California transplants in Phx (Phoenix, Mesa: restaurants, food, areas)

[Dellwello]

Thanks for everyone's input. Appreciate it.

[dmode]

Originally Posted by Dellwello

I am a lifelong California resident and I am wondering if there are any native Californians living in Phx. What made you move out of our poorly ran state? The job market here is so bad that I'm thinking about heading out to the valley of the sun. What are some things I should know about Phx I take for granted in Los Angeles? Thanks guys.

As someone who has lived in SoCal, the Bay Area and now part time in Phoenix, I would say if you are looking for a long term stable job market, just move to the Bay Area. Take a few community college classes in Java programming and look for a programmer job. The Bay Area is the most dynamic job market in the country with opportunities galore. It also offers you some amazing urban and natural amenities (although nature in Arizona is very comparable). Bay Area is within easy driving distance to world class wine country and several 3 star rated Michelin restaurants dot SF and the Silicon Valley. In addition, availability of ethnic food (Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Indian, Malaysian etc.) is unparalleled in the Bay Area due to the large presence of ethnic minorities.

Also, someone was comparing # of millionaires between Maricopa and SF county. That is not a valid comparison as Maricopa is one of the largest counties in the US while SF is one of the smallest with only 800K population. A good comparison is median household income. Here are the stats from City Data itself:

http://www.city-data.com/city/San-Fr...alifornia.html
http://www.city-data.com/city/Phoenix-Arizona.html

The PHX median household income is around $47K while it is $70K in SF

[kremit]

Originally Posted by dmode

Take a few community college classes in Java programming and look for a programmer job. The Bay Area is the most dynamic job market in the country with opportunities galore. It also offers you some amazing urban and natural amenities (although nature in Arizona is very comparable). Bay Area is within easy driving distance

Take a few college classes in Java and you'll get a job? There are many java jobs out there, but if it was that easy, I would imagine thousands of people would be doing that. With that comes the biggest annoyance in IT, the 5 year clause.

With all of this I'm perplexed by your statement. Can you please expand?

[PhoenixSomeday]

Originally Posted by dmode

As someone who has lived in SoCal, the Bay Area and now part time in Phoenix, I would say if you are looking for a long term stable job market, just move to the Bay Area. Take a few community college classes in Java programming and look for a programmer job. The Bay Area is the most dynamic job market in the country with opportunities galore.

Yeah, if you've already got years of experience. Because I'm doing exactly that (i.e. community college) and getting absolutely nowhere. Programming is my passion and it's killing me not being able to find at least an internship, let alone an actual job. I'm going to De Anza and I've gone through the 4 C classes, the 3 C++ classes, and will be starting in on the Java classes next year. They used to have a jointly sponsored (with NASA) internship program that was easy to get into and get jobs at tech companies around the South Bay, and they usually led to full time positions. But due to our crappy state budget issues, it was one of the things that fell victim to the budget cuts axe. The very quarter before I was going to apply.

So now I'm left to search through job listings, asking for 1-2 years of experience and a MASTERS for an internship and 3-5 years experience for an ENTRY level spot (*cough lets check the dictionary on those two words cough*). The internship programs that do have actually reasonable requirements are the ones that aren't broadcasted anywhere and aren't listed as even existing on company websites - it's purely internal and you just have to have a connection.

Originally Posted by kremit

Take a few college classes in Java and you'll get a job? There are many java jobs out there, but if it was that easy, I would imagine thousands of people would be doing that. With that comes the biggest annoyance in IT, the 5 year clause.

With all of this I'm perplexed by your statement. Can you please expand?

Call center jobs and salesman jobs are easy to get. But I'm finding programming jobs for students to be as hard to find as all of the gold lacing the dirt here (only explanation I can find for the high real estate prices).

[PinkElephant]

Yes, I've seen the NotCal decals! I grew up in SoCal 5 mins from the beach, 45 mins from Disneyland about 90 mins from Big Bear area, at what was probably the end of the golden years.

I'm kinda surprised at the lack of Mexican holes in the wall (in the South Bay area, any part of the *original* El Tarasco's are just a taste of the beach, Mexican style. Some of the family members branched off the originals are the ones that I wish my home cookin' tasted like! JMHO, but inexpensive, casual and well worth it.

Also, for those desiring more GOOD Chinese buffets, there's a niche, someone could make a small fortune filling it! hint hint

As for how I got here, moved to NorCal (Folsom area N Sacramento suburb) really liked it there, but could not find a job and verifying three times the rent wasn't happening, so Phoenix it is.

So far, I'm liking it especially the warmer dry weather and lighter traffic for the most part!

[Kimballette]

Originally Posted by Dellwello

I am a lifelong California resident and I am wondering if there are any native Californians living in Phx. What made you move out of our poorly ran state? The job market here is so bad that I'm thinking about heading out to the valley of the sun. What are some things I should know about Phx I take for granted in Los Angeles? Thanks guys.

Let's get back to the topic, please. Career advice and conversation about the Bay area and the South Bay are off topic here.

[jimweda]

Originally Posted by Dellwello

I am a lifelong California resident and I am wondering if there are any native Californians living in Phx. What made you move out of our poorly ran state? The job market here is so bad that I'm thinking about heading out to the valley of the sun. What are some things I should know about Phx I take for granted in Los Angeles? Thanks guys.

I've been out here for over a year because I needed to get quality Physical Therapy after 3 shoulder operations which was successful. The bad part is in the last 6 months I have not been able to find work. I was born and raised in California and came out to live with a friend during my Therapy. Even applying for the most menial job I have not been able to get a call back or interview. I do have a wide background history but wondering is what's killing my chances are my work history gap since the surgery or because my employment is very difficult to verify because of the industry I was in. I did movie production where when the show or movie was finished, within months the offices shut down which makes calling them almost impossible. Most of my friends in California in that field are having a hard time finding work and like myself are close to losing everything which was another reason I came out here. I have tried putting at least 5 personal references which include friends, family, co-workers and a previous boss to verify my job, character and work ethics but it doesn't seem to help. I'm not sure what else I can do to get someone to take me seriously and give me a chance to prove my worth to a company as a hard working, reliable individual. Not sure what to do at this point to get an interview so any help or leads would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Jim

Originally Posted by smilinpretty

Lived in Southern California for 32 years and I will always consider myself a Californian. I miss the beach terribly. I miss the restaurants, best mexican food is in California. I miss the weather in California.
What I don't miss: traffic, people, sprawl.
I love the Northern Arizona skies, like Montana skies. I live in the country, love the slow pace. I am reaching 60 years old, so don't know if I could take the crowds of California. Arizona, has beautiful and clean areas compared to California but I miss my ocean so so much.

I'm with you on that smilinpretty. Right now my only regret is not being able to find work. It is much easier to live out here financially but employment is very hard to get for some reason. My case may be a little different since not having a car and about a 2 year gap in work history because of my shoulder surgery but that shouldn't be held against me. Not sure what else to do but things aren't looking so good in Glendale, Arizona right now.

Jim

[New Horizons]

When did this whole California to Arizona migration start happening anyway? Those old ranch homes from the 50's - 70's, were those Californian's buying those places too? And, when will the flow of Californian's stop? Theoretically, the outbound migration of California would have to stop. Or maybe they'll always be a steady flow of Californian's coming due to people moving there for a few years, living the California dream, and then deciding they want to live in a place similar to CA but with a lower COL.

There are so many California license plates on cars there. At my motel, the whole entire lot was California plates, including my cousin's car.

[kremit]

Originally Posted by desert_scene

When did this whole California to Arizona migration start happening anyway? Those old ranch homes from the 50's - 70's, were those Californian's buying those places too? And, when will the flow of Californian's stop? Theoretically, the outbound migration of California would have to stop. Or maybe they'll always be a steady flow of Californian's coming due to people moving there for a few years, living the California dream, and then deciding they want to live in a place similar to CA but with a lower COL.

There are so many California license plates on cars there. At my motel, the whole entire lot was California plates, including my cousin's car.

Migration, vacation, college are the things that come to mind when seeing a lot of out of state plates in sunbelt states. In Sacramento I would never see an out of state plate. I guess it wasn't hip enough, lol.

[PoppySead]

Originally Posted by khuntrevor

hahaha. So much bad chinese food here. The midwesterners are partly to blame. because they can't eat anything spicier than salt.

I moved here in 1995 from Oakland. I left in 1999 and came back in 2009 for the 80% off sale. I really missed the Bay Area, but realistically, it is a crime waiting to happen. I knew of someone, who was knocked off their bike with a baseball bat...and that was in the pricey Richmond District of SF.

This is silly but I'm going to address the Asian food here. There are pockets of the valley that are more Asian dominant than others and their food is just as good as SF, plus, it's cheaper. I've eaten Chinese in both areas and you can find some good Asian food here.

Have you tried any of these listed here. I've been to 5 of them, personally. Pretty good.
My Asian A-List ^_^ - Phoenix
China Magic noodles my fav. Great noodle! At Mekong Plaza in Mesa.
10 Chinese restaurants
Also a great Japanese noodle house in Tempe I want to try. I hear good things about it.