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Old 11-03-2008, 11:53 PM
 
43 posts, read 89,157 times
Reputation: 26

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Hopefully I can get some meaningful feedback.

I've lived in Silicon valley for over 20 years and I now my wife is obsessed with moving to Jersey. I recently graduated with a B.S. in Electrical Engr and I'm doing a MS. It is probably unheard of that some one from Cali with an engineering background wants to move to jersey to start a new life.

I keep reading things like:

" everyone in jersey wants to get out"
"There are bunch of racists there".. etc..

What my wife is looking at is that; all her friends from India are there and also the Asian Indian population is 17%. Granted, I have looked at the population size, that's pretty high, even the bay area only has like 12% or so. Cali and the westcoast is sort of like a morgue! I'm kinda bored of the westcoast and kinda curious about the eastcoast where a lot of Indians (from india) seem to be moving.

Questions:

I plan to blindly move (quit my job here) and then find an Engineering job in Jersey. Why, because I can't travel back and forth for say.. 10 interviews .. my life savings will be gone!! How easy is to find an Electrical engineering Entry level job in Jersey.

How hot does it really get? (just give me a number)

How much rain do you get and in what months?

I'm planning to land in Jersey by mid Jan 09, (heavy snow right).. or should I wait?

How much snow do you get and what natural disasters do you have?
No hurricanes I suppose, just a blizzard??

We plan to move somewhere near middlesex county, where there are lots of indians, and indian restaurants.

Eventhough I can look up these things, I'd like to hear about it from people. A lot of times collected data from census is not entirely accurate.

Any advice??
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Old 11-04-2008, 12:50 AM
 
1,453 posts, read 4,918,290 times
Reputation: 336
It would not be unheard of if you had an actual job opportunity. But if not- there are places you would probably find less risky in lower cost of living states.

As far as race issues- I would think that you should ask someone of your background. East Indians live all over the U.S. these days- most of them w/o significant problems. What kind of race issues are you concerned about? Lower income areas will have more tangible tensions amongst various groups but that would be true in most any state.

I don't know anything about your field - you can do a search on here though- people have asked about engineering on here before.
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Old 11-04-2008, 06:52 AM
 
Location: East Brunswick, NJ
208 posts, read 849,935 times
Reputation: 64
Middlesex County is a good choice. I live in East Brunswick right now and find that I can get to NYC, Philly, Newark, Jersey City, etc within an hour. I can commute by the train in New Brunswick or can take the NJ Turnpike which is 5 min away. It's a wide mix of races in this area so we have a lot of diversity and there are always culture fairs so I think you and your wife would feel very welcome in Middlesex County in general.

As for temperature, I'd say we rarely hit 100 in July and August...usually just one bad week in the high 90's. Most rain would be in April. And we never know with snow, but NJ is not known for having much snow. Again, you might come and we have a huge blizzard but I don't believe I needed a shovel the last two years. All of this is for Middlesex and Monmouth County though. The temp, rain, and snow are different as you get closer to the mountains. Hope this helps Moderator cut: cannot solicit

Last edited by tahiti; 11-04-2008 at 07:26 AM..
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Old 11-04-2008, 06:58 AM
 
7,079 posts, read 37,842,947 times
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Please reconsider. This sounds like a very dangerous non-plan. Feel out for job prospects. A serious employer will pay for your airfare to come for an interview. However, you should note that there is a fair amount of unemployment in the Eastern US, so your competition will be local and the likelihood of someone hiring from the West Coast, especially someone for an entry level position is remote.

Do try to find a place to which to move that won't have such a high cost of living. And in January it's cold and snowy.

The poster above sounds like a realtor...
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Old 11-04-2008, 07:23 AM
 
Location: Splitting time between Dayton, NJ and Needmore, PA
1,184 posts, read 4,029,370 times
Reputation: 766
I second Viralmd's comments.

Get the job first. Many, many legitimate companies will hold telephone interviews first, usually followed by a face-to-face in your area if they have a location. If not, they will definitely fly you out on their dime. Coming into this area without a job to go to is absolutely nuts!

My suggestion on looking for a job would be to look at the IEEE website first. They have links to career options throughout a variety of industries.

Now to your questions:

How hot does it really get? (just give me a number)

As high as the 100's for a few days each year. The cities (NYC, Philadelphia, etc.) are like heat sinks and, coupled with high humidity on a few days, it can get really unbearable unless you have an air conditioned place to work.

How much rain do you get and in what months?

Average rainfall is about two inches a month give or take. April and October can be a bit rainy.

I'm planning to land in Jersey by mid Jan 09, (heavy snow right).. or should I wait?
How much snow do you get and what natural disasters do you have?

Snow is dependent upon what weather systems come out of the Plains and reform off the coast. There are years where we have almost no snow (~3-6 inches) and there are years where we get dumped on (up to 30 inches).

No real natural disasters like earthquakes.

No hurricanes I suppose, just a blizzard??

Hurricanes can and do hit New Jersey from time to time. The track of the storm is all dependent upon the strength of the highs that come out of Canada and up from the desert Southwest.


For more info on weather, I would really suggest looking at the Rutgers University Weather Center website.

Middlesex County would work, but don't equate the number of a specific population with the number of restaurants you may find in that area. South Brunswick has a large Indian population but only has one Indian restaurant and one Indian Market. Most Indian restaurants are located in and around Woodbridge and Islien where the population from India is much more dense.

My $0.02.
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Old 11-04-2008, 07:46 AM
 
2,312 posts, read 7,497,540 times
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You are a wonderful husband to take your wife's feelings into consideration this way!
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Old 11-04-2008, 07:53 AM
 
2,312 posts, read 7,497,540 times
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And NJ can be a great place to live--the schools can be fantastic, you'll have easy access to Manhattan, there are all different kinds of people, the food in general is pretty good, the shopping and access to bargains is SUPERB. The beaches are beautiful, the water is warm, the sand is white and soft.... I could go on. Can you tell I live in New England now and what I miss there????

If you're into nature and solitude you'll probably be really unhappy, though. You asked about the weather, and while there is winter, it ends sometime in March. Summers can be hideously hot and humid. Spring can be heartbreakingly brief. The most glorious month is October.

And it sounds like you have a ready made social circle, so that's something you don't have to worry about. They'll help you find the right town and neighborhood.
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Old 11-04-2008, 08:56 AM
 
Location: New Jersey
2,257 posts, read 5,163,820 times
Reputation: 1876
GET A JOB BEFORE YOU MOVE TO NJ! it has been said before in this post and i just wanted to say it again. can not stress it more.

your timing doesn't work in your favor as well. Dec-Jan are the worst months for job hunting. if you do move here without a job, make sure you have enough savings to survive for at least 3-6 months without salary. there are ample jobs here on the east coast, but so are number of qualified people with excellent education & experience.

plan your budget, work on your numbers, analyze the job market, talk to recruiters, check rental apartments, cost of living, differnece is cost between CA & NJ...and then plan a move.
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Old 11-04-2008, 09:02 AM
 
Location: Philadelphia,New Jersey, NYC!
6,963 posts, read 20,457,772 times
Reputation: 2737
Quote:
I'm planning to land in Jersey by mid Jan 09, (heavy snow right).. or should I wait?

How much snow do you get and what natural disasters do you have?
No hurricanes I suppose, just a blizzard??
january (winter in general) is hit or miss with the snow. its not like new england, although it will be cold (20-30 degrees f)

usually 1 blizzard a year. maybe 2.

yeah, and i think middlesex co. is a good fit. somerset & hudson aren't bad either. but like someone else said, don't expect a lot of nature/solitude. gotta drive a while to find that.
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Old 11-04-2008, 09:27 AM
r7p
 
21 posts, read 68,425 times
Reputation: 29
As other poster pointed out, please consider getting job before moving here. I recently moved to NJ, company paid for airfare, hotel etc for interview and such thing.

I don't think you'll see any difference in number of Desis living here versus bay area. I have lived in both places. Ironically, from sitting here, we're dreaming about moving to Cali !!!

As far as how hot it gets or how cold it gets and blizzards etc, NJ doesn't have have extreme weather (well this is coming from a guy who lived in Central Maine, Mass. ). I would says it is fairly pleasant here, may be not as good as Cali (again this is personal perspective).

NJ people are more used to seeing Indians than most of the US. I wouldn't worry about racism at all.

Middlesex county probably has lots of Indian grocery, shopping and indian restaurants, but indian population is spread all over NJ. You'd be surprise to learn that indians are spread over many towns you may have never heard of.

Hope this helps,
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