Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am really sensitive to heat and sun. I think probably because I grew up in a City in my home country where 3/4 of the year is rainy and cloudy. Naturally I am in good mood only when it rains and is cloudy. Sunlight also triggers my migraine all the time. I am so sensitive to light that even indoor I wear tinted glasses.
The numbers and data in google is something, and experiencing is something else. For example, if it is 68 and cloudy, it is chilly here and if it is 68 and sunny, it is scorching hot. The sun here is the sharpest I have ever experienced.
However, the main reason we are planning to leave, is the housing price. We live in South Pasadena where all schools are 10 out of 10. Here a small 3 bed house with a tiny yard built in ancient time starts around 1 million. The best we can find is 40 miles inland , which would be 600K ish, event hotter than here, with average 3 hours of commute.
Looking at google data and posts here, I think if we put together the property tax, income tax ( We pay 9.3% for state here), and the housing price, we would still have an easier life over there.
I am glad to hear there are people from LA in Naperville and that their kids are happy there.
I was checking the elementary schools curriculum in District 203 and noticed they teach French/Spanish and the range of sports were impressive. Our school curriculum is not even close to what I saw in Naperville schools. Also, there are at least 30 kids in each classroom here and Naperville says 17 per teacher?
Are the schools there as good as it looks?
Sorry I am asking too many questions. I am excited that I have found real people who live there and can share their information.
Thank you all for your help.
Where are you from originally? Interesting weather for certain. I am your opposite. My fave climate is hot and muggy south florida- I'm not sure you could ever leave the house down there(!)
Yeah, my friends in HB would have moved back to IL sooner but their jobs both ramped up while they were there. Being priced out of the housing market unfortunately is all too common there, even with very decent paying white collar jobs.
A lot of the suburban Chicago schools are highly regarded and do offer a healthy mix of subjects/amenities.
Class sizes are quite reasonable usually. Special ed is also a particular strength in 203, I believe ( Wheaton too).
I am from Iran, near Caspian sea. We have 4 seasons, with rain in almost every season. I would not survive in Florida. We were thinking about moving to Austin,TX but after finding out it is even hotter than here, ...No way!
Looks like my husband and I are facing a new challenge. We both have our PE license in California and we both got our Master's in engineering here. Illinois does not accept our PE. We have to apply for endorsement. Illinois only cares for our bachelor degree which is from Iran. I have heard they can even deny our application if they feel like our bachelor degree doesn't satisfy their requirements. That is just absurd! If that happens, we can never work there. We went to top Universities in Iran where things were so much tougher than here.
In my head I am telling the engineering board " you gotta be kidding me!"
Wow, you must be *really* sensitive to heat and sun. Pasadena ranks really high on the comfort scale compared to most places in the US. It's gorgeous there(!) You will be happy to learn that it's a lot more cloudy here by comparison
There are a million threads on 'people leaving IL' to make it worth re-hashing though. It is overblown a little. FWIW, neighbors across the subdivision moved here from LA three years ago and their kids love the schools. I have other friends who moved back to suburban Chicago from Huntington Beach for job transfers. It will likely be similar in popular areas like Naperville. You will discover other transplants if you look around.
I used to live in South Pas and being in the SFV it does get much hotter than close to the coast. I remember days in the 90s being common even in October. I also have a heat/sun issue and glad I made the move to a more temperate climate.
I used to live in South Pas and being in the SFV it does get much hotter than close to the coast. I remember days in the 90s being common even in October. I also have a heat/sun issue and glad I made the move to a more temperate climate.
So glad to know you moved from South Pasadena.
Are you happy there?
I am from Iran, near Caspian sea. We have 4 seasons, with rain in almost every season. I would not survive in Florida. We were thinking about moving to Austin,TX but after finding out it is even hotter than here, ...No way!
Looks like my husband and I are facing a new challenge. We both have our PE license in California and we both got our Master's in engineering here. Illinois does not accept our PE. We have to apply for endorsement. Illinois only cares for our bachelor degree which is from Iran. I have heard they can even deny our application if they feel like our bachelor degree doesn't satisfy their requirements. That is just absurd! If that happens, we can never work there. We went to top Universities in Iran where things were so much tougher than here.
In my head I am telling the engineering board " you gotta be kidding me!"
Very interesting. I am a little surprised you are moving considering the number of Iranian-born people in CA.
The situation with professional licensing can be frustrating if you are an immigrant. AFAIK though, your work experience and masters degrees should help solidify employment options in IL. So they will only consider recognizing the CA PE license on a case by case basis- what else do they require(?)
So glad to know you moved from South Pasadena.
Are you happy there?
Very much so. I love Seattle even though it gets hate for its dreary and drizzly winters. But climate wise I could do Seattle or Chicago. Summers in Chicago are sunny and warm but not too much. Cooler springs and falls with mixed rain and sun which I enjoy.
Winters are cold in Chicago, make no doubt about that, but they are much sunnier than Seattle winters and can be moderated by a quality jacket and hat/scarf/gloves
Very interesting. I am a little surprised you are moving considering the number of Iranian-born people in CA.
The situation with professional licensing can be frustrating if you are an immigrant. AFAIK though, your work experience and masters degrees should help solidify employment options in IL. So they will only consider recognizing the CA PE license on a case by case basis- what else do they require(?)
Here among Iranian people, Los Angeles sometimes is called TehrAngeles( Tehran+Angeles) which is mostly West LA.
We resided in South Pasadena where I have barely found any Iranian people. Also, through our son, we got involved with the community here and we have friends from every ethnicity. We have a few Iranian friends and we meet every 2-3 months. Also, we are young (35-37), modern and not very Persian style. We never mingled with Persian communities here. Not because we don't like them, but due to distance and also our personalities. My husband and I pretty much hang out with each other and we are happy with our family. I guess you can say we are not very social
Regarding the professional license, California accepts our Master's as education and it was easy to get approved by the board to take the exam. Illinois on the other hand only accepts bachelor degree as "education". Now we have to apply for NCEES credential evaluation so it can approve our degrees. They want our universities in Iran to directly mail them English diploma, transcript, and course description. The challenge is getting the comprehensive course description in Farsi, translating the courses we took to English and getting it stamped by University. I am okay but this is very uncommon in my husband's university and nobody knows how it can be done. After all the trouble, and even if NCESS approves our bachelor, Illinois board wants to again review our courses. I have heard they can say we have deficiencies in our non-engineering courses or even deny our application. This uncertainty has put so much pressure on us right now that we are doubting our thoughts/plan on moving to Naperville. We are preparing our application to apply for endorsement, and we will probably be putting our plan on hold until we make sure we can get licensed there.
Very much so. I love Seattle even though it gets hate for its dreary and drizzly winters. But climate wise I could do Seattle or Chicago. Summers in Chicago are sunny and warm but not too much. Cooler springs and falls with mixed rain and sun which I enjoy.
Winters are cold in Chicago, make no doubt about that, but they are much sunnier than Seattle winters and can be moderated by a quality jacket and hat/scarf/gloves
I am pretty much the same. Seattle is also one of my favorite city.
In Iran we have chilly Falls, and Winters with a few sub-zero Celsius degrees plus snow. I know Chicago can get so much colder than that, but it is so funny the way people in LA are scared of snow and Winter.
Fall and Winter have always been my favorite seasons in Iran.
This uncertainty has put so much pressure on us right now that we are doubting our thoughts/plan on moving to Naperville. We are preparing our application to apply for endorsement, and we will probably be putting our plan on hold until we make sure we can get licensed there.
I don't know why you are so hung up on the PE certification. Many (most?) employers here that have openings for MS-level EE's don't require the PE cert. Experience and education are more important. Certainly, the two national laboratories here which I am specifically familiar with (Fermilab and Argonne) employ many talented and academically advanced EEs and MEs (MS & PhD level) who do not have PE certs. Look at job postings on Indeed.com, etc and see for yourself how many openings in your fields really require the PE license. It will probably be more prevalent in areas where the may be exposure to liability (structural/civil eng in the construction or public utilities/infr domains), then in "private" industry.
As someone who has been involved in hiring mid and senior level engineers, I never favored one candidate over another simply because one had a PE license, all else being equal. Conversely, one of the most incompetent MEs I ever worked with had a PE license, while most of his better performing colleagues at that institution were without it.
I don't know why you are so hung up on the PE certification. Many (most?) employers here that have openings for MS-level EE's don't require the PE cert. Experience and education are more important. Certainly, the two national laboratories here which I am specifically familiar with (Fermilab and Argonne) employ many talented and academically advanced EEs and MEs (MS & PhD level) who do not have PE certs. Look at job postings on Indeed.com, etc and see for yourself how many openings in your fields really require the PE license. It will probably be more prevalent in areas where the may be exposure to liability (structural/civil eng in the construction or public utilities/infr domains), then in "private" industry.
As someone who has been involved in hiring mid and senior level engineers, I never favored one candidate over another simply because one had a PE license, all else being equal. Conversely, one of the most incompetent MEs I ever worked with had a PE license, while most of his better performing colleagues at that institution were without it.
It all depends on the industry. I have 4 years experience in MEP field and PE is a must for us and for growing in any company. My husband is an structural engineer and he has SE with 10 years experience. He is also in construction and SE is a must for him.
If I was working in control/electronic/communication, I wouldn't ever hear of such licensing.( I am a power engineer).
When we talk about different fields in any engineering major, ( For example electronic electrical engineer vs power electrical engineer), we are talking about two very different things. If I talk to my friend who is working as a control engineer, I can not even understand what she is talking about, and she would not understand a word of power engineering I do either.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Here among Iranian people, Los Angeles sometimes is called TehrAngeles( Tehran+Angeles) which is mostly West LA.
