Logan Looks Great, But The Job Thing... (Ogden, Mendon: fit in, crime)

[fteter]

Been lurking in this forum for a few days. I've seen lots of great info posted, so thought I might try to get some advice on my own situation.

Living with my wife in Corona, California. The kids are all grown. Although I have lived in Southern Cal for 25 years and my wife was born here, we've both grown weary of the crowds, crime and cost of living here. It's time for us to get out.

We've visited the Logan area a few times and put it at the top of our relo list (we're especially interested in Mendon). We're both devout LDS members, so we're not too worried about fitting in - we may be a bit liberal by Utah standards, but the ward members should get over the shock pretty quickly

So what's stopping us? The job market. I work with Oracle software products, especially the ERP applications. I have a reputation in the industry for being pretty good at what I do (who says you can't fool all of the people all of the time?). Nevertheless, the market for my services in northern Utah and southern Idaho looks pretty sparse to me.

One of the purposes of making this move is to simplify our lives: a daily commute through Sardine Canyon to Ogden or SLC just does not fit into my vision of simplicity. I'm okay with changing industries and taking about a 30% pay cut, but even that does not seem "doable" in the Logan area.

So, what do people in Logan do for a living, other than working for USU or Home Depot Any help or advice here would be greatly appreciated.

[chazcrew]

I ran a quick search at Hot Jobs, and almost everything that came back was retail (Dillards, Verizon, Radio Shack, and yes, Home Depot) so not much luck there. I don't think there's a lot of tech companies there, although you might luck out and find a non-tech company that needs an Oracle person. Those can be really nice jobs, actually. But you will definitely have more options if you look south of Logan. I love Logan, though. I think it's a charming, friendly town with a nice atmosphere.

[fteter]

Chazcrew, thanks for the effort and the quick response.

I'm monitoring Hot Jobs, CareerBuilder, Dice, etc. Most of the action seems to be around Ogden and SLC. While I may have more options south of Logan, we've settled on Logan as the place. Rather than compromise on location, we'd rather take a little longer to make the move and get exactly what we want.

[MovinFromUT]

We did the same thing you did, (lived in CA. moved to Utah), but 14 years earlier. Luckily we moved at a great time. We bought our first house for $20,000, put another $13,000 into it, and sold it two years later for $74,000. It will be quite the weather change for you, providing you are moving from SoCal like we did. Funny now, we are leaving Utah, and headed for warmer ground in AZ. The harsh winters can be tough on the body. I wish you luck though.!