Moving to CA from Manchester UK. (San Jose, Sacramento: tech jobs, transfer, university)

[Paul Hayes]

Hello there, I wonder if anyone here might be able to offer any advice. My wife I are hoping to make the move to the US sometime in the next few years, (definetly within the next four to five years). there are many reasons why we want to leave Manchester, the grey miserable skies, the rain, the negatve attitude of almost everybody here, the crime, I could go on and on. We have a four year old son and we don't want him to grow up in such a negative place.
We've visited California a couple of times and know it's a place we'd love to live, ideally the central coast. However, there are a few factors, one is the cost of housing. We would have about $300,000 to $350,000 to spend, I know this would'nt go far. the other factor is that I am moving into the field of computer network engineering. Might this be a problem? How is the central coast for tech jobs?
Any advice you could offer us would be greatly appreciated. Paul.

[BRinSM]

The closer you are to San Jose the better.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Paul Hayes

We would have about $300,000 to $350,000 to spend, I know this would'nt go far. the other factor is that I am moving into the field of computer network engineering. Might this be a problem? How is the central coast for tech jobs?

My hunch is that jobs for you are typically not located in regions with housing less than $300/sqft....that's just a guess but I'd bet I'm pretty close - in fact I'd bet it is closer to $350-$400/sqft even though housing is dropping...in the past year anywhere from 10% to 25% depending on the desirability of the area.

Intel has a presence near Sacramento but that is not on the coast. They housing will probably be less than the coast there.

intel loc: sacramento, ca - Google Maps

I would think you would have a problem getting a security clearance??? That will work against you as you would be competing with engineers from overseas.

Would you consider Houston, TX, Denver, CO, Tucson, AZ, Dallas TX, Albuquerque, NM, or Huntsville, AL? Much more affordable, lots of jobs, not as gloomy as England.

[Paul Hayes]

Thanks for the advice, I've been looking into some areas of AZ, and also FL, they do tend to be more affordable and we would be fools to rule them out. The humidity of florida does'nt really appeal to us, but there are great beaches. Arizona has no coastline but a dry heat, which is great.

We do love California, it is a special place, (to us anyway). We'll keep on digging up info where and when we can.

Again Thankyou.

[impala66]

To work at a serious level in IT you will need a degree and as may certificates and diplomas as you can get.
Everyone here has college diplomas and for the most part they are not worth the paper they are written on compared to a degree from a good UK university but they are nevertheless a requirement for a well paid job.
One poster wrote about security clearance all too true, as a-non-US citizen you probably have no chance if the company you apply to has government or military contracts.
Try media companies plenty of them and most get into real problems with IT related things.. just an idea.

Good Luck and see you on the Beach.

[Paul Hayes]

Thanks impala66 for the info, good stuff to know.

I have some diplomas and I'm on the verge of obtaining my Cisco CCNA qualification, which is a specialist networking qualification. Here in the UK this is quite well thought of, I just hope the same is true for the US, it is an american based qualification after all, but I will look into this further. Thanks for the heads up.

[tonrob]

Hi Paul

Fellow Brit here, currently living on the East Coast but looking to relocate out West sometime soon.

I know you've some good info on costs, locations etc. for this and also your AZ thread, but the first thing you need to look at is visas as this is what puts the brakes on 99.99% of people's plans to come to the US.

Sponsorship by a US company is exceedingly hard to come by unless you are hugely talented in terms of what you do. Almost all Brits who come out here to live are able to do so because they either marry a US citizen or get transferred by their current (global company) employer from their UK office to their US one. When either of these things happen you often don't get too much choice about where you end up living - at least initially...

It seems you're already married so it looks like your best chance of success is by finding a job with a company in the UK that also has an office in the US that could benefit from your skills further down the road.

Hope this helps.

[kettlepot]

Regarding security clearances, while not being a US citizen will be a hurdle, a UK citizen will have the least problem of any foreign national getting a clearance. Any clearance that is Secret or below will be a non-issue, (provided you have no skeletons) and frankly a Top Secret clearance probably won't be that hard. Getting a clearance above that level however, may prevent a challenge.

[Paul Hayes]

Thanks for the advice folks! Some good and bad news there. We'll start looking into the visa situation very soon.
Tonrob, Did you find it easy to settle in the US? How long have you been over there? Would you ever come back to rainy old England?