Question about tech jobs & raising family near / in Chicago. (Naperville: how much, neighborhoods)

[noahf]

Hi,
We're about to have our 2nd and 3rd children, and are pondering a move out of CA. We have family on both coasts, and often connect through CHI, so at least it would be a short flight in either direction.

Our main motivation: 1. Lower cost of living / lower stress, 2. Better place to raise a family.

My main questions are about: 1. Tech jobs, 2. Raising a family in Chicagoland, 3. Climate.

1. Tech jobs - do any of the readers here know what the job climate is like around Chicago for tech jobs? Specifically, I'm a software engineer from a great school with ~8 years of experience in both startups and established companies. Any ideas on what salaries (or ranges) are like? Are most of these jobs in the city proper, or are there many up near Evanston?

2. What are best places to raise kids? We're looking for family friendly neighborhoods with great schools, and hopefully shopping within walking distance.

3. I've been in CA my entire life, but I've always enjoyed the snow. Do kids enjoy it? Really? (DW says so). Overall, will kids stay indoors much of their childhood winters? Do families w/kids get out in the snow a lot?

Thanks for your thoughts
Noah

[dragoro]

Kids freakin love snow. When its so cold us adults wanna hibernate the kids jusr wanna be out in the snow. For some reason kids seem to be immune to noticin just how cold it is.

[aragx6]

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of playing in the snow until my fingers were blue then warming up inside with hot chocolate. It's true, I think kids are immune to the cold. There are absolutely outdoor activities during all 12 months.

[ramirami]

Originally Posted by noahf

Hi,

1. Tech jobs - do any of the readers here know what the job climate is like around Chicago for tech jobs? Specifically, I'm a software engineer from a great school with ~8 years of experience in both startups and established companies. Any ideas on what salaries (or ranges) are like? Are most of these jobs in the city proper, or are there many up near Evanston?

IMO same number or more tech jobs here than in SFO area. However not as many "tech companies"... so its in non tech companies... Jobs tend to be all over.. in the loop, north 'burbs, nw 'burbs, west 'burbs, south 'burbs etc etc...

Look at Salary.com go get an idea of salaries.. its difficult to guess salary without knowing your skill sets.. but I would guess a SW Engineer with 8 years would median around 90K to 100K

Remember cost of living is much lower, state taxes are less etc etc

[chickaboo]

it's the different between west coast and mid-west

[noahf]

Ok - sounds like the kids and climate will be a perfect match.

For the tech jobs - I understand there will be jobs with non-tech companies, but are there any predominant tech employers or industries in Chicago (e.g. banks, govt, aerospace, ...?)

Any great neighborhood suggestions?

Thanks again,
Noah

[Drover]

Well, we've got a lot of banks, a lot of government, and Boeing headquarters, so we've got all three of those categories covered.

[Frank the Tank]

Originally Posted by noahf

Ok - sounds like the kids and climate will be a perfect match.

For the tech jobs - I understand there will be jobs with non-tech companies, but are there any predominant tech employers or industries in Chicago (e.g. banks, govt, aerospace, ...?)

Any great neighborhood suggestions?

Thanks again,
Noah

Chicago is also one of the largest hubs (if not the largest hub) for the major high tech consulting firms - Accenture, Deloitte, CapGemeni, etc. - which all hire scores of computer scientists and engineers. These firms also become significant feeders to a lot of corporations for tech people. The issue at those types of places is how much you're willing to travel for consulting arrangements, though (this isn't an accident since the relative ease and short timing to get to and from any other part of the country is one of the few advantages Chicago has in terms of its physical location compared to the coasts). The I-88 corridor (Oak Brook to Naperville) has a large concentration of tech firms, as well. You'll find the largest concentration of corporations in general in the Loop but they are also dispersed liberally throughout the suburbs to the north (Edens Expressway and the northern portion of I-294), northwest (I-90 from the O'Hare area through Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates) and west (as noted, I-88 from Oak Brook to Naperville). There aren't many startups in the Chicago area in a relative sense (I noted this in a thread on this subject a couple of weeks ago) with a lack of a vibrant VC community, but there are a lot of tech jobs in the sense that the area has a huge and diverse corporate base that all have high tech needs.