Opinions on the I.E.

[that1guy]

Originally Posted by ConsideringLA

that1guy:

I suppose my bitterness comes from believing everything you have said, attaining 2 advanced degrees from Univ of La Verne, buying a home in Chino Hills, then struggling long and hard to "live the dream" and work in the IE.

I worked closely with my school's career center. I networked. I was tied in close with Claremont Grad U., Univ of La Verne, and UCR (incidentally, Claremont Grad Univ's "CIO Roundtable" for IE IT leaders was cancelled last year due to lack of available IT leaders in the area). I have an IT skillset that pays very well and was gainfully employed in an NYSE-traded company in OC with a 5+ year tenure and 10 years experience.

In 2006, I literally turned down 3 solid offers from firms in downtown LA, Anaheim, and Mission Viejo - hell bent on working closer to home. After beating my head against IE's IT employment wall, I gave up and accepted a position near the coast (better pay, advancement, etc.). I continued my commute struggle on 91 and missed precious time with my 2 little ones for 6 months, came home one night, looked at my wife and said "I'm DONE." We listed our home, sold it in 2 months (thankfully good timing) and moved closer to work, giving up 600 square feet in home size at the same cost. Oh, gas, insurance, and home-based energy costs went way down.

That 600 square feet pales in significance to time spent with family.

Again, if you can live/work/play in the IE, I'm envious. But for the rest of the folks dreading the 210/10/91 freeways, there's a better way - downsize and find a community closer to work.

Yeah, I'm mean it's tough...but more doable now. Not now now, but compared to 10yrs ago. It has gone from nothing to at least something. Now, its hard everywhere. I just graduated from UC Santa Barbara, and its tough. Who wants to hire a new guy, when people with experience are for hire? A little off topic. I know that my brother was getting more accounts out in the IE (esp. after Micron lost LOTS of money). He made several sales trips to Temecula and Ontario. But obiviously the majority of trips were more coastal.

I'm not comparing SLC to Phoenix...just giving an example of what one company stated. I don't have Phoenix examples on the top of my head. I could lie, but meh. Again, I never compared the two. Hence why I never said Phoenix is worse than Salt Lake City or vice-versa.

Last note: ConsideringLA, you seem like a cool guy.

[ConsideringLA]

that1guy:

thanks - this would be a great conversation to have over a cold adult beverage

the cool part of so cal is there are so many different areas and options; the permutations of ones own priorities and preferences, combined with the dimension of time and the changes that take place in the macro and our respective micro's... it can be dizzying, to be sure.

I have a family member who's an engineer at Abbott in Temecula. If you need a connection there, shoot me a PM and a res.

[loyaltubist]

I was only eight when my family moved from Oceanside to Colton in 1966. Things were a lot different. Colton still had an active downtown section then. About a year later they decided to redevelop that area and send everyone away, hoping they'd come back. 40 years later that area is like a ghost town. It still has vacant lots.

Nearby San Bernardino went through the same thing a couple of years later. They turned the downtown section into a major shopping mall. But it isn't one now. That place also looks like a ghost town.

And Riverside did the same thing. For some reason, the results were never as great as what they expected but Riverside seems to have come out of the thing the best, though I bet if they knew what they know now, they wouldn't go for a development.

If it's not broken, don't try to fix it. If is broken, figure what's wrong before breaking it up.