Software engineer thinking about moving to Colorado, please give me some advice (Denver: rent)

[guitarbaka]

Hello,

I am currently living in California, but recently I have been thinking about moving to another state because of several reasons; tired of city/corporate life, California is very expensive, I want to live in a more rural off-the-grid place.

Besides California, I have also lived in Colombia and Japan, so adjusting is not something I am worried about.

I looked at Colorado because when I see places like Evergreen, CO, it just seems like exactly what I am looking for. I plan to visit CO next year and check out some places and jobs.

I am married, no kids, 29, own property in California (which I would sell to put a downpayment on a place in Colorado) and make a salary of 100K/year. I don't buy fancy things, although I do spend money eating out (love food), but I also know how to cook pretty good (and I like cooking). Don't really watch TV (only netflix), don't socialize much and I love farming (I grow my own things in the little space I have here in California). I love animals (2 cats, 2 dogs) and really enjoy nature.

If someone could answer me some questions from their experience of living there, I would really appreciate it:

As a requirement I would need to be within commuting distance to cities like Denver where I could find a job doing software development (java/android). I seen some places in Evergreen and they are really nice. What areas would be best as far as rural, safety, family?

Are salaries in CO comparable to CA? I looked some job postings and it seems like they are, or sometimes even higher; I was surprised. Can someone verify?

One of the things I would like to do is grow my own vegatables/fruits and perhaps in a future own some chickens and milk cows. I read that this is increasingly happening in CO rural areas. Anyone have any expertise/experience on this subject matter? Challenges that arise with this? like weather, land, water?

Anyone lived in CA and moved to CO before? Culture shock? Big differences/adjustments?

Thank you everybody!

[davebarnes]

1. Join Yahoo! Groups
2. Colorado is not food growing country, California is. Evergreen has a longer Winter than Denver. All water in Colorado is already owned by someone.

[wanneroo]

Evergreen, while not far from Denver, is up in the foothills and you'll be living at anywhere from 7500-9000 feet. The foothills above Denver are the crossroads for a lot of up and down slope wind and weather and I think you'll find any gardening and raising of animals at that elevation either near impossible or impossible. In order to make it happen you'll need tons of land and water which will come at a prohibitive cost and then you'll have the harsh weather to deal with. So I'd put that idea out of your head.

The other thing that happens with people at these attitudes with gardening is that whatever they can get in and grow, because of the elevation, everything is smaller in size and what survives is an attractant for every animal for miles around.

[mic111]

If you want Colorado you want to live in the flatlands around Denver/Boulder. Broomfield would be a good choice. Everyone down here has gardens and many people have fruit trees. Every year we have access to peaches, plums, apples and pears all courtesy of neighbors with an over abundance of fruit. People grow corn, cantaloupes, asparagus, spinach, cucumbers, chives, pumpkins, zucchini, squash, chives, raspberries etc. What I don't grow myself I often get from neighbors or a local farmer who always sells his extra. If you get a rural property you can keep chickens as I see signs out for eggs. In fact you can keep chickens in the city of Denver also. You can easily own a cow share where you pick up the milk right from the farm. The cow share allows you to legally buy raw milk. The growing season is short but you can have a little hobby garden

Chickens

[Lost Roses]

I agree with Wanneroo about the vegetation attracting all kinds of critters, especially at higher altitudes like Evergreen. I did a garden tour up there in June and while I saw lots of flower and vegetable gardens, they were either enclosed by lots of fencing or in some cases grown on rooftops. Also saw backyard chickens, and pastured cows. If you can afford it, living in that area could be great, but commuting to a job in Denver could be problematic, especially in winter driving.

[Mach50]

Originally Posted by guitarbaka

As a requirement I would need to be within commuting distance to cities like Denver where I could find a job doing software development (java/android). I seen some places in Evergreen and they are really nice. What areas would be best as far as rural, safety, family?

Are salaries in CO comparable to CA? I looked some job postings and it seems like they are, or sometimes even higher; I was surprised. Can someone verify?

I am a Java Enterprise Architect that used to work in California (Irvine and Redwood Shores), I have found salaries in CO to be very comparable to CA. Which is sort of sad considering the COL in CA is significantly higher. I took a job at Oracle in the Tech Center at the same salary I made in Silicon Valley back in 2010.

Make sure you are on Linkedin and tag yourself with Andriod and Java...the mobility sector is hot right now, as well as cloud.

I would seriously find your place of work or rent at first, because the software engineering jobs are very spread out from Boulder to Centennial...that's a wide range. I find myself interviewing in Broomfield quite a bit lately (EMC, VMWare, Oracle, L3). Dish just setup their Java Development team in Centennial I think.

The market is pretty good for us experienced sw engineers.

[Count David]

Don't live in Brook Forest if you want any semblance of a reasonable commute, any sense of a reasonable driveway, or anything not hanging off the side of a mountain (you'd have to be selective).

Yes, the moon is white up there, yes, you can see the stars clearly, but even summer access isn't particularly reasonable for somebody that plans on leaving most days.

I would need overly reasonable freeway or arterial access to even consider commuting from one of the mountain communities. Otherwise, I'd completely cross them off the list.