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Old 01-23-2014, 04:12 PM
 
Location: Colorado
2,483 posts, read 4,360,509 times
Reputation: 2685

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Quote:
Originally Posted by guyatwork37 View Post
I see that a lot of people moved as a result of "a good job offer." How exactly did these come about? Was it a transfer from your current employer or were you actively seeking employment in the Denver area? If so, why Denver versus another city such as Portland, St. Louis, Chicago, Salt Lake, Austin, etc.? Or were you just hanging around one day and and email came I am and sounded like it was a good idea to move now?
I took my job with me. I work remotely full time for a software company in CA. I choose Colorado's Front Range because:
1. We had family that had moved out here a few years earlier and we really enjoyed the area on visits with them.
2. We wanted a lower cost of living (mostly Housing) than in the Bay Area.
3. We wanted sunshine and reasonable winter weather (not very wet, cold, overcast).
4. We wanted to live in the country but not the sticks.
5. We wanted to be able to get to things like a major airport., 1st class hospital, big league sports and other city attractions within an hour, but we didn't want to have to deal with nightmarish traffic or ridiculous overcrowding to do it.
6. We refused to consider any places further east than the Rocky Mountains (been there, done that). The East coast, midwest and Texas were out of the question, no matter how hip people seem to think Austin is.


Having immediate family nearby was out #1 criteria and was basically non-negotiable. That limited our options the the Bay Area, San Diego, Hawaii (Big Is) and Colorado. Looking at it from a mostly practical point of view, Colorado was an easy choice in that context.
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Old 01-23-2014, 05:17 PM
 
Location: Highlands Ranch, CO
556 posts, read 760,174 times
Reputation: 848
Quote:
Originally Posted by otterprods View Post
I took my job with me. I work remotely full time for a software company in CA. I choose Colorado's Front Range because:
1. We had family that had moved out here a few years earlier and we really enjoyed the area on visits with them.
2. We wanted a lower cost of living (mostly Housing) than in the Bay Area.
3. We wanted sunshine and reasonable winter weather (not very wet, cold, overcast).
4. We wanted to live in the country but not the sticks.
5. We wanted to be able to get to things like a major airport., 1st class hospital, big league sports and other city attractions within an hour, but we didn't want to have to deal with nightmarish traffic or ridiculous overcrowding to do it.
6. We refused to consider any places further east than the Rocky Mountains (been there, done that). The East coast, midwest and Texas were out of the question, no matter how hip people seem to think Austin is.


Having immediate family nearby was out #1 criteria and was basically non-negotiable. That limited our options the the Bay Area, San Diego, Hawaii (Big Is) and Colorado. Looking at it from a mostly practical point of view, Colorado was an easy choice in that context.
I have to imagine Hawaii would have been cool for a little bit though
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Old 01-23-2014, 05:29 PM
 
3,113 posts, read 5,019,704 times
Reputation: 7375
Quote:
Originally Posted by guyatwork37 View Post
I see that a lot of people moved as a result of "a good job offer." How exactly did these come about? Was it a transfer from your current employer or were you actively seeking employment in the Denver area? If so, why Denver versus another city such as Portland, St. Louis, Chicago, Salt Lake, Austin, etc.?


Or were you just hanging around one day and and email came I am and sounded like it was a good idea to move now?
Headhunters were contacting me regularly so when I decided I wanted to buy a house but not be house poor I just started staying "What do you have?"

This was pre-internet and pre-city-data so I was more interested in the opportunity first and the location second. I didn't apply the 'looking for perfection filter' that I see people who post without a job applying to a move. I looked at opportunities in Seattle, Atlanta, Texas, Boulder, Fort Collins and Denver before deciding I liked the Denver opportunity. The other ones were OK and so were the cities. Denver seemed good enough and had a diversity of companies that I could work for if something happened to the one I hired on with. To me employment security was important and I didn't want to move to a one or two company town. Since living here I've had opportunities in NJ and IL along with one that was 'anywhere you want to live and form your own group'. I wasn't interested in moving so didn't take them. Also my prediction of Denver having the opportunities was true as my old company no longer exists but I continued to find employment and so did everyone I've worked with over the years.

Edit to add that I could have been happy in probably any of the cities I looked at. I didn't go on interviews for locations I wasn't interested in and didn't have a narrow set of parameters I was applying.

2nd Edit: I guess I did have a narrow parameter set I was applying. I wanted a solid company with affordable housing close to work. Close enough that I could walk. I also wanted a location with a diversity of companies that would need my expertise. I also had to be interested in the work.

Last edited by mic111; 01-23-2014 at 06:16 PM..
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Old 01-23-2014, 06:37 PM
 
157 posts, read 301,101 times
Reputation: 53
Quote:
Originally Posted by guyatwork37 View Post
Since I've only ever lives in Los Angeles, I only know the constant sunshine. It's nice and all, don't get me wrong, but do I think it's worth the price of admission? I really can't say as I don't know much else (at least not apart from visiting other places in wintertime). While I love my family as does my wife with her family, we're both ok with just seeing them a few times a year. They're great, but it's not like we all hang out every weekend or anything. It's our friends who we will miss as our kids are growing up together now. That will be very hard for us.

As for locale, we have both grown up in the Foothills of Los Angeles and are mountain folk as opposed to beach people. Even when my wife lived a couple of blocks from the beach right after college, we never went. Once again, it's nice and all, but we'd rather camp and hike.

While I have good job, the commute is no good. I spend two hours a day in the car which was ok when it was just me and my wife (although not ideal of course), but not that we have our little boy, I feel like it's time wasted I could spend with him. Also, my job forces me to work a lot of long hours (60+ hours every week typically), which once again was ok before we had a kid).

I'd like to be a place more oriented towards family and less oriented towards trying to make a buck or get famous. I'm not saying that Denver, or any city, doesn't have these same qualities/issues, but from what I've experienced it has a lot of the things we admire in a locale.
Denver or Boise might be a nice fit for you. Few people reflect and wish they spent more of life in the car... Do it as soon as you can before you miss out on time with your son while he is little. Great years! :-)
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Old 01-24-2014, 10:41 AM
 
Location: Rocky Mountains
97 posts, read 245,864 times
Reputation: 70
We did something similar 10 years ago. Lived in San Diego all our lives, quit the job, sold the house, and just up and moved to Colorado Springs. I was (and still am) a SAHM and my husband worked in IT. It took him 6 months of looking to find a job (and probably would have taken less if we'd been open to jobs in Denver) and we lived off of our house profits during that time. As it turns out, we should have been more willing to look in Denver for jobs, because we'd rather live there than in the Springs. But that's not the point.
The point is, moving anywhere is going to be a transition; you're relocating your entire life and have to find all the things you utilize on a regular basis; doctor, dentist, grocery store, daycare, church, etc. So it will definitely cause an upheaval in your life. Whether it will be worth it for you remains to be seen. For us, the lower cost of living enabled me to continue staying home with our kids, which was very important to us. If we'd stayed in California, I would definitely have had to go back to work. We have a love/hate relationship with the weather. We love the summers here, and the sunshine, even in the winter. We love the lack of bugs and the lack of humidity. We love the variations in the weather. I loooove the thunderstorms in summer! But we don't like how long winter weather can last. And I get really sick of being cold for months at a time. For us, being away from family is a big negative, as they are all still in San Diego.
There are some things we miss; buying wine/beer/booze in the grocery store. The beach. Taco shops on every corner. Being able to just drop in on extended family. But ultimately, our quality of life and the ability to be together as a family is the most important thing. I say go for it, while your son is little and you have the ability to move without having to worry about school, kids' jobs, etc.
Good luck to you on your move!
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Old 01-24-2014, 01:48 PM
 
Location: Northwest Suburbs of Denver
434 posts, read 1,115,872 times
Reputation: 293
I do think mic1111 made a fair assesment but different people consider different factors in their lives. We made a move 6 months ago from the Washington, DC area. My husband is originally from New York and I am from Alabama. We left behind a neighborhood we loved, amazing friends, and were closer to family members. (We brought our jobs with us).

We felt stuck in our East Coast life. Two high paying jobs but two long commutes and a high cost of living left us with limited choices. Our family members on other parts of the East Coast were busy with their own lives and we only saw them on holidays anyway. My sister who lived in the same city encouraged us to move because she thought it would be better for our kids in Colorado.

We also thought about whether we could transport the essential elements of our lifestyle and daily routine here. Easy access to playgrounds, nice grocery stores, good theater once a quarter, vibrant Catholic churches, and the ability to live close to an elementary school. Those were the things we determined as essential.

So, think about the essential elements of your life. For example, if you want to be able to spend holidays with your family and friends, you can still do that living in Colorado. But if you must have easy access to an ocean beach in order to live, that's not possible here. But if you can shift that beach love to time to be outside in sunny weather, then you can have that here too.
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Old 01-24-2014, 02:23 PM
 
Location: Born & Raised DC > Carolinas > Seattle > Denver
9,338 posts, read 7,085,525 times
Reputation: 9487
Grew up in DC, served in the military in San Antonio and outside Charlotte, moved to Seattle, then Denver.

I've lived in several big cities in my adult life, but Denver is my favorite. I'm never leaving here.
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Old 01-27-2014, 08:39 AM
 
Location: Colorado
2,483 posts, read 4,360,509 times
Reputation: 2685
Quote:
Originally Posted by guyatwork37 View Post
I have to imagine Hawaii would have been cool for a little bit though
Yes, for about a week.
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Old 01-27-2014, 09:41 AM
 
Location: Highlands Ranch, CO
556 posts, read 760,174 times
Reputation: 848
For those coming from CA or other warmer areas, is the winter manageable, unbearable, just another thing? My wife does not do all that well in the cold, but she can bundle up. But seeing as I've never LIVED in the snow, only visited, I'm not quite sure what to expect. Also, what's the timeframe which it takes to get used to? A year? Two years? More?
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Old 01-27-2014, 09:49 AM
 
Location: Highlands Ranch, CO
556 posts, read 760,174 times
Reputation: 848
Quote:
Originally Posted by canewbie View Post
Denver or Boise might be a nice fit for you. Few people reflect and wish they spent more of life in the car... Do it as soon as you can before you miss out on time with your son while he is little. Great years! :-)
I've thought about Boise and SLC as I hear they are great places to live with a lot of outdoor options. I've only ever had layovers in SLC and never been to Boise. Maybe I will schedule something through work...
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