33 y/o single gal - San Francisco to Austin? Crazy? Job advice? (Houston: appointed, apartments)

[SFStart]

Hi there

I am seriously considering relocating to Austin from SF in the next few months. I have visited Austin lots of times- for SXSW and ACL, and also for regular weekends. I'm drawn to the friendly vibe, music scene and just the idea of changing things up a bit. I

I would really appreciate some advice-

My concerns-

*33 and single in Austin.. would I be doomed trying to date in Austin? SF has no shortage of singles, but not many people want to settle down here either. How is the dating scene in Austin? Not to mention, meeting new friends my own age.. easy or hard to do? Best ways to meet new people?

*Jobs- I own a petcare business and work as freelance graphic designer . I would like to switch into marketing or design full time. I follow Craigslist daily in Austin.. and there are almost no jobs listed. And the jobs that are listed... $12-14 an hour?? Ouch! Is there a better source for marketing/writing/design job listings? Do you recommend any recruiters?

*Where to live? I don't want to live with college students, but I do want to be close or in downtown. I have been thinking about the SOCO or Travis Heights area. Is that a good call? The condos downtown seem very expensive.. especially on $12-14 an hour .

So overall, my concern and question for those who live there is, how would you rate Austin for a mid-thirties single professional gal?

Thanks!

[passionatearts]

People in Austin do tend to get married and settle down a lot earlier than the people in San Francisco, but Austin is still a fine place to be for a single professional woman. Actually, if you're into men, you may find the dating scene better than in San Francisco because unlike San Francisco, men outnumber women in Austin.

Unless you've got enough money saved up to live for several months without a job, I wouldn't move here without employment. Austin is cheap compared to San Francisco, but it has the most expensive cost of living in Texas.

Where in San Francisco do you currently live? Are you looking for a similar vibe in Austin? What are you willing to pay in month in rent for a place? If I know the answers to those questions, I could recommend an area for you to live. Of course, also keep in mind that you may want to wait until you actually have a job before you look into places to live.

[SFStart]

Thanks so much for the reply. Luckily, I have family that I can stay with while I look for a job and save some money. Do you have any recommendations for looking for jobs? Like I mentioned before, Craigslist postings for marketing/design or writing jobs was pretty limited. Is there another site or method that people use to look for listings in Austin?

As far as dating.. SF is interesting. There are plenty of single men, but a lot of guys just settle down later and party for years. Most of my friends complain that it's hard to date guys that actually want to be in a relationship. Who knows?

As far as neighborhoods, I'm looking for a neighborhood that's walking distance to restaurants/bars/music, affordable, safe, clean and a little older than the college demographic. All the downtown listings seem pretty expensive, but I do love the idea of being right downtown. Is there an area or complex that more 30 somethings live?

I'd want to get involved in as much as I can to meet new people and experience all that Austin has to offer!

Thanks so much again.

[atxcio]

IMO, the SoCo area is actually more liveable than downtown itself. Downtown is great if you want a very nice high-rise unit, and like the club scene in downtown. SoCo, on the other hand, has a nice bunch of laid back more "neighborhood" style bars/clubs... easier to access shopping... restaurants are cheaper and more casual... and a variety of different levels of housing. Some older apartments or even some of the new condos are very reasonable in price. The demographic is older than college students, but still lots of single people there.

As far as jobs, Austin is a very small market. Even as it is getting bigger, it's still very much "who you know", and everybody knows each other. I'm sure many creative/advertising jobs are filled without even putting out an ad. The good news is that it isn't hard to become part of the group, people are pretty friendly and open and won't try to keep you out. Check out the Austin Ad Fed (Austin Advertising Federation), look at the job listings, and maybe join when you get here. It's still going to be hard to find a job, and it won't pay that great, but at least it's a quick way to become part of the community.

Just remember the golden rule of the Austin job market:

Austin has too many ______.

Fill the blank in with any profession -- doctor, lawyer, web designer, tech worker, nurse, etc. It will pretty much always be true. The rule will explain how much you can make, and how difficult landing a job will be, and why there are many overqualified people working as something besides ______.

[bgrn198]

Originally Posted by SFStart

Thanks so much for the reply. Luckily, I have family that I can stay with while I look for a job and save some money. Do you have any recommendations for looking for jobs? Like I mentioned before, Craigslist postings for marketing/design or writing jobs was pretty limited. Is there another site or method that people use to look for listings in Austin?

As far as dating.. SF is interesting. There are plenty of single men, but a lot of guys just settle down later and party for years. Most of my friends complain that it's hard to date guys that actually want to be in a relationship. Who knows?

As far as neighborhoods, I'm looking for a neighborhood that's walking distance to restaurants/bars/music, affordable, safe, clean and a little older than the college demographic. All the downtown listings seem pretty expensive, but I do love the idea of being right downtown. Is there an area or complex that more 30 somethings live?

I'd want to get involved in as much as I can to meet new people and experience all that Austin has to offer!

Thanks so much again.

My dad's company uses monster.com when they post job openings

Search Jobs. Find Employment. Look for Work & a Career | Monster.com

[Campeador]

Originally Posted by atxcio

IMO, the SoCo area is actually more liveable than downtown itself. Downtown is great if you want a very nice high-rise unit, and like the club scene in downtown. SoCo, on the other hand, has a nice bunch of laid back more "neighborhood" style bars/clubs... easier to access shopping... restaurants are cheaper and more casual... and a variety of different levels of housing. Some older apartments or even some of the new condos are very reasonable in price. The demographic is older than college students, but still lots of single people there.

As far as jobs, Austin is a very small market. Even as it is getting bigger, it's still very much "who you know", and everybody knows each other. I'm sure many creative/advertising jobs are filled without even putting out an ad. The good news is that it isn't hard to become part of the group, people are pretty friendly and open and won't try to keep you out. Check out the Austin Ad Fed (Austin Advertising Federation), look at the job listings, and maybe join when you get here. It's still going to be hard to find a job, and it won't pay that great, but at least it's a quick way to become part of the community.

Just remember the golden rule of the Austin job market:

Austin has too many ______.

Fill the blank in with any profession -- doctor, lawyer, web designer, tech worker, nurse, etc. It will pretty much always be true. The rule will explain how much you can make, and how difficult landing a job will be, and why there are many overqualified people working as something besides ______.

I agree with this advice. If you are a runner/cyclist/swimmer I would consider being close to Lady Bird Lake (formerly Town Lake) and/or Zilker for access to the trails and Barton Springs/Deep Eddy.

I have plenty of friends who have lived in both SF and Austin. If you like the sun and don't mind the heat I think you'll enjoy Austin.

[milytaylor]

I'm 39, single, female and I relocated here in February 2009. People knock it, but take a look at the East side of Austin. When I told my co-workers I was on the East side, they were shocked. But, I've gotten them to venture over here and they were amazed at how it's turning around.

Here are some advantages to East Austin:
1) The traffic on the East side is no where near as impossible as traffic on the West or South sides.
2) It's very easy to get to downtown as well as the north and south sides of Austin with little traffic issues. To head to the west side, I take MLK to downtown and then 15th to MoPac to get to the west/southwest side.
3) It's cheaper.
4) It's really an up and coming area. Yes, we're missing some amenities, but I think that's turning around.
5) There's a good vibe in this part of town that I don't see in the other areas.
6) It's easy to get to Mueller Park to use their bike/jogging trails. While town lake is definitely better because it has a ton of shade trees, Mueller is a lot less busy and it's easy to find parking.

If I remember correctly, the unemployment job board via the state of TX website posted non-government jobs. I was looking for a government job, so I mostly used that job board.

As for dating, I can't really help you much there. I hate dating and try to avoid it as much as possible. (Of course, I still have nightmares of my dating experiences in KC, so it's not surprising that I haven't looked while I have been here...)

I don't regret moving here at all. I love Austin (and the east side) - it's fun and quirky. The food is pretty good. It's really a dog friendly town. The people are wonderfully nice. Unless it's during the dog days of summer, there's almost always an event.

Oh, I also can't tell you how many times I almost wrecked my car from looking at all the gorgeous guys jogging, biking, or playing sports. Those gorgeous guys are also at the gyms so there is incentive there as well. (Again I'm comparing it to KC which about 5 years ago was ranked both the worst city for dating and the 2nd fattest city...)

Hope that helps!
Good luck!

[artsyguy]

Yes it is crazy. Do not go to Austin. If you want the big city you can find equivalent in Dallas or Houston.

[bgrn198]

There's the Mueller development

Mueller Austin

[compSciGuy]

Dating scene should be better for females, unless maybe they are looking for an Asian guy.

Austin is definitely not "urban" like San Francisco, and the restaurants are not as good. However, that being said it's much cheaper to live and more family oriented (well that's not too high a bar to achieve though). There is definitely the bar & music scene in Austin, but I can't really comment as that was not my forte. People with families seem to settle down in the burbs, not really around 6th street.

Austin doesn't really have the number of activities that one may find elsewhere, I've heard it called "the San Francisco of the South", etc., but it's only a valid comparison against "other places in Texas, and the South". If you are looking for San Francisco you'll likely be disappointed, if you are looking for Texas, you'll also likely be disappointed. Austin is well, Austin, ... I think it's pretty unique, but my perception is also coming from living ~19 years there. Austin is definitely livable (at least from my perspective), and I have lots of friends that love the area, but also many people don't like the area.