Moving from Raleigh to Salt Lake City - Mormon Stigma (Washington: ski resorts, high school)

[arrowjess]

I own a small software development company and I am considering moving it from Raleigh, NC to Salt Lake City, UT. I like the idea that skiing is close by and Salt Lake is a large city. So many ski resorts are far away from large cities and SLC seems to be a good fit.

I have 12 employees all under the age of 30 all single guys and all are very liberal. I will also need to hire as our company grows probably from outside SLC mainly from California and Seattle.

My main concerns is the Mormons. To me, there is a negative stigma with moving to a city that seems to be so heavily religious. In the south, there are primary baptists, but there are so many other large religious groups, that religion never comes up in my daily life.

I will also need to hire employees and I am worried that they will not want to move to SLC because of the religious undertone.

So some of my questions are:
1. None of my employees are religious, is this going to effect their ability to make friends and form relationships there?
2. Has anyone else moved from larger cities to SLC and been negatively effected by the LDS?
3. Am I completely putting too much emphasis on the religion of the City? Is SLC just like every other city, where there are a variety of people and it doesn't matter what religion you are?
4. Is there a nightlife in SLC?

Thank you so much for your help.

[SergeantL]

Originally Posted by arrowjess

I own a small software development company and I am considering moving it from Raleigh, NC to Salt Lake City, UT. I like the idea that skiing is close by and Salt Lake is a large city. So many ski resorts are far away from large cities and SLC seems to be a good fit.

I have 12 employees all under the age of 30 all single guys and all are very liberal. I will also need to hire as our company grows probably from outside SLC mainly from California and Seattle.

My main concerns is the Mormons. To me, there is a negative stigma with moving to a city that seems to be so heavily religious. In the south, there are primary baptists, but there are so many other large religious groups, that religion never comes up in my daily life.

I will also need to hire employees and I am worried that they will not want to move to SLC because of the religious undertone.

So some of my questions are:
1. None of my employees are religious, is this going to effect their ability to make friends and form relationships there?
2. Has anyone else moved from larger cities to SLC and been negatively effected by the LDS?
3. Am I completely putting too much emphasis on the religion of the City? Is SLC just like every other city, where there are a variety of people and it doesn't matter what religion you are?
4. Is there a nightlife in SLC?

Thank you so much for your help.

You are already setting yourself up for an unhappy experience. Move your company to Silicon Valley in Santa Clara California. You will have all the software resources you need and skiing is not far off.

[LostinDurbanDeep]

I would give SLC serious consideration. Don't worry about politics, SLC routinely elects very liberal democratic mayors (of course the rest of the state is very red). Below are some articles about small local software companies, perhaps you could contact one of them for information about the local software scene...

Salt Lake Tribune - Coast firm acquires AdvancedMD
Salt Lake Tribune - Patented software fixes video flaws
Salt Lake Tribune - Tiny tech company wins big
Utah video game industry reviving | Deseret News (Salt Lake City) | Find Articles at BNET.com

[snowflake73]

This is just my opinion. Take it for what it's worth. I've moved around due to military. Lived in Wisconsin, Memphis and Nashville, which I loved. I'm 35years old. It is very hard to make friends here if you're not LDS. I live up in Davis County though, 23 miles north of Salt Lake. But I have a professional career and work down there.

The religion is intertwined in everything here. The only reason I am still here is my daughter is graduating from high school this year and she likes it here. Yes. It is very beautiful here and a ton of outdoor things to do, endless.

The wages are low across the board. The winters are long. There is a nightlife, but you have to pay a membership fee that expires after so long for every club you want to go to, which I guess they're now trying to change.

A lot of people do like it here, though. I just don't.

[jhlcomp]

I followed your post from the Miami forum. Since you appear to be exploring other areas, and since we are in a similar field, I would explore other areas such as Orlando, Pensacola, the Dakotas, Nevada, Washington, Oregon.

Friends of ours live in SLC and love it they also happen to be Mormon :-)

[jazzlover]

I saw your post over on the Colorado forum. I sure wouldn't recommend Breckenridge or Vail--insane housing prices, horrible traffic if you have to go to Denver (which you will), and a real superficial money-centered BS social scene (unless that is what you are in to). I know a software company that just moved OUT of that area for all of those reasons.

Salt Lake has much better options: Trained workforce, reasonable salaries (may seem low to employees, but much less costly for the employer than Colorado), pretty good city amenities (I personally think the "liquor thing" is overblown--I've never had a problem getting a drink there), some nightlife. Probably the best "ski city" on the planet (and I'm saying this as a native Coloradan), with several of the areas near SLC accessible by city bus!

Though I'm not LDS, I do get sick of all of the obsessing over Mormons on this forum. I have worked with Mormons, employed Mormons, and have LDS friends. From a business standpoint, I will say this: I have met few Mormons who are not hard workers--they seem to have a great work ethic. If there is a downside in business, it is than many LDS people seem more motivated to work hard--that can be uncomfortable to some "gentile" co-workers who have other priorities ahead of work. On a personal level, while I disagree with a number of the tenets and beliefs of the LDS faith, I have found most LDS church members that I know to be kind-hearted, honest, gracious, well-mannered people. What more can one ask?

[therewego]

wow, thank you for those encouraging words. I was really starting to get worried as we may make a move out there in a few months, depends on a job. Also, I thought I had read a few years that Utah was getting into the technology scene big time. Did that not happen? Right now, I am not working but when I return to work, it would be in the IT field, since that is probably more lucrative for me...

To the OP, I wonder why you are not moving out of california considering you'd be hiring Californians, too expensive? How would you hire them in Utah, through telecommuting?

[Abstrakt]

Originally Posted by arrowjess

I own a small software development company and I am considering moving it from Raleigh, NC to Salt Lake City, UT. I like the idea that skiing is close by and Salt Lake is a large city. So many ski resorts are far away from large cities and SLC seems to be a good fit.

I have 12 employees all under the age of 30 all single guys and all are very liberal. I will also need to hire as our company grows probably from outside SLC mainly from California and Seattle.

My main concerns is the Mormons. To me, there is a negative stigma with moving to a city that seems to be so heavily religious. In the south, there are primary baptists, but there are so many other large religious groups, that religion never comes up in my daily life.

I will also need to hire employees and I am worried that they will not want to move to SLC because of the religious undertone.

So some of my questions are:
1. None of my employees are religious, is this going to effect their ability to make friends and form relationships there?
2. Has anyone else moved from larger cities to SLC and been negatively effected by the LDS?
3. Am I completely putting too much emphasis on the religion of the City? Is SLC just like every other city, where there are a variety of people and it doesn't matter what religion you are?
4. Is there a nightlife in SLC?

Thank you so much for your help.

Sounds like the kind of place I need to be working, the liberal workplace is severely lacking out here. If you do decide to come this way let me know where to send a resume.

I'm a maried guy under 30 but the night life here has plenty to offer once you figure out where to look. There are plenty of clubs that are door to door every night. Pro MMA fights at one club every weekend and pretty much every club band on tour makes a SLC stop.

I'm not Mormon it really doesn't effect me. I have both LDS and non LDS friends and for the most part it doesn't matter. There are a number of mormons who are super religious and have nothing in common with me I'm of course not friends with these people but we live and let live.

[CometVoyager]

My main concerns is the Mormons.

I am not a Mormon, but in my opinion, as a group of people, Mormons are the most trusting and educated people in the world and not to mention compassionate. As a Faith and religion, I am also impressed how they truly believe in eternal life with all their loved ones.

Mormons do get a bad rap from the mass media, and this was exemplified during the Winter Olympics. NBC, especially stigmatized the Mormon faith to almost a cult like following but when it comes to Tom Cruise and John Travolta's Scientology, well the Media loves that because the Cult of Scientology is all about money!!!!

I would encourage you to follow through and make your move. You will find a very bright and hard working employee pool with excellent smarts as well.

[bobmulk]

You like to be near snow and outdoor activities and will probably be recruiting from Southern Cal and Seattle?

Try Portland, Oregon. Or, better yet, Bend, Oregon.