Information Technology jobs in Chapin area? (Columbia, Aiken: travel, rent , sick)

[CPDL]

Hi,
My husband and I wish to get out of Southern New Jersey a.s.a.p.!
Of course we need to sell our house 1st....been here since 2005.
We need a change of lifestyle and want to get away from the cut throat northeast!!!
How is the job market down there in the I.T. field?
He is going to start searching soon, but I wanted to ask some locals.
Hopefully the housing market improves and we can get a move on soon.
If we sell and he gets an offer we might have to rent to own for awhile which is ok w/ me.
We have an infant daughter so we don't have to worry about schooling just yet, but I like what I have read on here about Lexington schools.
Thanking you in advance!
-Chrissy
Sicklerville, NJ

[waccamatt]

Chapin is a suburb of Columbia and not a center of many jobs. You'll probably not find a job in Chapin, you'll need to look elsewhere in the Columbia metro area. There are a number of companies in the area that would need people in the I.T. field. Some places to start would be USC, Mynd, Colonial Life, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Companion and Scana.

[CPDL]

Yeah I figured hw would need to travel to Columbia, but thats not a problem he commutes 1 hour now from NJ to DE!!

[waccamatt]

Originally Posted by CPDL

Yeah I figured hw would need to travel to Columbia, but thats not a problem he commutes 1 hour now from NJ to DE!!

Then why don't you move closer into town when you move here?

[CPDL]

Originally Posted by waccamatt

Then why don't you move closer into town when you move here?

We like the ruralness of Chapin. Irmo is our 2nd choice. If he can find a job in Columbia that would be ideal. Any commute less than 1 hour is fine w/ him!!!

[Chi2Midlands]

Originally Posted by CPDL

We like the ruralness of Chapin. Irmo is our 2nd choice. If he can find a job in Columbia that would be ideal. Any commute less than 1 hour is fine w/ him!!!

If your criteria is less than a 1-hour commute and a rural feel, you have a lot more choices than just Chapin. I would really recommend looking into the Blythewood area (in Northeast Richland county, off Interstate 77) - a growing town with both new subdivisions and more rural-feeling larger lots. Further out you have the Elgin-Lugoff-Camden areas in Kershaw County off Interstate 20 east of Columbia. Camden itself is a nice historic small town surrounded by lots of rural land and horse farms. You can also look as the outer reaches of Lexington County west of Columbia along I-20 (there are areas near the southern side of Lake Murray similar to Chapin).

You haven't mentioned if schools are an issue for you (do you have kids?) - Chapin has excellent, top-notch schools. Blythewood has very good schools, and Kershaw County schools are pretty decent. South of Lake Murray in Lexington County, there are many excellent schools, specifically in the Lexington 1 school district.

If the job is located outside Columbia's downtown core, then you may be able to look even further out. For example, an IT job in, say, Irmo/St. Andrews area, means you can consider Newberry County, which has a lot of affordable rural areas, some lakefront property on the northern fringes of Lake Murray, and the wonderful City of Newberry (very nice town with a liberal arts college, Opera House, historic homes, and pleasant dowtown). An IT job in Northeast Richland (there are many there - Blue Cross, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC - formerly Mynd), Siemens, Bose) means you can consider Winnsboro in Fairfield County (north of Blythewood west of I-77). If you are working in West Columbia/Lexington County, you can even consider Aiken (historic town similar to Camden/Newberry, with lots of horse farms), near Augusta (not a bad commute from I-20).

[CPDL]

I have a 4 month old daughter so she wont be in school for awhile.
She will probably be an only child, so hopefully I can get her into an afterschool program there....maybe karate.

[Dave O]

Originally Posted by waccamatt

Chapin is a suburb of Columbia and not a center of many jobs. You'll probably not find a job in Chapin, you'll need to look elsewhere in the Columbia metro area. There are a number of companies in the area that would need people in the I.T. field. Some places to start would be USC, Mynd, Colonial Life, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Companion and Scana.

Mynd was acquired by CSC almost 7 years ago and is located in Blythewood.

[Chi2Midlands]

Originally Posted by CPDL

I have a 4 month old daughter so she wont be in school for awhile.
She will probably be an only child, so hopefully I can get her into an afterschool program there....maybe karate.

Afterschool programs should not be a problem in most suburban areas around Columbia, especially in good school districts like Lexington/Richland 5 (where Chapin is), Lexington 1, and Richland 2 - where there are a lot of kids to drive demand. Some of the semi-rural areas like Chapin, Blythewood, and parts of central Lexington County are in these good school districts. In more rural areas further out (like Newberry, Camden, etc.), these services may not be quite as easy to find, but they may be there.

[Brandon Hoffman]

Chapin is a great place, very quiet and surrounded by Lake Murray. You can be in Chapin and it only takes only 10-15 minutes to get to Harbison. Don't discount Lexington either. I'd say work on getting a job and then once you get it pick an area convenient to there. Columbia is surrounded by areas that are rural A few places that come to mind are Chapin, Gaston, Newberry, Ballentine, Swansea, Gaston, Pelion, Lexington, Newberry, Pomaria, White Rock, Blythewood, Lugoff, Elgin, Camden.