Anyone else who has moved to Portland find it vastly overrated? (Beaverton: rent, homes)

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Borntorun1180,

I am very sorry that Portland has sparked such a negative attitude in you.

Maybe it's time for a personal change.

Your posts may be cathartic for you, but I have to say, nobody is taking you seriously.

Merry Christmas!

[CanuckInPortland]

Originally Posted by borntorun1180

I wouldn't be shocked to see inner Portland be a ghost town filled with strung out gutter trash and welfare moochers as the developers figure out how to get people to move into their overpriced apartments.

That doesn't make any sense. The developers aren't having trouble finding people to move into their overpriced apartments, that's why they're overpriced. The problem with Portland is that it's completely in the other direction, it's too popular rather than becoming a ghost town anytime soon. Even if things slowed down and people stopped moving to Portland in high numbers, it wouldn't become what you're predicting for a while. Neighborhoods can gentrify relatively quickly, but de-gentrification needs some sort of dramatic circumstance for a mass exodus of home owners.

[dirt _farmer]

Just ignore him, fellas. He's just another wingnut who doesn't like Portland or it's liberal politics. Why he spends time here posting rather than packing his moving van is beyond me.

Originally Posted by CanuckInPortland

That doesn't make any sense. The developers aren't having trouble finding people to move into their overpriced apartments, that's why they're overpriced. The problem with Portland is that it's completely in the other direction, it's too popular rather than becoming a ghost town anytime soon. Even if things slowed down and people stopped moving to Portland in high numbers, it wouldn't become what you're predicting for a while. Neighborhoods can gentrify relatively quickly, but de-gentrification needs some sort of dramatic circumstance for a mass exodus of home owners.

I don't think it was supposed to make sense.

Logic and reason have given way to blind hatred because Portland didn't work out for the poster.

borntorun1180 should probably let developers know that they should stop building expensive high rises since everyone is fleeing and there won't be anyone but drug addicts left to inhabit them.

In reality Portland is in fact becoming a hard place for people of modest means to get by. Of course that doesn't mean Portland is failing, any more than San Francisco, Seattle, or Manhattan are failing just because they're expensive.

[SyraBrian]

Originally Posted by borntorun1180

I was smart enough to transfer here with a job unlike some of the bums and burnouts I have met here who seem to be happy being a waste of space in society.

But Portland is an overrated city who is about to hit a recession hard as people flee from this place.

Actually, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that in just the months from June through October, the average wage in Portland metro rose from $25.65 an hour to $26.66.

[patrick_m]

I don't need to work but I want to work because my current "job" is winding down now -- my current job being marketing my latest patented invention on which everything that can be done has been done and now it's not much more than a matter of waiting for potential licensees to evaluate and decide. Best case scenario though is a year or two from now my relatively niche invention will generate what amounts to a part-time income without requiring much if any effort on my part.

In the meantime I've been sending out my resume for the last few months because I'm anxious to rejoin a design team and sink my teeth into something new. Despite what I thought was a pretty strong resume though I haven't even landed one interview. Maybe it's me but I thought a mid-1990's degree from a top five engineering school, high g.p.a., ten recent U.S. patents, multitudes of sucessful, documented product designs, good references, fluent in spoken Mandarin and strong CAD/CAE skills would at least open a door or two. The one possible blemish on my resume though is that I had my own engineering and consulting business in Asia for the last fifteen years and recently shut it down to return to the U.S. for my son's education. The plus side though is I have a wealth of experience conducting business and other operations throughout Asia.

None of this has landed me even a single interview in the Portland area though. Only two companies have even responded and that was to tell me I wasn't quite right for their senior mechanical engineer position requring an inventive, hands on engineering type.

My wife has told me just to let it go and enjoy life but the thought of doing nothing drives me batty. Plus I'm starting to take this whole thing personally. On the other hand maybe it's not me. Maybe Portland really is closed for business and just not hiring.

[AndyAMG]

Originally Posted by patrick_m

I don't need to work but I want to work because my current "job" is winding down now -- my current job being marketing my latest patented invention on which everything that can be done has been done and now it's not much more than a matter of waiting for potential licensees to evaluate and decide. Best case scenario though is a year or two from now my relatively niche invention will generate what amounts to a part-time income without requiring much if any effort on my part.

In the meantime I've been sending out my resume for the last few months because I'm anxious to rejoin a design team and sink my teeth into something new. Despite what I thought was a pretty strong resume though I haven't even landed one interview. Maybe it's me but I thought a mid-1990's degree from a top five engineering school, high g.p.a., ten recent U.S. patents, multitudes of sucessful, documented product designs, good references, fluent in spoken Mandarin and strong CAD/CAE skills would at least open a door or two. The one possible blemish on my resume though is that I had my own engineering and consulting business in Asia for the last fifteen years and recently shut it down to return to the U.S. for my son's education. The plus side though is I have a wealth of experience conducting business and other operations throughout Asia.

None of this has landed me even a single interview in the Portland area though. Only two companies have even responded and that was to tell me I wasn't quite right for their senior mechanical engineer position requring an inventive, hands on engineering type.

My wife has told me just to let it go and enjoy life but the thought of doing nothing drives me batty. Plus I'm starting to take this whole thing personally. On the other hand maybe it's not me. Maybe Portland really is closed for business and just not hiring.

Hmmm is it possible you want to much money? Are you sending in salary requiremets? I was getting 75k-90k at my old job and just took a pay cut to move to a less stressful Quality Engineer position for a small company.

I wish I did not need to work. Work for yourself. Get a bench top CNC machine and 3D printer and go to town. Create a job!

[patrick_m]

Originally Posted by AndyAMG

Hmmm is it possible you want to much money? Are you sending in salary requiremets? I was getting 75k-90k at my old job and just took a pay cut to move to a less stressful Quality Engineer position for a small company.

I wish I did not need to work. Work for yourself. Get a bench top CNC machine and 3D printer and go to town. Create a job!

I didn't list my salary history or "requirement" in my resume. My primary goal is to use my abilities on interesting, challenging projects. As far as pay goes my only requirement is that it be what others doing the same work in the Portland area are being paid.

I could easily "create my own job" because that's what I've been doing the last fifteen years. The problem is it costs money and I'm already 150K into my current project (patented invention) and need it to pay for itself first before I can justify investing more money in a new project. If I were to go that route though I'd just go back to Taiwan because my contacts and resources there are much better value and capability than anything available here. Most likely -- like so many others here it seems -- that's what I'll end up having to do.

[sloyd]

Originally Posted by patrick_m

I didn't list my salary history or "requirement" in my resume. My primary goal is to use my abilities on interesting, challenging projects. As far as pay goes my only requirement is that it be what others doing the same work in the Portland area are being paid.

I could easily "create my own job" because that's what I've been doing the last fifteen years. The problem is it costs money and I'm already 150K into my current project (patented invention) and need it to pay for itself first before I can justify investing more money in a new project. If I were to go that route though I'd just go back to Taiwan because my contacts and resources there are much better value and capability than anything available here. Most likely -- like so many others here it seems -- that's what I'll end up having to do.

Portland will continue to grow whether you leave or not

[KJoe11]

Originally Posted by patrick_m

I don't need to work but I want to work because my current "job" is winding down now -- my current job being marketing my latest patented invention on which everything that can be done has been done and now it's not much more than a matter of waiting for potential licensees to evaluate and decide. Best case scenario though is a year or two from now my relatively niche invention will generate what amounts to a part-time income without requiring much if any effort on my part.

In the meantime I've been sending out my resume for the last few months because I'm anxious to rejoin a design team and sink my teeth into something new. Despite what I thought was a pretty strong resume though I haven't even landed one interview. Maybe it's me but I thought a mid-1990's degree from a top five engineering school, high g.p.a., ten recent U.S. patents, multitudes of sucessful, documented product designs, good references, fluent in spoken Mandarin and strong CAD/CAE skills would at least open a door or two. The one possible blemish on my resume though is that I had my own engineering and consulting business in Asia for the last fifteen years and recently shut it down to return to the U.S. for my son's education. The plus side though is I have a wealth of experience conducting business and other operations throughout Asia.

None of this has landed me even a single interview in the Portland area though. Only two companies have even responded and that was to tell me I wasn't quite right for their senior mechanical engineer position requring an inventive, hands on engineering type.

My wife has told me just to let it go and enjoy life but the thought of doing nothing drives me batty. Plus I'm starting to take this whole thing personally. On the other hand maybe it's not me. Maybe Portland really is closed for business and just not hiring.

Your opinion is based upon analytical observation and not on a emotional response. Yet, some will fail to see the difference.


For now, employment opportunities for me is acceptable. However, it is possible that this may not be true a few years from now. I constantly evaluate what is best for me and the family unit.