Moving to Portland, OR (find a job, living in, public transportation)

[Lovegood83]

Hello!

I am 22 years old from Philadelphia, PA and I am planning to move to Portland, OR. I am leaving September 8th and arriving September 12. I have about $10,000 saved up and I am pretty much winging it. Do you think this is enough to sustain myself until I find a job? I have been in touch with a few companies for a job and 2 asked me to call them when I arrive to set up an interview date. I have a lot of experience working in an office and I currently work at a pharmaceutical company as a project assistant. Let me know if you have any advice for me!

Thanks,
Meghan

[skiffrace]

I moved to Portland from Philadelphia 20 years ago, and I feel your pain ;-) In those 20 years I visited Philadelphia *once* (and that was 1 time too many)
While your post is a bit of the "I am following my dream" tomfoolery, it may be worth a try. At 22 and single, you can take a lot of risks we'd not take at an older age.

I have about $10,000 saved...Do you think this is enough to sustain myself until I find a job?

- Find housing with some roommates. Not only it's the cheapest way to live, you will immediately have some social life.
- Find housing near public transportation. Save up on car-expenses by driving it only when necessary. When looking for work, think "public transit\bicycle accessible".
- If you live very, very frugally, you should be able to survive on ~1K\month. That means you have 10 months to find a job. It's good you have some job leads, but in general you don't have high-demand skills, so your job search may take a while.
-Finally, don't burn your bridges back in Philadelphia. If your money runs out, simply go back.
Good luck.

[urbanlife78]

I say do it, skiffrace has a number of points that are spot on. I have a friend that is close to your age that is currently living in Melbourne for a few months working a couple jobs to save up money for the third leg of her world trip. If she can do that, moving to Portland should be easy.

And if things don't work out and you run out of money, you have some new life experiences and you can always move back to Philly or wherever else you want to go.

People in their early 20s should be nomadic until they figure out what they want out of life and where they want to live their life.

[Tulippsy]

Meghan,

As someone forced to spend my first twenty-two years of life in Pennsylvania, I congratulate you on your decision. Two weeks after I graduated from Penn State, I bought a one-way ticket to San Francisco with no job and probably the 80's equivalent of 10K (3,000). I did temp work until I found a real job. I found a roommate in the classified section of the newspaper who became a lifelong friend. Anyway, it was the best thing I ever did. I think you will love Portland, and it sounds like you're a sensible, realistic person so you have every reason to expect a successful move!

Follow Skiffrace's plan and you will be just fine. Happy Trails!

Tulip

[pdwpdx]

You should be good with $10,000. I moved here with about $3,000 and made it work, but I also hit the ground running looking for work as soon as I got here. Temp agencies can be a good way to get your foot in the door for office work if you can't find anything full-time right away. They can also be a good way to get a sample of local employers. I worked a few temp office jobs before finding a suitable full-time position, which took over a year.

[pdwpdx]

Also, I echo the house-share/roommate idea. It's the most affordable way to live in Portland, and a good way to make friends/get potential job leads, etc.