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Old 04-05-2010, 10:30 PM
 
9 posts, read 30,951 times
Reputation: 11

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My girlfriend and I are currently living on the east coast right now (PA). we're about 25 and have been working the corporate life for 3 years. I'm a systems engineer/software developer for a defense contractor and she's an accountant for a pharmaceutical company. I think we're going to live on the east coast for at least another two years. in that time i'm planning to get my masters in software engineering and get married. I've been to hawaii several times and we've set our eyes on living there for all the obvious reasons, but we want to make a smart and realistic move. I think we eventually want to settle and have kids in hawaii, but we have great jobs on the east coast and we want to save as much as possible.

I have a brother who works out of pearl harbor and has a family there, and my parents will be living there part time helping take care of their kids, so we wouldn't be alone. He's in the process of selling his condo in Ala Moana and moving to suburbia in Ewa.

My primary concern is with jobs. I work with software / tech in the DoD industry and my gf is an accountant. Is there a decent amount of work for software engineers and accounts in hawaii (looking in the honolulu area)? I know there are alot of defense employees out there, and it would be really nice if i could work for my current company out there. but what about the private sector? It would also help if I went through and received my masters in software engineering right?

Any type of insight about these job sectors would be greatly appreciated

Last edited by evident; 04-05-2010 at 10:39 PM..
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Old 04-06-2010, 02:32 AM
 
Location: Hawaii-Puna District
3,752 posts, read 11,454,353 times
Reputation: 2481
Quote:
Originally Posted by evident View Post
My girlfriend and I are currently living on the east coast right now (PA). we're about 25 and have been working the corporate life for 3 years. I'm a systems engineer/software developer for a defense contractor and she's an accountant for a pharmaceutical company. I think we're going to live on the east coast for at least another two years. in that time i'm planning to get my masters in software engineering and get married. I've been to hawaii several times and we've set our eyes on living there for all the obvious reasons, but we want to make a smart and realistic move. I think we eventually want to settle and have kids in hawaii, but we have great jobs on the east coast and we want to save as much as possible.

I have a brother who works out of pearl harbor and has a family there, and my parents will be living there part time helping take care of their kids, so we wouldn't be alone. He's in the process of selling his condo in Ala Moana and moving to suburbia in Ewa.

My primary concern is with jobs. I work with software / tech in the DoD industry and my gf is an accountant. Is there a decent amount of work for software engineers and accounts in hawaii (looking in the honolulu area)? I know there are alot of defense employees out there, and it would be really nice if i could work for my current company out there. but what about the private sector? It would also help if I went through and received my masters in software engineering right?

Any type of insight about these job sectors would be greatly appreciated
In all honesty, since you are on your way towards decent careers, stay with the careers and move out here after you raise your children. Yes, there are exceptions, but in all likelihood, you and your children will be better off in the long term for doing so. Use your extra money for vacations here - if you try to make your career here, you will make less money and have less left over for vacations on the mainland due to the high cost of living.
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Old 04-06-2010, 08:03 AM
 
94 posts, read 317,988 times
Reputation: 31
I'm not sure why you think we have some special knowledge about what the job situation is going to be like in 2+ years. I mean, even if the economy weren't in the state of extreme flux that it's in...

To give you an idea what I mean, the unemployment rate on Oahu was 2.5% in 2007. It has tripled since then. Do you think any job advice people were giving out 2-3 years ago is worth anything now?

Moving for the sake of moving is always going to involve a job security risk. In Hawaii (along with, say, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Detroit) the risk is compounded due to the economy. Things might be better in two years, they might be worse. Just keeping looking for/applying to jobs in the sector you'd like and if you get a hit, you can jump on it.
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Old 04-07-2010, 12:26 PM
 
682 posts, read 2,785,366 times
Reputation: 517
My husband is a computer guy (he's done just about everything... sys admin, programming, tech support, tech writing, sales support, and so on). He got a job within a month of getting here, but that was two years ago. He's been a little unhappy in the job (way underpaid and fairly un-challenged by the work), so he's been on the market half-heartedly for a while now... applying to select jobs that he sees. In the past several months, he's only applied to two jobs (that's all he's really seen), he got interviews at both and one offer. For less money than he makes now. (!)

The job market in all sectors is a lot worse than it was 2 years ago. And even then, no one would talk to him until he was on island.
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Old 04-10-2010, 01:45 PM
 
Location: Eureka CA
9,519 posts, read 14,648,459 times
Reputation: 15067
Do a "search forum". There have been innumerable posts about jobs and employment in Hawaii. THEN ask questions that haven't been answered,my suggestion for best results..
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