IT Job Market (Business Analyst/Project Manager) in Atlanta (Alpharetta: foreclosures, house)

[bombaygirl]

Hi Everyone,

Myself and my husband with our 1 yr kid are considering moving to Atlanta in order to get a better cost of living, buy a house and have a little slow life. We currently stay in New Jersey and are tired of extreme winter, high cost of housing (finding nothing below 450-500K), property taxes and commute to NYC for work.

We want to move to Atlanta as my husband has possibility to get an internal transfer from NJ to Atlanta but want to understand long term perspective for both of us especially for IT jobs (BA/PM).

I will have to leave my current job (Business Analyst/PM) and look for it in Atlanta. Will really appreciate if people can give us some suggestions on how the IT job market has been in Atlanta and also is it a good time to buy house in Atlanta (i.e. are home prices down as compared to couple of years ago like many other states/cities and are they going up as the economy is booming).

We have done research for all other factors and are really happy with out decision but the most important point is Job and second Housing that we could not get much insight onto and would really appreciate everyone's inputs on them.


Thanks,
BombayGirl

[Fritz99]

The IT Market is fine in Atlanta. There are several major companies with large IT departments such as Home Depot, Macys, SunTrust Bank and UPS that are hiring at any given time. GM will be opening an IT facility here soon, not sure of dates, but there will be 1500 positons. PMs are in demand so I think you will be OK on that front. Housing prices are relatively low through out the metro due to so many foreclosures driving down prices. So now would be the best time to buy.

[flamadiddle]

The IT market in Atlanta is and has been on fire for as long as I can remember. If you have experience, you will absolutely have no problem finding a good paying job here. Home prices are inching up a bit, but still much better than places like Jersey.
$500K in the burbs here will get you a very nice home!

And we have not had any snow in over 2 years (although that's actually a negative for me).

[kasuga888]

The IT market is good. Most of the jobs are between midtown Atlanta upto alpharetta.

[Atlwarrior]

IT is booming in Atlanta. You should do very well here.

[musman]

Its really good out here. We move from smaller town in south carolina. its a big city with a small city touch.

[Humanista]

I would really recommend having a job before moving here. In my experience, many of the large companies mentioned previously fill these rolls through contractors. In fact, I was a BA contractor at AT&T at one point working with other PMs and scrum masters, etc that were also contractors. Or rather, they were "consultants" working for companies such as North Highlands and onsite at AT&T as contractors. Although these companies do hire directly, my experience has been it is more so based on who you know and it can be challenging if you do not have a network here.

I lost my job in Atlanta about a year ago and it was very difficult finding a new role and I have a pretty extensive network in Atlanta as I went to Emory. It took me 6 months overall and I have a pretty decent resume.

[rianaardis]

We just moved to Alpharetta a few weeks ago, and my husband was transferred from NY, similar to your husband. He is a Tech Director for a contractor and works at the GE site. From all I have heard Atlanta and this area (North Fulton co.) are very strong in IT. As pp mentioned, it would be a good idea to have something in the works already, but if your husband can transfer (and especially transfer his NJ/NY salary!) down, you will be one step ahead! Good luck, we love it here so far. I can't wait for it to start snowing in NY so we can rub it in with family back north, lol!