Why is Rochester so unheard of out of state? (Buffalo: crime, employment)

[Finger Laker]

rochester MN definitely trumps in my experience ... i think mainly because the mayo has a pretty large national exposure and people relate it to where it's located

people will travel to rochester MN to get treatments, their families follow, etc

people don't travel to rochester to buy a kodak camera, some b&l contacts and make photocopies at the xerox offices

they're products that are more associated for what they provide than where they are from and none really carry rochester in the name

there also aren't any professional teams in the area that can help provide national attention ... you don't get games every week from Kodak Field or anything like that

also buffalo seems to get the attention once you get out of state - i think it has a lot to do with sports and some things like "buffalo wings"

the further you go from the northeast the less people know rochester

the worst was when I was actually living in minnesota (twin cities) and would mention that I'm from back east - would confuse the crap out of people

i'm from NY ..... no not the city - upstate ..... have you heard of rochester? - you have!, great i'm just over an hour south east from there ........ that doesn't make sense?, what do you mean i'd be in iowa

oh, that rochester ... uhm, you know buffalo ... yeah, just a little bit further from there

[Conrad231]

Originally Posted by Finger Laker

rochester MN definitely trumps in my experience ... i think mainly because the mayo has a pretty large national exposure and people relate it to where it's located

people will travel to rochester MN to get treatments, their families follow, etc

people don't travel to rochester to buy a kodak camera, some b&l contacts and make photocopies at the xerox offices

they're products that are more associated for what they provide than where they are from and none really carry rochester in the name

there also aren't any professional teams in the area that can help provide national attention ... you don't get games every week from Kodak Field or anything like that

also buffalo seems to get the attention once you get out of state - i think it has a lot to do with sports and some things like "buffalo wings"

the further you go from the northeast the less people know rochester

the worst was when I was actually living in minnesota (twin cities) and would mention that I'm from back east - would confuse the crap out of people

i'm from NY ..... no not the city - upstate ..... have you heard of rochester? - you have!, great i'm just over an hour south east from there ........ that doesn't make sense?, what do you mean i'd be in iowa

oh, that rochester ... uhm, you know buffalo ... yeah, just a little bit further from there

Exactly, most people think Rochester Mn when Rochester is mentioned.

[just_sayin']

I still find that one hard to believe.... I know when you google search "Rochester", the first three suggestions that come up are related to Rochester, NY (which indicates that is what most people are searching for when they google "Rochester"). As far as most RIT or UofR grads staying or leaving the area after they graduate...of course most leave, most of them aren't even originally from here. Do you think most Harvard or MIT grads stay in Boston after they graduate? Do most Yale grads stay in New Haven? Most private universities get a very large proportion of their student bodies from out of state and internationally, and then they USUALLY go back to the same general area that they came from. I'm sure most of the people from WNY who attend RIT and UofR stick around here after they graduate; but it shouldn't be expected that the thousands of people from all over the country and world would stay put after they graduate; and that goes for any large private school in any city.

[NYMD67]

I don't agree either that people don't know Rochester by name... Alot of people however,don't really know where Rochester is located in the state of NY.
Every time I tell people that I am from Rochester,NY, they say "ohhh how nice,it must be fun to live so close to the city!".
I have to laugh because living in the Mid-Atlantic area, we have always lived closer to NYC then when we lived in Rochester!
Most of the time when I specify that we are close to Buffalo, they get it!
Just funny...
People certainly know Rochester by name, most of the time.

[RottenChester]

Yes I have to agree that most people I have met out of state are not too familiar with Rochester, NY. But I would have to say that these people are either dumb or geographically naive. Rochester is the largest city in the nation with that name. Who hasn't heard of Kodak? But I guess you could poll a bunch of average joes from Rochester and ask them to locate Las Cruces, NM on a map and they wouldn't have a clue either. I just don't think people care or take seriously geography and where things fit in this world.

[NYMD67]

Originally Posted by garmin239

Provide me with some sort of documented evidence and not name dropping. I am very familiar with the co-op office at RIT and have never heard an employee there cite that number.

Most who have seen my posts here regarding Rochester know that we are from the area and very PRO Rochester! I will do and say most things to "defend" the area, it is our hometown and we love it there!
However, I have to say..... my husband graduated from RIT (many years ago!) with a BS & MS in Engineering...
We had to leave the area because there were no job offers -a few contract jobs through temp agencies, but nothing that would have been considered worthy of staying, unfortunately.
Now, almost 14 years later,although he still looks once in awhile, we have pretty much given up any hope of ever returning to the area other than to visit.
He was able to interview last year, with B&L and what an insult !
He has almost 20 years now in his field, has climbed the ladder pretty well and the salary they wanted to offer, even for the cost of living in Rochester, was horrible. He really was insulted.
We have lived in the Mid-Atlantic for many years now, close to Baltimore,DC & the Philly areas, so he certainly doesn't expect to be paid what he has been making, but something that would be considered somewhat comparable would have been nice.
He has many friends who also have graduated from RIT and not one of them are now living in the Rochester area, due to the lack of jobs.
We all love the area and truly would love to be closer to our family & friends, not to mention everything else we feel it has to offer (and yes,that does include Wegmans! ) but.... there really is not a good job market there, at least not in the manufacturing world for Engineers.

[garmin239]

Originally Posted by NYMD67

Most who have seen my posts here regarding Rochester know that we are from the area and very PRO Rochester! I will do and say most things to "defend" the area, it is our hometown and we love it there!
However, I have to say..... my husband graduated from RIT (many years ago!) with a BS & MS in Engineering...
We had to leave the area because there were no job offers -a few contract jobs through temp agencies, but nothing that would have been considered worthy of staying, unfortunately.
Now, almost 14 years later,although he still looks once in awhile, we have pretty much given up any hope of ever returning to the area other than to visit.
He was able to interview last year, with B&L and what an insult !
He has almost 20 years now in his field, has climbed the ladder pretty well and the salary they wanted to offer, even for the cost of living in Rochester, was horrible. He really was insulted.
We have lived in the Mid-Atlantic for many years now, close to Baltimore,DC & the Philly areas, so he certainly doesn't expect to be paid what he has been making, but something that would be considered somewhat comparable would have been nice.
He has many friends who also have graduated from RIT and not one of them are now living in the Rochester area, due to the lack of jobs.
We all love the area and truly would love to be closer to our family & friends, not to mention everything else we feel it has to offer (and yes,that does include Wegmans! ) but.... there really is not a good job market there, at least not in the manufacturing world for Engineers.

I am familiar with your situation and that is not the situation for everybody. I never said that jobs were plentiful, but they are out there for people who look hard enough. My friends division at Xerox of all places has been hiring people lately due the backlog of work. Your hubbie has friends that graduated from RIT and don't live in the area while I have the opposite experience with friends that have ME and EE degrees. Some found jobs right out of college, some had to move to NOVA for a couple years, then come back, but the people who wanted to live in the area found jobs eventually. The type of work some engineering graduates do effects my workload and I have my hands full as of late.

[NYMD67]

Garmin,

What type of engineers do you feel are needed and plentiful in the area? We are truly curious because we do want to come back to the area, we have wanted to return for years now and honestly, there has only been the ONE opportunity with B&L.
My husband works with headhunters all of the time,he receives job listings on a weekly basis (almost weekly) and there is rarely anything posted for the WNY area at all.
Most jobs in his field are in the area in which we are living, and in CA.

[garmin239]

Originally Posted by NYMD67

Garmin,

What type of engineers do you feel are needed and plentiful in the area? We are truly curious because we do want to come back to the area, we have wanted to return for years now and honestly, there has only been the ONE opportunity with B&L.
My husband works with headhunters all of the time,he receives job listings on a weekly basis (almost weekly) and there is rarely anything posted for the WNY area at all.
Most jobs in his field are in the area in which we are living, and in CA.

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.

[HowardRoarke]

As far as engineering and tech jobs are concerned, it's hit and miss, there, and the recession doesn't help. Knowing the "lay of the land", so to speak, plus a good headhunter helps, but even then it can be a battle.

I'm an engineer with a background in precision machining, with a few quality certs on top of it all (no, I'm not an uneducated clod as some have claimed here in the past). Friends of ours with tech backgrounds have left Rochester for other towns for a lot of the same reasons we did, and in some cases it was because there were too few jobs in their fields (I remember it was like this right into '04), and/or they were over-qualified for what was available. Rochester is not the only town in the Mid-Atlantic/PA/Upper Midwest area where they were having trouble looking for jobs. Most people we know whom have left have tech backgrounds, and headed to NC, TX, AZ, the Pacific NW, and the mountain states.

Pay does vary quite a bit across various engineering disciplines and specific engineering jobs, and, unfortunately, even some prominent Rochester companies do not pay well at all, and often times they want folks on a contract.

My background is in contract/job shop manufacturing, which I think is where it's at, these days, but to each their own. I've worked for 3 OEM's (2 in Rochester), and they sucked, big time. I'd recommend only small OEM's around there which get steady work, and well-established contract firms which pay well and have good people.

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