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As far as specifics go, I am not exactly sure. I am more familiar with the types of degrees. I deal with a lot of ME and EE degrees. When they get into specifics and job titles (which are generic at times and don't explain much), I kinda zone off since I find that talk to be boring. I work with places that have federal contracts and am only familiar the people, not the details of their work.
I will say that I deal with more people that are in the earlier stages of their career as far as new hires go. It sounds like your husband is already well into his career. From what I've seen, its harder for a person with several decades of experience due to the large talent pool of experienced workers.
Of course it's more difficult when you have experience....they don't want to pay the salaries in Rochester when they have so many educated people out of work who will take the job for $40k per year. This sort of underemployment has ruined the economy in this area and I doubt it will ever come back. When educated, experienced people get laid off from Xerox, Kodak, etc and stay in the area, accepting jobs in the $40k range, that just puts others into a lower pay scale bracket.
I actually saw a job posting just recently for an executive assistant that wanted a candidate with 7 years experience, a bachelor degree, 'must dress impeccably', have experience dealing with upper level management, etc. I scroll down to the compensation...$10 - $12 per hour. HAHAHAHA!! I can't pay rent or buy food with that salary, let alone "dress impeccably".
That job would easily pay about $45-$60k elsewhere and where I live in the Rochester area, rents are in the $1000 a month range so the old excuse always used by Rochester area natives that the cost of living is cheaper, that's why the pay is less, doesn't fly with me. Even when I owned my home, the taxes ate up whatever difference in monthly payments I may have enjoyed due to the lower home prices here versus a larger metropolitan area in another state.
But a grocery store is not the highlight of the city.
Quote:
Originally Posted by garmin239
The thread title is not true. I am traveling several months out of the year for work and very few people have not heard of Rochester NY. I am actually in MA a lot for work (Boston metro area) and I haven't really run into people who haven't heard of Rochester when I tell them I"m from there. I do have to specify sometimes since there is more than one city with the same name. I don't think the issue is people not hearing of it... its more of an issue of which Rochester you are talking about , depending on which area of the country you are in.
I have totally disagreed with most of your posts. You must be a Rochester native that believes this area is something it is not and really do not look at it realistically. Maybe you need to live somewhere else for awhile to see how bad it actually is here. Working in other areas is not the same as living there and I have lived MANY places. Even Cleveland was better than Rochester.
Great points and the statements about Upstate NY "dying" is more towards certain counties, but there are counties that have been growing for decades, slowly, but surely. People get caught up on a county or some towns and cities, but don't realize that some cities and counties have gained population in Upstate NY. Like I've mentioned before, Monroe County has only had 1 census where it hasn't gained people(1980) and that loss was small(about 1.5% or so). So, some people need to do some research before they say things are a certain way.
Monroe County also has the highest welfare rolls and expenditures in New York state and that number increases each year so tell me, why do you think the population is increasing? Do YOUR research....the population increase is not due to some booming economy here.
Though Kodak and Xerox have shrunk, Rochester is still known for its industries, especially if you work as some sort of engineer. I travel to many cities out of state for work at such places as Lockheed Martin, Harris corporation, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Pratt & Whitney, (I could go on). When conversations come up about where I came from, I get a comment about how "snowy it is by the lake". Now if nobody knew where Rochester was, how would they know about the notorious amount of snow we get?
Only the engineering community is familiar with Rochester, that's why you experience recognition; you work in that field. Not many people even know about the industries that were here. As far as the snowfall....are you serious? Almost everyone out of state associates the heavy snowfalls in western New York with Buffalo. They are surprised to hear that Syracuse actually has more snowfall, on average. Nobody thinks of Rochester.
Only the engineering community is familiar with Rochester, that's why you experience recognition; you work in that field. Not many people even know about the industries that were here. As far as the snowfall....are you serious? Almost everyone out of state associates the heavy snowfalls in western New York with Buffalo. They are surprised to hear that Syracuse actually has more snowfall, on average. Nobody thinks of Rochester.
That is just false. For one, I do not work in the engineering field. I work in a field that deals with many engineers. I also deal with colleges, IT people, and government agencies. It is more than engineers who know about the area.
You also may want to re read my posts. I never said when you think snow, you think Rochester. I stated that when I mention I'm from Rochester, people think snow. Big difference.
Also, I have lived in other places other than Rochester.
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Well at least Rochester is known for good schools that groom students for work and success outside of Rochester
Hey, that's a sweeping generalization. Cut it out.
Some grads find success in the area - why that obvious facet has to be mentioned in every counter-argument is beyond me.
Garmin: With regards to what you said about the people you've met knowing about Rochester in the engineering/tech community - isn't that just personal anecdote? Yes. Nothing wrong with that. But when people mention negative experiences they've had within Rochester, you pass them off as "isolated incidents". Why the double standard? It's an honest question.
Hey, that's a sweeping generalization. Cut it out.
Some grads find success in the area - why that obvious facet has to be mentioned in every counter-argument is beyond me.
Garmin: With regards to what you said about the people you've met knowing about Rochester in the engineering/tech community - isn't that just personal anecdote? Yes. Nothing wrong with that. But when people mention negative experiences they've had within Rochester, you pass them off as "isolated incidents". Why the double standard? It's an honest question.
It's not a double standard. I do not make blanket statements as others do. I never said that EVERYBODY knows about the area. I never made a statement such as "When I work out of state, people at company x know about the area, therefore everybody knows about the area". I am simply stating my experiences to show that people do know the area.
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