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First post here - been trying to do research on different cities across the US, and my searches constantly lead me to this forum. The threads I've read so far have been very informative, but deciding to make one more personalized towards me.
I'm thinking about relocating sometime in Q2 2014. Coming from NJ, but looking to live in a city w/ a great single nightlife/social scene and job opportunities. A young demographic is be ideal - would love to be around lots of other recent college grads.
(Low cost of living is also important since I'm just starting my career and paying for my own relocation, but it's not highest priority.)
I'm a 24 year-old male in IT (Cisco Networking). I feel as if both Atlanta and Houston have decent tech job markets from my research, but not too sure how they compare to each other.
I prefer Hip-hop in terms of music, but diversity is very important to me - both culturally and racially.
Other places I've been contemplating are Charlotte and Seattle (though more as after-thoughts).
Both have low costs of living and lots of college grads (Atlanta might have a slight edge on the former, being home to a nice higher ed cluster). At the moment, it's hard to beat the Texas metros economically. Atlanta's unemployment rate is steadily dropping, but still a bit high. I'm not sure how the tech sectors in each city compare though; I'm fairly certain Dallas has a more robust tech sector than both.
There's definitely a larger hip hop scene in Atlanta, and while Atlanta is more diverse than people give it credit for, Houston is more diverse.
First post here - been trying to do research on different cities across the US, and my searches constantly lead me to this forum. The threads I've read so far have been very informative, but deciding to make one more personalized towards me.
I'm thinking about relocating sometime in Q2 2014. Coming from NJ, but looking to live in a city w/ a great single nightlife/social scene and job opportunities. A young demographic is be ideal - would love to be around lots of other recent college grads.
(Low cost of living is also important since I'm just starting my career and paying for my own relocation, but it's not highest priority.)
I'm a 24 year-old male in IT (Cisco Networking). I feel as if both Atlanta and Houston have decent tech job markets from my research, but not too sure how they compare to each other.
I prefer Hip-hop in terms of music, but diversity is very important to me - both culturally and racially.
Other places I've been contemplating are Charlotte and Seattle (though more as after-thoughts).
Are you already working in your field, or do you just have your certifications and looking for work? That's very important in how your question is answered
I have some certifications already and continually learning on my own everyday after (and sometimes even during) work. I'm slated to get 1 more cert b4 the year is over, and possibly an additional 1 or 2 before I'm ready to make the big move next year.
At the moment I'm in a networking position for a very large company, but it's not a technical position and I'm not allowed to see the Cisco command line. So even tho on paper I'm already working in the Networking Field, I'm still anxiously looking to get actual Cisco experience.
I have some certifications already and continually learning on my own everyday after (and sometimes even during) work. I'm slated to get 1 more cert b4 the year is over, and possibly an additional 1 or 2 before I'm ready to make the big move next year.
At the moment I'm in a networking position for a very large company, but it's not a technical position and I'm not allowed to see the Cisco command line. So even tho on paper I'm already working in the Networking Field, I'm still anxiously looking to get actual Cisco experience.
I'm going to be 100% real with you. And take this as you wish, but I need to put it out there. Networking is VERY saturated. And with it being that saturated, getting Networking jobs can be pretty tough. For 1, a network is the most important part of a company. They won't let anyone work on it. Did you know some full scale network outages can have time charges up to $5,000 per minute? Depending on the network of course, but having a network that is down is very costly.
Why am I telling you this? Because this will prepare you for the mentalities you're likely to encounter in the world when you're looking for a job. A network that goes down has serious consequences. And not everyone knows how to get that network back working again. So anyway, you are going to have a TON of competition when looking for work with Cisco certs. The only cert that almost guarantees you a job is the CCIE, but that's a very expensive cert to get.
I think overall, both places are going to have a dearth of jobs for inexperienced network professionals. And that's just the reality. If there is ANY branch in IT that has no room for failure, it is networking. These days, almost everything important for a company is on a network in some way. There is also more volume on network, and more MONEY going around digitally. So mistakes should be RARE, and a hiring manager isn't going to hire a rookie, who IS going to make mistakes. I know you think you won't make mistakes, but even veterans make mistakes.
That's my opinion on networking. If I were you, I would hold on to that dream of networking. But I would also try to do something else in IT. Networking is a GREAT foundation. As a matter of fact, I'm a solid IT guy overall. I'm great with applications, development, databases, and even embedded systems. I almost got a job at Amazon last month, but the thing that killed me was my lack of networking knowledge. So networking is a very GOOD foundation, even if you're not actually working on networks. And there are a lot of people in development, and software who are clueless about networking. It's very good to have as a supplement. But just don't put all your eggs in one basket. I tell any young IT professional to learn a variety of things. In IT one skillset often compliments the other, even if they appear to the naked eye to be unrelated.
I started my career in mainframes, and believe it or not it has help me in my Application Engineering career in a lot of ways. It's also helped me better reverse engineer systems, because mainframes are the foundation of many of the newer technologies. Or newer technologies try to emulate what mainframes can do.
Hey branh, thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.
Honestly, I'm extremely green in IT - I have less than a year of experience, simply using my certifications to try to leverage for higher pay and more technical experience. (It's been hard trying to get both and not just 1 or the other.)
Since I'm so early in my career, I have no real long term expectations. I enjoy networking, and find learning Cisco on my own time a lot more tolerable than any other vendor I've looking into so far. At the same time, I'm remaining very open minded and flexible in terms of career growth. Undoubtedly, moving will test my career flexibility greatly.
You say I should try to do something else in IT. In your opinion, for someone inexperienced as myself, what do you think that other thing should be?
Hey branh, thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.
Honestly, I'm extremely green in IT - I have less than a year of experience, simply using my certifications to try to leverage for higher pay and more technical experience. (It's been hard trying to get both and not just 1 or the other.)
Since I'm so early in my career, I have no real long term expectations. I enjoy networking, and find learning Cisco on my own time a lot more tolerable than any other vendor I've looking into so far. At the same time, I'm remaining very open minded and flexible in terms of career growth. Undoubtedly, moving will test my career flexibility greatly.
You say I should try to do something else in IT. In your opinion, for someone inexperienced as myself, what do you think that other thing should be?
My advice to you is, look at a computer system, application, or product that use some sort of technology.
The find out everything that went into making it work.
This could be anything from your favorite social networking site, to a credit card machine.
In my opinion, that is how you start to take an interest in something. By looking at a finished product, liking how it work, and then reverse engineering it to guess it's design.
When you do that, you will undoubtedly start to pick up different technologies and concepts.
OMG, did I just give that away in public? I need to copyright my ideas.
Coming from NJ, I think Atlanta would be less of a culture shock. But that's just my opinion.
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