Relocation advice please?? (Denver, Fort Collins: to rent, house, job market)

[geekduo]

Long post: apologies in advance.
I've been lurking in this forum for a few days now and thought maybe it was time to ask for some advice. Kudos to all of the knowledgeable and friendly people here.
We're a family of 5 living in northeast WI currently. We love the area but have had no end of bad luck with the job market. We both have plenty of skills, my husband is an experienced DBA and I have a science/engineering background. We love having 4 true seasons, except maybe those "arctic chill" days in deep winter. We also like outdoor activities like hiking and x-country skiing. We currently live in the country but would like to rent a house in an area where we can walk/bike to local shops and parks. Mass transit for work would be great too as gas prices and vehicle maintenance costs continue to climb. Having kids in elementary and middle school, good schools are important too.
Here's the real issue. Having had so much trouble with the job market, we are looking to relocate to someplace with a stable tech industry. Also, we'd like to get out of the midwest for a change of scenery. We are looking at the silicon valley and the Denver area. I'm concerned about the cost of living and availability of good schools in CA though. According to the online cost of living calculators, Denver seems better in that aspect anyway. Please give me your perspective on how suitable the Denver area would be for us.
Also, for those of you in the tech industry, could you give me the name of a good headhunter? We can't relocate without having a job first and I've been reading (and experiencing) about how difficult it is to get employers to look at you without a local address.
Thanks in advance for your help.

[jazzlover]

"Stable" and tech industry are not two words that go together very well these days, and Colorado is no exception. A good friend of mine is an example. He is a very experienced IT person (about 30 years experience) and is considered one of the best in his field. He lives in Fort Collins (for over 20 years) and just went to work for the fifth or sixth company in the last ten years. He left the last company he was working for when he saw the handwriting on the wall that the company was headed for insolvency. He is now working for another company and must once again travel--much of it overseas--for about 1/3 to 1/2 of his working time. This is very hard on both him and his family, but that is the way it is these days.

Another fellow I know--I actually hired him way back when I was working a different job--moved back to Wisconsin (he is a Wisconsin native) because both salaries and opportunities in his IT field were better there than in Colorado.

So, I would be pretty careful about "jumping from the frying pan into the fire"--you are very wise to not even consider a move until you have a job in hand.

[geekduo]

jazzlover-thanks for the response. I agree with you about not jumping from the frying pan into the fire. As much as I hate moving, I consider it necessary. My husband has been reduced to working contract positions for now and I still haven't found something good in my field. We originally moved here for a promising new job for him a year ago because of a similiar "writing on the wall" situation. Unfortunately, that new job was not so great and we are in our current predicament. Hence, we are trying to look for an area that has a strong tech industry.

[Katarina Witt]

I completely agree with jazzlover, for a change, LOL! My DH works in IT in Colorado. He has been laid off twice, and once got out just before he got the "pink slip". One of these layoffs necessitated a move to Albany, NY. We later came back.

The economy is OK here, but not great. Do not come here without a job unless you are currently unemployed, in which case it might not make any difference. DH can't remember the name of his last headhunter, says it's a transient occupation (sort of like IT, LOL).

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Do not come here without a job unless you are currently unemployed, in which case it might not make any difference.

Also, why limit yourself to Denver? Boston, Houston, Seattle, St. Louis, Southern California, Tucson, parts of Florida, all have lots of jobs. Huntsville, AL is screaming for engineers. Also, (not sure how old you are) but demographics is working in the favor of those under 40 or even under 50. I'm 46 and when I go to meetings I'm often one of the youngest guys there. In ten years a lot of my colleagues are going to be at home posting on City Data instead of working. I can step into their jobs.

I'd encourage my girls to consider engineering. It's a great field.

Help Wanted, Calling all engineers! - Forbes.com (http://www.forbes.com/leadership/2008/04/28/jobs-demand-engineering-lead-careers-cx_tw_0428helpwanted.html - broken link)

Plan to attract young federal employees - The Connecticut Post Online (http://www.connpost.com/localnews/ci_9348423 - broken link)

Lockheed Martin, fears shortage, seeks future scientists in Riverside schools | Inland News | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California (http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_space10.414a653.html - broken link)

[geekduo]

Charles,
You're right. We're not necessarily limiting ourselves to one metro area. We are also looking at Minneapolis, MN and San Jose, CA. We need an area that has IT for my husband and semiconductor industry for me. I am hoping to find something in the Denver area because of the natural beauty of the state and to get out of the midwest. Having lived here all my life, it would be nice to try living elsewhere.

[dveit]

For DBA work, Denver is a great location (especially if you have Oracle skills but even SQL Server is picking up in the area as well). Not so sure about semiconductor work. On the IT side of things you can find a good amount of work for MS skills but Unix technologies seem to dominate the area (especially given the number of telecom/cable companies in Denver). Either way, the salary to cost of living ratio in Denver for tech workers is one of the best I've seen, especially when compared to Silicon Valley.

[Charles]

Denver has a lot of aerospace jobs which require a clearance - jobs that can't be off shored to say, this guy for example:



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[MJinAustin]

Originally Posted by geekduo

We need an area that has IT for my husband and semiconductor industry for me.

Austin, Texas?

[geekduo]

dveit,
Like you said, the salary to cost of living ratio looks very good there for the IT field, better than any other area we've looked into. It also seems to have some industry in my field. Add to that the wonderful scenery and outdoor activities and you can see why we're trying to focus on the Denver area. My husband knows Oracle, Sql, and DB2 on either microsoft or unix platforms. So ok, now all we need is to find a company willing to look at someone from out of state. Therein lies the challenge. Any help in that area would be greatly appreciated.