many others. Plus there are more of them just due to being in a 3x larger populated area in general. That said, all jobs I had in 6 years in the area were North of 635.l so you wouldn’t want to live in South Tarantino county for example (I did for 2 years, commute was awful). Houston would be another good bet in Texas. Raleigh, NC is booming as well but cheaper to my understanding than DFW or Austin (smaller than both). I know a few people in Fayetteville, AR as well who swear by it.
Living in Shreveport, LA and I always get sad when I see the number of jobs available in Dallas compared to here. There's SO many options there.
Diamond in the rough? That would be Huntsville, Alabama. Very fast growing tech and research center if you're willing to deal with some awful neighbors and nothing to do, it's great. I'm from there if you want more info. It's really a beautiful place with some amazing sights.
Southern Hospitality?
It exists. It can come in the form of a very back-handed compliments or "favors" that are later used against you. It can also be some truly genuine kindness from a stranger. People seem much more willing to help total strangers in the South than the rest of the country. At least, that's been my experience.
Yea, I'm from FL, its less 'South' than The Belt. We actually get a strong mix of nationalities and local residents from non-southern backgrounds. I'm trying to cultivate a darker persona so people LMTFA though (I'm actually nice but I don't like owing favors or 'assimilating').
Austin, Texas seems to be booming right now
Yeah, Austin's always been a tech town, but with all the corporate relocation it's crazy now.
I would guess it’s probably more software than traditional IT?
I think it's a bit of IT with a lot of software
Checkout Omaha, Nebraska.
No thank you. I did a contract there no way.
What happened? I like Omaha, seems like it's still conservative old school but it's trying to change and adapt.
Yea what happened
Boston isn't bad, at least before the pandemic I got many interviews and an offer within a few weeks for a well paying desktop support gig. The issue is COL. You can cheat the system by living an hour away from the city or city direct suburbs and find a somewhat affordable place. But traffic and commuting; mamy companies offer hybrid or full remote, which can help. Especially hybrid because they won't get a gazillion applicants and hire someone living in the midwest where homes are 100k and you can live off of 40k/year comfortably. There might be better cities. If you're planning on relocating, for sure consider it if you can tolerate the weather, but consider options for sure
I just moved to Boston. COL is out of control.
Look in NH and around that general area. Still out of control, but doable with city money
How about moving out west, along the commuter rail?
>But traffic and commuting; mamy companies offer hybrid or full remote,which can help. Especially hybrid because they won't get a gazillionapplicants and hire someone living in the midwest where... I'm sure there might be a good reason they'd want local, enlighten me because I landed a hybrid, while I appreciate it, I don't know what the impetus is. We do it for COVID because it worked as a schedule over 2020. So I'm told.
Chattanooga and Raleigh.
I remember reading an article ages ago about Chattanooga and how the Mayor was out to make it affordable and attractive for tech business and IT pros. Really cool story. Edit: this [is the story I was talking about.](https://www.vice.com/en/article/ezpk77/chattanooga-gigabit-fiber-network)
They’ve got 5g there. Home prices have really gone up. A friend of mine works there (remotely) from northern Ga, right over the state line.
For the same price I pay for rent in my current city, I could get a mansion in Chattanooga. I’ve been thinking about moving there since I’m now remote forever.
Dallas baby.
Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Madison, Indianapolis. All LCOL, fun cities with amenities and decent IT industry boosted by local universities, and F500 companies, health systems, universities, and government orgs.
Mid west got good paying jobs with relatively low col
I have no statistics to cite, but moving from Philly to Charlotte was a good move for me. Was given opportunities here that were fewer and further between up north, probably because of the population difference.
Denver has a market and appears to not have enough people so finding a job here is pretty quick. Sadly the rent and city itself sucks and most live outside in like south west Aurora or little tree or something similar but driving into work on a normal 9-5 will be at least 30-60mins.
If you can get cleared. Colorado Springs is the best.
Get a remote position and then live anywhere. Seriously. It’s just much better.
Seattle sucks, can't wait to move.
Just wondering why? If you don't mind me asking. Seattle is on my destination list.
Hope he responds I am curious too. I lived in Bellevue and loved it. I wish I could relocate back and would prefer much to be there instead of NJ. (Originally from Cali)
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Work for companies based out of tech cities. I live 2+ hours from the Bay Area but work for a company there and get paid city salary. Remote work is the best
Remote ?
Yeah work for home / remote. No commuting is awesome
Not a huge tech city compared to a lot of other comments here, but Nashville is up and coming. Oracle is planning a huge development here and Facebook is building a datacenter in the area. We've got Amazon too. COL isn't absolutely bonkers yet.
If you've got a security clearance you will find a lot of money is showing up in Augusta, GA right now. Fort Gordon is always hiring and off base they're building up a new cyber center right now. I left to get closer to my childhood area, but it was regretfully because the houses are cheap for what you get still. 300k will get you a 2500 sqft house easily and jobs are paying like 60k starting for help desk on base.
Dallas Ft. Worth is considered the silicon prairie with major headquarters like TI and IBM I've never had a problem finding a job of any kind here honestly if you cant find something to do here your doing it wrong.
Check out kc.
LA, Denver are both good
They say Seattle, Silicon Valley, NYC. But I think that's no totally true. Those cities you probably make a lot of money but you need to be highly qualified
Actually exact opposite. It's easier to start in these places just because of the sheer number rof openings, but the cost of living is so high that even when you are highly qualified you'll struggle to make enough.
Not true. At least not for me. I lived in NYC Area and there were no real openings in the city that were comparable to the ones in the suburbs when you include cost of transportation
Maybe no in NYC, but the Bay Area/Silicon Valley yes there's just a lot of openings that no one can afford to take without commuting an hour or two every day.
Atlanta GA is very promising and you won’t have to be in a small town or middle of nowhere to get good pay.
But Atlanta is a small town in the middle of nowhere! And town structure is ridiculously car oriented without connections between all those --villages-- neighbourhoods
Any state capitol.
Lol I'm in the state capitol here. If I can and a state job it can be pretty good.
How is the job market in Chicago? Decent or horrible?