How is the IT Market in Houston, TX? (salary, average)

[jenfarm_]

Originally Posted by OscarLevant

You might want to come for a visit in August before you make any decision about moving. It is hot and swampy here, along with alot more bugs than the upper left coast.

Haha. My first and only visit before moving here was in late July and, holy crap, I got feasted on by mosquitos. It was terrible. I remember thinking, "What the heck am I getting myself into moving here?!"

[baggiegenes]

Contact Whitaker, Apex, and Wiseman contracting firms. They all have a large presence in Houston. Even if you don't really want to work contract, pretend like you do. They will give you info on what skills are in demand and the number of openings they see in the market.

[wintersbone]

Working in IT myself in Houston. Be prepared to sell yourself and skills well. You will be competing with a lot of Indians who they prefer to hire for programming jobs around here. I have seen it at small and large companies. With all the oil companies laying off right now isn't a great time to be coming to Houston without a job lined up already.

[TexasTony]

The IT market in general is doing better towards NW & West coast especially in the Silicon forest & Silicon valley area at the moment. I had some friends move here from NW and eventually ended up working remotely for few of their previous clients.

[OscarLevant]

Originally Posted by wintersbone

Working in IT myself in Houston. Be prepared to sell yourself and skills well. You will be competing with a lot of Indians who they prefer to hire for programming jobs around here. I have seen it at small and large companies. With all the oil companies laying off right now isn't a great time to be coming to Houston without a job lined up already.

Same thing goes for DFW in regards to Indian programmers; but there it seems (at least to me) like they are mainly contractors. Last job before my current gig was in Irving (Las Colinas) and about 80% of the programmers were Indian contractors.

If you are dead set on moving here your best bet may be do what I did to get back home. Get a contract position before you make the move so you have a job lined up when you get here. Once you get a local address you can apply/look for a permanent position. It is always easier to look for a job when you have one. Just make sure you skills are on point and you are able to ace a technical interview.

[wintersbone]

Yup and if you interview for an oil company DO NOT lie on your resume they will ask questions about anything technical you list on it. I have interviewed at a few oil companies and all had about 7 people in the room asking you questions and testing your knowledge.

[deveng83]

Originally Posted by jenfarm_

What makes you want to move to Houston, TX if you've never been here? Just a curious question.

I moved here from Oregon about 2.5 years ago (born in Seattle, where a lot of my family still is). (Met husband in Oregon. He's originally from here. He moved me here.) I absolutely love it. I'm white, so maybe I lack input on the diversity opinion, but I have found people to be very friendly here in general, regardless of race. Houston is such a melting pot from people all over. Aside from my husband's family and people I work with, only one of the friends I've met is born and raised here in Houston. Everyone else is from somewhere else. I wouldn't say Houston is typical Texas... maybe that's just me.

I don't have anything to say on the software front. It's not my area.

Thanks! The main reason is because I want to live closer to Mexico. Whenever I want to travel to my hometown, it's a 8 hours flight from here with one stop, which I don't love to be honest. I've seen that there is a direct flight from Houston and it's only 3 hours flight with no stops; perfect for going on a weekend and come back and not spending the entire day flying. Secondly, is the real estate. Here in the Seattle area it's getting very expensive. I make 142k a year and I still find it very expensive to find an affordable and decent looking house (supply < demand).

[deveng83]

Originally Posted by shanv3

Houston has the largest number of LCA s filed after NYC, assuming most of them are for IT jobs.

You ll feel at home here, since Hispanics make about 30% ~ of Houston population. And its a booming city with a lot of foreign IT workers from various countries.

But beware if you expect WA like scenery here you ll be disappointed. You ll mostly see buildings and businesses almost everywhere.
I thought Starbucks and Microsoft were the only employers there LOL.

That's a good point! But I think I've had enough of pine trees and rain already . I like sunny weather better. I may miss the beautiful parks though!

[deveng83]

Originally Posted by OscarLevant

You are right, it is not. As for the IT market, you just need to be persistent and you should be able to find something. I just want to know why the heck Houston ? ( especially coming from Seattle) You should be aware that Houston is no longer the 'cheap' place it used to be, and it getting quite expensive.

You might want to come for a visit in August before you make any decision about moving. It is hot and swampy here, along with alot more bugs than the upper left coast. ( FYI I am a native Texan who worked in PDX for 10yrs )

That's what I was thinking, I'll probably go and visit in a couple of months. I have a friend who was there recently and he loved it. I don't have a problem with humid hot weather, I'd feel like home. I hope so.

Is good to know that the market is good now. I think I'll have a job before moving.

[deveng83]

Originally Posted by baggiegenes

Contact Whitaker, Apex, and Wiseman contracting firms. They all have a large presence in Houston. Even if you don't really want to work contract, pretend like you do. They will give you info on what skills are in demand and the number of openings they see in the market.

Thanks for the tip about these companies! I'm thinking on going on contract first and see how it goes. Thanks