Moving Questions (Austin, Odessa: fit in, apartment, lease)

[89david98]

Maybe i can trust yall as i can trust everything the "Internet" has to say. LOL. Just curious as to how job searching in Austin is? Anyone hiring? My apartment lease is up here in Odessa on July 31, and I plan on moving. I visited Austin 3 weeks ago and it seemed like an alright place. I was only there for like 2 days but it was pretty chill. I plan on changing careers so I expect to have to start small and grow. I also really dont know what i actually want to do. I'll be almost 22 when I move, I would like to do something with computers or art or both would be ideal, and yes I'm in the process of finding something that falls in those lines. Just not sure if art and computers are that big of a market in Austin. Well those are just some questions that I had in mind, and a little insight for where im headed. Austin isn't set in stone for my 'BIG' move but it's on the list. Thanks in advance for any futher insight.
David

[h886]

David, what sort of qualifications do you have? Do you have your degree? Do you have any experience in art and computers?

The job market is not very good in Austin right now, particularly not for people who have few qualifications. UT is right here in town and Texas State is right down the road, both churning out thousands of graduates each year who are highly qualified and want to stick around. I fear that with nothing more than a desire to work with "computers and art" (i.e. no relevant experience and no appropriate degree) you will find your job prospects are almost non-existent. Austin is, in general, a highly educated town and even highly qualified people find that they may have to look for months without finding anything.

If you have a job right now in Odessa, I would stick with it while you work to get a degree in the right field and/or hired by a company in Odessa where you can get some relevant experience.

Edit: Okay, I read some of your back posts that say you have experience in welding, don't like having to do blue-collar work and basically just want to escape the town you currently live in. Quite honestly, after reading your posts, I really don't think you have an understanding of what you would have to do to get what you want: a white collar job (you talked in other posts about wanting to break into finance, but this is yet another area where you're competing against people with degrees.) First, you need to get your college degree. You're already in Odessa and have experience as a welder. Can you enroll at your local community college? If you take a year or two of classes and get good grades, there's a strong chance you could transfer to a major university, like Texas Tech, or A&M. Then you could take two more years to finish your degree, make connections in the field you are looking into and have a better shot at landing the sort of job you want.

The days of sticking your foot in the door in the mail room of some major company and working up to become the president have changed. In this economy, employers can be very choosy about who they hire and there's no benefit in them taking a needless risk. I worry that you are wasting your time in thinking someone is going to hand you all these career opportunities when you have demonstrated nothing to suggest you would do a good job. Why would they take such a risk when there are hundreds of applications alongside yours from people with relevant work experience or degrees in the right field (showing they had the discipline to stick it out through college?)

[kiacook]

Austin has a decent sized game development ecosystem here. I think artists who work with computers have an opportunity there but I have no idea how much competition there is or what qualifications are needed.