Moving in the worst of times. (New York, Boston: credit, student loans, job market)

[ofmightof]

I'm living in Seattle. I want to move to either Chicago, Boston, Philly or New York. I know my education isn't top notch but I have an A.S. degree in engineering plus 5 years experince as an Automobile Technician (i'm 23). I plan on finishing my B.A. degree when I get settled (i have about 30 credits to go). I want to work as a Mechanical drafter or engineering technician. Basically, looking on craigslist and asking people in the industry, these fields are in demand and haven't been hit by the recession like many other jobs.

What are your experiences with finding a job before arriving to a new city? If I apply to all four of these cities with jobs, should I tend to find something within 6 months? I'm willing to pay for expenses if guaranteed a job. I just hear it is verrry difficult.

[Viralmd]

It is extremely difficult. And if you don't even live here, just about impossible. Complete your education where you are.

[quelinda]

Why not apply for a job before moving somewhere, and if you find a job where you can afford the city's cost of living, THEN relocate.

Personally, my STRONG recommendation is to finish those college credits NOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE and THEN, after you have your degree, get going on "settling" yourself and finding a career job. Do it even if you have to take out student loans to finish your education. The people in my family who didn't do this when they were young never ended up being able to finish and it has truly effected their incomes though they are very bright people. I somehow finished what I started and it has really paid off in life. No one can ever take that B.A. (or whatever degree) away from you and you can use it forever to get a higher salary than you would get without it. I say go whereever its quicker and best to finish the degree then worry about finding a cool city to settle in.

[NJ Chutzpah]

engineering is not strong in NYC

[Blackbeauty212]

^^^^^Nope not at all.......NY's 3 main industries are Finance (Collapsing as we speak), Media, and Fashion.

Philadelphia is not big engineering either - Philadelphia is Law, Health, and Services.

[NooYowkur81]

I would recommend as well that you finish your education elsewhere first before coming here. It's the smarter way to go about it.

[NooYowkur81]

Originally Posted by NJ Chutzpah

engineering is not strong in NYC

I agree the specific engineering sector is locally relatively weak. But people with engineering backgrounds who choose to stay and work here don't exactly struggle either. People with engineering degrees do pretty well here for the most part. I have several friends with engineering degrees.

You can work for one of the big utilities and a lot of people with engineering backgrounds also get hired in the corporate/financial sectors because of their strong tech and math backgrounds.

Of course all of this is at the moment negatively affected by the current weak job market.

[quelinda]

Originally Posted by NJ Chutzpah

engineering is not strong in NYC

My dad has worked in engineering here in the City since the 60's. There is at least one prominent company that I know of that has plenty of work coming up.

[NJ Chutzpah]

^^^

Well hold on

I mean there are civil engineering jobs here, and there are lots of construction/architecture firms here obviously

A mechanical engineer is not that important in NYC as the industries are just not here