Young professional potentially moving to Huntsville

[jewel104]

Hi Tbone, I don't know if this fits your schedule or interests, but an event called The Downtown Tech Tour will be Jan. 26 from 1:30-5 . The Downtown Tech Tour will begin at 1:30pm at 200 Westside Square in Downtown Huntsville, Closing Reception will be at old Town Beer Exchange. Downtown Huntsville. Here are music events: Robby Eichman

January 25 @ 8:00 pm
SOUTHSIDE CANTINA, 11220 Memorial Pkwy SW P
Huntsville, Alabama 35803 United States





Josh Allison

January 25 @ 9:30 pm
VOODOO LOUNGE, 110 Southside Square
Huntsville, Alabama 35801 United States





Drew Richter

January 26 @ 7:00 pm
MVP SPIRITS, 11220 Memorial Pkwy SW
Huntsville, AL 35803 United States + Google Map


Find out more »

Chelvis and the Bean

January 26 @ 7:00 pm
SPORTS PAGE, 9009 Memorial Pkwy SW
Huntsville, Alabama 35802 United States + Google Map


Find out more »

Chapman James

January 26 @ 7:00 pm
CD’s PUB, 107 Arlington Dr
Madison, Alabama 35758 United States





Karaoke w/ Stretch

January 26 @ 8:00 pm
FURNITURE FACTORY, 619 Meridian St N
Huntsville, Alabama 35801 United States





Open Mic

January 26 @ 8:00 pm
MOODY MONDAYS, 718 Church St NW
Huntsville, Alabama 35801 United States





Karaoke w/ Jim McGriff

January 26 @ 8:00 pm
THE STATION, 8694 Madison Blvd
Madison, AL 35758 United States
Lowe Mill has a few events those days, Lowe Mill Calendar | Lowe Mill ARTS & Entertainment happenings at the Space and Rocket Center and others are at this location, just click thru to the date you are interested in
Huntsville AL Events Calendar - Our Valley Events
I hope some of these ideas appeal to you and that you enjoy your time in Huntsville!

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by Tbone4646

Thanks everyone for the information! I am coming down to interview next Tuesday the 26th. I am flying in on Monday the 25th so I will have a few hours to drive around and check out the area.

Does anyone have any recommendations of what I should see that would help me in my decision? Obviously, I do not have the job yet, but I would like to know if it would be a good fit or not if offered.


Thanks again!

You should contact a local Realtor so he/ she can show you various neighborhoods to get an idea on where you'd like and prices. We are not allow to recommend openly on individual realtors but we have a few that frequent this board.

[Rikaku]

To me Huntsville isn't a great city for single, young professionals.

Pros:
Jobs and salary
Cost of living
Close to major cities (Nashville, Birmingham, Atlanta)

Cons:
Very conservative and religious (could be a pro depending on your leanings)
Boring, vanilla and plain
Cliquish -- many young people grew up in the same area, went to college together, pledged in the same sororities/frats, etc.
Dating is horrible. The best ones are married with children by 23. If you are single over 25 here, good luck
Sprawl

That is my quick assessment of it, and I have lived in many cities so I think it's pretty fair and objective. The best piece of advice: come here for career reasons, gain experience, save a bunch of money, and move away in a few years.

[Beliciano]

Originally Posted by Rikaku

To me Huntsville isn't a great city for single, young professionals.

Pros:
Jobs and salary
Cost of living
Close to major cities (Nashville, Birmingham, Atlanta)

Cons:
Very conservative and religious (could be a pro depending on your leanings)
Boring, vanilla and plain
Cliquish -- many young people grew up in the same area, went to college together, pledged in the same sororities/frats, etc.
Dating is horrible. The best ones are married with children by 23. If you are single over 25 here, good luck
Sprawl

That is my quick assessment of it, and I have lived in many cities so I think it's pretty fair and objective. The best piece of advice: come here for career reasons, gain experience, save a bunch of money, and move away in a few years.

Which is exactly why I plan to move away from here within the next month. Place has a lot of people who are very intelligent in very complex fields, but are close minded and ignorant when it comes to social issues. Also people here are too cliquish for my liking and everything here is boring and mundane!!

[NoleFanHSV]

I graduated college over 10 years ago, so it seems some things haven't changed. I came from Florida, knew nobody, and it was difficult meeting people, even going to college. Most in college were still hanging with highschool buddies and had their "cliques" already.

[HazelGreenCitizen]

Without knowing what your interests are, it would be hard to say if its a good match for you. If by "social" you mean clubs, there are plenty of them but I am too old to advise you which are good. If you are a church goer there are two big non-denominational churches that appeal to the young, The Rock and the Church of the Highlands. If your income is going to be substantial, I'd check out the Village of Providence. Nice homes condos and apartments - you can walk the "neighborhood" streets from home to dinner and you are a five minute's drive from shopping and pretty much any other convenience. Another plus is that it an easy ride to Nashville on the weekends. What Huntsville lacks, they should have.

[Huntsville_secede]

Originally Posted by Rikaku

To me Huntsville isn't a great city for single, young professionals.

Pros:
Jobs and salary
Cost of living
Close to major cities (Nashville, Birmingham, Atlanta)

Cons:
Very conservative and religious (could be a pro depending on your leanings)
Boring, vanilla and plain
Cliquish -- many young people grew up in the same area, went to college together, pledged in the same sororities/frats, etc.
Dating is horrible. The best ones are married with children by 23. If you are single over 25 here, good luck
Sprawl

That is my quick assessment of it, and I have lived in many cities so I think it's pretty fair and objective. The best piece of advice: come here for career reasons, gain experience, save a bunch of money, and move away in a few years.

This review tends to be somewhat negative of Huntsville but I think it's an accurate and fair assessment, I agree with everything that was said. That's been my experience being here for over 10 years, I kind of underestimated how much Huntsville was lacking for single young professionals when I first decided to take a job here. The city has attempted to make improvements over the last several years, and while it definitely has improved to an extent, that progress has generally been slow. Huntsville will always be a city geared primarily for married families with children. It's a good place to live for even people outside of that demographic, but of course it has its cons. As long as you understand what you are getting to and know what to expect and are ok with that it will fine. I've managed to survive by taking occasional trips to Nashville and Atlanta on the weekends.

[FAL50]

Originally Posted by Tbone4646

Is Huntsville a good place for young professionals?
Aaron

Can you explain me what exactly qualifies to be a young professional?

[neodasan]

After finishing my PhD in VA and working at the SF Bay area, I just moved to Huntsville. This is a great place. I want to stay here much longer. The town is not too big but not too small. There is no heavy traffic like a big city. The cost of living is really cheap. It's not too far from Atlanta (around 3h distance). There are many smart people in the city. There is everything in Huntsville *except Trader Joe's*.

[rayjustray]

This. I came here from NYC, and I've spent a fair amount of time in Pittsburgh, too, so here's my two cents:

-If you're an engineer or whatever and plan on doing some continuing education, Huntsville is great because there's plenty of good business and technical degrees to be had here.
-Ditto on cost of living vs. the bigger cities, you can get a small apartment and build a nest egg, or get a nice house at a good price and settle in.
-There's a nursing school here. Engineers married to nurses seems to be fairly common.
-Traffic? What traffic?
-Hope you like military vets, there's lots of us here.

-It's still the 'South'. So expect to hear some old timey racism now and then, if it applies to you.
-Ditto on vanilla and conservative. If you're into alternative anything, plan to travel for it.
-Ditto on everyone settling down super early. I have very few friends that grew up locally and aren't already married.
-Pizza around here is weak.

Originally Posted by Rikaku

To me Huntsville isn't a great city for single, young professionals.

Pros:
Jobs and salary
Cost of living
Close to major cities (Nashville, Birmingham, Atlanta)

Cons:
Very conservative and religious (could be a pro depending on your leanings)
Boring, vanilla and plain
Cliquish -- many young people grew up in the same area, went to college together, pledged in the same sororities/frats, etc.
Dating is horrible. The best ones are married with children by 23. If you are single over 25 here, good luck
Sprawl