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Your going to find that salaries in San Diego are lower than the Northeast and other parts of the country, more so vs the COL. To put it into perspective, you should have found out by now that a lot of employers in San Diego are only interested in local candidates, relocation is quite rare it seems and salaries for experienced engineers on average is quite low. You mentioned $62K in Ohio, which is quite good for a greenhorn in this market.
I can tell you this I see positions in the Greater San Diego area that are requiring a lot of skills and experience offering similar or slightly more in compensation, of course there are exceptions but the stigma of low wages is the norm in San Diego. That being said, do not expect to be offered $90 to $100K.
That's what I've found also through all my research. The increase in living expenses isn't necessarily proportional to the salaries they're offering, so I'm not sure what to do!! I was thinking of maybe even expanding my search to Texas or Arizona, and of course putting in more leg work for CA jobs!
I see what you're saying but I disagree. Why should someone "delay gratification" when it comes to something so important as where you are 24 hours out of a day? If you don't like where you're at, there's no point in putting yourself through two or three more years. That's two or three years that something could could come up that would risk tying her to Ohio. Ohio doesn't have a particularly high paying market--staying there in order to save up doesn't seem like a very effective idea. If contacts in CA are important (which is true), then how the heck is staying in Ohio going to help her get more contacts out here?
Also, do not underestimate the demand for a female engineer who looks good.
Agreed on all points haha I see it your way as well, 2 or 3 more years is A LONG time to wait, especially when I'm after things that can't be solved financially... I want to find a vegan man, be able to pick one out of numerous vegan restaurants to eat at, live in the sunshine, pursue my weekend part time modeling career in a bigger market, and let go of some of this stress with walks on the beach! It's come to the point in my life where my own mental and emotional happiness/needs/desires are bigger than my paycheck, and i think when I'm just out of college is a good enough time to try something new! Ohio makes me miserable!
Agreed on all points haha I see it your way as well, 2 or 3 more years is A LONG time to wait, especially when I'm after things that can't be solved financially... I want to find a vegan man, be able to pick one out of numerous vegan restaurants to eat at, live in the sunshine, pursue my weekend part time modeling career in a bigger market, and let go of some of this stress with walks on the beach! It's come to the point in my life where my own mental and emotional happiness/needs/desires are bigger than my paycheck, and i think when I'm just out of college is a good enough time to try something new! Ohio makes me miserable!
Quote:
Originally Posted by divagotstyle07
That's what I've found also through all my research. The increase in living expenses isn't necessarily proportional to the salaries they're offering, so I'm not sure what to do!! I was thinking of maybe even expanding my search to Texas or Arizona, and of course putting in more leg work for CA jobs!
Would you consider expanding your search to the SF Bay Area? Engineering jobs are much more plentiful and better paid up here. The vegan lifestyle can't be beat, especially in the Berkeley/Oakland area. But NorCal beaches have nothing on SoCal's.
I think you're wise to keep your options open. In Texas, salaries are very high, and cost of living is very low, like Ohio low. If you want to save up money, working in Texas is a much better idea than staying in Ohio. But if you don't move to where you think you'll be the happiest, just make sure that you think you'll be able to at least tolerate wherever you move to. There's nothing worse than moving somewhere just to look forward to leaving.
If you're concerned about the cost of living, go to bankrate.com and use their cost of living calculator. That thing is extensive. They get down to things like haircuts, dry cleaning, and loaves of bread.
People will tell you, oh, move to such and such place and save your money. What the hell is the point of that? So you get stuck in a place you hate, and you have a bigger bank account. If that's what you're going to do, then why the hell move?
If you're going to move and it's an optional move, then make the move to a place you want to be. Don't make it to some place where you don't want to be. If that's what you're doing to do, save yourself the thousands of dollars that it costs to move and stay put.
That's what I've found also through all my research. The increase in living expenses isn't necessarily proportional to the salaries they're offering, so I'm not sure what to do!! I was thinking of maybe even expanding my search to Texas or Arizona, and of course putting in more leg work for CA jobs!
Texas is booming for work if you want to live there, Arizona is a toss up and I would not say it's the best place for an engineer to relocate to.
I would say the Bay Area, South Bay, East Bay, lot's of opportunities but again very expensive and you might get $80K tops, unfortunately mechanical engineering is not as lucrative as software engineering right out of school. Average rent in San Jose is pushing $2K/month for a 1 bedroom apartment, so $80K isn't much. There are options, renting a room, or sharing a place. One can live on less, just depends what you require?
If you're concerned about the cost of living, go to bankrate.com and use their cost of living calculator. That thing is extensive. They get down to things like haircuts, dry cleaning, and loaves of bread.
People will tell you, oh, move to such and such place and save your money. What the hell is the point of that? So you get stuck in a place you hate, and you have a bigger bank account. If that's what you're going to do, then why the hell move?
If you're going to move and it's an optional move, then make the move to a place you want to be. Don't make it to some place where you don't want to be. If that's what you're doing to do, save yourself the thousands of dollars that it costs to move and stay put.
Good call with the COL calculator.
I don't think anyone here said she should move somewhere she hates in order to save money. I mentioned Texas because she said herself she was considering it and I'm pretty sure salaries are higher than in Ohio. All we know is that she hates where she's at now.
If you're concerned about the cost of living, go to bankrate.com and use their cost of living calculator. That thing is extensive. They get down to things like haircuts, dry cleaning, and loaves of bread.
People will tell you, oh, move to such and such place and save your money. What the hell is the point of that? So you get stuck in a place you hate, and you have a bigger bank account. If that's what you're going to do, then why the hell move?
If you're going to move and it's an optional move, then make the move to a place you want to be. Don't make it to some place where you don't want to be. If that's what you're doing to do, save yourself the thousands of dollars that it costs to move and stay put.
This is true. If you have the option to move, do some math first and bankrate is a decent start to get some expenditures on the table. Or if you already have an excel or use something like Quicken then you are ahead of the game.
Being that your chief motivator is to move out of where you currently are, the destination IMHO seems less important based on the fact that you ARE looking at best bang for the buck. Not just sunshine and roses.
I blew off work well into my 20s and traveled the world and lived in some great places, met great people and had incredible experiences. San Diego is great and for right now is great for my wife and I with no kids. There is way too much world out there for me to say its the end all be all though.
My perspective is definitely more existential than anything else with how life rolls and the opportunities that pop up.
Unless you are socially awkward, I think its ridiculous to think you couldnt be happy anywhere including Texas where millions of people live and are quite happy. Its foolish to think 'oh if I move to this place, it will change things.' While that might be true in a temporary fashion (emotional vacation) It sounds like a serial dater that complains about not finding the right companion to marry because all the dates dont seem like the marrying type. Considering its just you, its far easier to be mobile and easily move to a place you can establish a career, make friends and save some dough.
The real question is; do you feel like you would be losing something that you never gained in the first place by moving to SD with thinner credentials than doing the same thing in a place like Texas?
IMHO, everything else is a backdrop (the beaches, outdoor life etc) to day to day life. Those enhancements cannot be denied, but in my 20s, they were merely a backdrop to the fun, travel and friends I made everywhere that had these great enhancements.
Go ask friends that you know that have moved elsewhere to name places they hang out and new friends they have made that dont live in San Diego. That is my point. Do you hear them pining about how they missed the boat on San Diego?
On the flip side you could very well be the first friend in your circle that moved to San Diego and they could visit! That would be cool.
Dont sweat the small stuff, but when people give general advice that moving to a place you can get some decent work experience and it not expensive, there is real truth to it. Some people may only move once or twice in their lives. Is that you? Or do you think you could easily handle trying out different places?
FOr some people taking the risk with less of an insurance policy in a career is what motivates them. For others, its just about getting some stability first and then moving forward. Clearly only you know where you stand on that.
Last edited by shmoov_groovzsd; 11-14-2012 at 12:23 PM..
Congratulations on earning your degree! I'm from the Midwest and I can't blame you one bit for wanting to leave! You've received a lot of great advice from other members, but I'll add my two cents.
I'm a HUGE quality of life guy. To me, it trumps money all day long. With that said, part of the quality of life equation is to live comfortably and not be stressed about money. Whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck - but your plan has some serious problems. As mentioned, it will take many weeks just to go through the interview to offer letter to start date phase. I was contacted about a position on October 4th. I didn't get my offer letter until November 9th and my start date isn't until the 3rd of December! Two whole months and this doesn't even take into account the many months it might take to find an employer interested in you.
The other thing is you're a college graduate. Most companies hire college grads and only have a few start dates during the year. A company I worked for had one group of new hires in the Spring and the other in the Fall. That was it. And as a college graduate you'll have no experience. Most companies in San Diego aren't big enough to support waves of college hires and so they want people with experience because they don't have the time or training to get a college grad up to speed. Plus not being local could cause problems as they will want to hire someone that graduated from a local university.
The bottom line is that you'll need a lot more than two months of living expenses. Service industry jobs take less time to hire, but there is competition there - especially for the good places. Being good looking will definitely help secure a service industry job, office admin type job, or with modeling. But, there is another problem there. San Diego and Los Angeles are full of super attractive women and model types. Literally - tons! You won't stand out like you might in Ohio! And those people are trying to break into the industry FULL TIME - not just devoting weekends to it.
Your plan is based on a lot of assumptions and no guarantees. Seems risky. What happens if you run out of money and have no job? That is a very likely scenario. Then what do you? You won't be able to afford to move back and even in a room share situation - they won't let you live rent free for very long.
^thanks for articulating this important and TRUE info more diplomatically than I did. Hey that's a real skill, you know?
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if it's one thing I do have, it's ambition! 
It's come to the point in my life where my own mental and emotional happiness/needs/desires are bigger than my paycheck, and i think when I'm just out of college is a good enough time to try something new! Ohio makes me miserable!
