A Formal Hello (Portland: 2013, home, price)

[Steve Pickering]

Originally Posted by LoveForLife

Thanks Steve, I have enjoyed reading a few of your posts. You are straight to the point in your responses. I take it that you're from the area.

Yes, on and off since 1947

[Nell Plotts]

I suppose one would call me a 'native' although I spent several years working in NYC Metro and 15 years on Bainbridge Island. My parents brought me here ~ 70 years ago, during WWII. Grew up in 'the flats' (we're talking geography - not apartments) of NW Portland, raised my family in the Hillside neighborhood and presently live in Goose Hollow.

[Steve Pickering]

Goose Hollow! Good Neighborhood. Used to be half the people there worked at OMSI on the hill. Kind of Yuppie/Hippie, Near-do-well.

[LoveForLife]

Just some thoughts on how the job market is in Portland. I am in my third semester at PCC as a CIS major and my husband is an HVAC/R graduate with 2 years experience. Any thoughts would be appreciated. I have read enough of threads to know that in general the job market is tough and competitive in Portland, and everywhere else for that matter, however, some fresh insight into these two fields would be deeply appreciated. Thanks guys you're responses are a treasure.

[LoveForLife]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

I suppose one would call me a 'native' although I spent several years working in NYC Metro and 15 years on Bainbridge Island. My parents brought me here ~ 70 years ago, during WWII. Grew up in 'the flats' (we're talking geography - not apartments) of NW Portland, raised my family in the Hillside neighborhood and presently live in Goose Hollow.

I would most certainly consider you to be a native Nell Plotts, I have never been to NW P, is it extremely different from the NE side? Just wonderin...

[Nell Plotts]

Back in the day (my day) NW Portland - the Flats - was not a residential destination. Many of the residents were WWII refugees - often highly educated but scraping by. One nickname was 'slab town' because many homes were heated with wood. NW Portland was in the Portland plat when the city was incorporated.

NE Portland is really a series of small communities that Portland sort of gathered up over the years.

It is very difficult to compare NW with NE because there are many neighborhoods in NE, some of which are currently gentrifying (I think that is how you spell it) while NW Portland went through that process 15-20 years ago.

[bler144]

As I've always seen the terms used, NW is a small handful of downtown neighborhoods, whereas NE is a pretty broad region.

NE is a huge swath of land east of the river. Most commonly of late it's applied to the area north of downtown around MLK (like the Trader Joe's kerfuffle), even though that's where the dividing line between east/west numbering system falls. So personally I'd prefer to just call it 'north.'

But in any case from there NE really stretches about 15 miles east to Gresham.

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by LoveForLife

Just some thoughts on how the job market is in Portland. I am in my third semester at PCC as a CIS major and my husband is an HVAC/R graduate with 2 years experience.

Maybe by the time you graduate it'll change, but I'd expect to be starting in Help Desk type positions. Or if you're going the software route, as a junior QA person. While Portland is pretty tech savvy, we have an interesting problem in that there are a ton of people at entry level and 2-4 year experience required levels. Luckily the jobs are there to support them.

It's that mid-range experience where you'll start having problems. A lot of these jobs have been outsourced, and what is left sees a ton of competition which drives down the wages. I know desktop people who have 6-8 years of experience who are making help desk wages. Yet it's near impossible to find a competent and experienced system admin at any wage.

So, as someone who has been in the IT industry since before there was an IT industry, keep yourself current. Grab every certification you can. Make sure your resume is full of all the buzz words. Get to know every single person remotely associated with the IT industry you can. Do side projects, and have a bank of computers at home to play with new technologies as they come out.

If you are female as I assume you are (I deeply apologize if you are not,) then you'll likely push out someone else as a diversity hire. Make sure that you stay competent though and good at your job. Portland's IT industry is small and you're never one or two jumps away from former coworkers or bosses.

[LoveForLife]

Originally Posted by bler144

As I've always seen the terms used, NW is a small handful of downtown neighborhoods, whereas NE is a pretty broad region.

NE is a huge swath of land east of the river. Most commonly of late it's applied to the area north of downtown around MLK (like the Trader Joe's kerfuffle), even though that's where the dividing line between east/west numbering system falls. So personally I'd prefer to just call it 'north.'

But in any case from there NE really stretches about 15 miles east to Gresham.

Well, when we arrive I will definitely have to make it a point to visit NW P, and SW P for that matter.

[LoveForLife]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

Back in the day (my day) NW Portland - the Flats - was not a residential destination. Many of the residents were WWII refugees - often highly educated but scraping by. One nickname was 'slab town' because many homes were heated with wood. NW Portland was in the Portland plat when the city was incorporated.

NE Portland is really a series of small communities that Portland sort of gathered up over the years.

It is very difficult to compare NW with NE because there are many neighborhoods in NE, some of which are currently gentrifying (I think that is how you spell it) while NW Portland went through that process 15-20 years ago.

I've read a few posts that have described NW P as being more like a "corporate" kinda area with some newly built apartment complexes. Are there any, I guess the word that I am looking for would be "small town" type of areas there? Just wondering, obviously, I will make a visit to the area myself when we arrive just to gather my own feel for the area.

I fell in love with the NE 49th area and also N around the Astor school district area. However, like I stated above I plan on visiting different areas of the city before I place my flag in the ground, so to speak.

I have heard some not so good things about the outskirts of Portland (as well as some that have stated it's nice), like 82nd and beyond. Could anyone give me some insight into this area of the city? Is it up and coming or would you consider it to be a danger zone?