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Ok-I have been contemplating a move to CA now for a couple years. I grew up in the midwest and moved to Florida in 1997-lived there for 7 years before moving to D.C. I lived in D.C. for 5 years before moving back to Kansas City in Feb of 2009. I have no kids and some college. I had great paying jobs in D.C. working for defense contractors. I moved back to KC because I thought it would be different. The only job I have been able to land here was a boring, high turnover midwest banking job and a temp job. After losing my job at the bank I gave my notice in my beautiful apartment and am moving to CA. I can not take the horrible winters here anymore.
I am not concerned with schools as I have no children, I want to continue my education and head back to college but want to do it in San Diego.
I feel there are more opportunities out there. More government contractors than here in Kansas City with much more respect to that field.
It's very stagnent here in KC. Great place to live if you are raising a family.
I have some savings and some unemployment coming. Family members willing to let me land at their home until I get settled. Would appreciate anyone's feedback on my challenges I might meet. I am not in the market to buy a house , a small safe apartment with me and my quiet little dog would be sufficient. Just wanting to get away from blizzards and ice on roads and small minded people. I hear some good things about San Diego-but the negative is horrifying to me.
Oh, I also lived in San Diego in the early 80's while attending my senior year of HS, it's where I graduated.
What's wrong with San Diego for my world? It's tough anywhere finding a job right now.
Feedback???
Why not indeed? Sorry your KC experience has been less than sterling. We find life here in the Ozarks of SW MO to be delightful, as are the people.
You have the benefit of returning to someplace familiar so you won't suffer culture shock and your opportunities to return to defense contract work will certainly be enhanced there. As your needs appear modest and you already have a support network in place, San Diego may be just the spot for you.
Once you land, take a good and realistic look ahead and start thinking about how you'll eventually retire. As you know, SoCal (I was born in SD) ain't cheap.
Sounds like some good reasons for a change in scenery for certain. I dont know much about KC regarding defense work to compare with SD though.
You spoke of some negatives in SD, but didnt elaborate what makes them horrifying. Do have a plan B if SD really doesnt sound feasible?
This has been said before by myself and other posters but coming to SD with little savings and relying on unemployment is not an ideal situation. Even if there was work here in the defense industry, I would look hard at other cities that have a much lower cost of living in the south or TX (where lots of folks appear to be moving). You are really going against the grain so to speak unless you have something locked in here first and then move.
Could you use the address of whoever the locals are that you know in SD to put on your resume? Get a google voice number or a skype local number for San Diego. For locals here its no mystery that having out of state numbers and addresses doesnt do an applicant any favors.
. I have no kids and some college. I had great paying jobs in D.C. working for defense contractors.
. After losing my job at the bank I gave my notice in my beautiful apartment and am moving to CA. I can not take the horrible winters here anymore.
I am not concerned with schools as I have no children, I want to continue my education and head back to college but want to do it in San Diego.
I feel there are more opportunities out there. More government contractors than here in Kansas City with much more respect to that field.
It's very stagnent here in KC.
I have some savings and some unemployment coming. Family members willing to let me land at their home until I get settled.
What's wrong with San Diego for my world? It's tough anywhere finding a job right now.
Feedback???
I've highlighted in your post some of the important points. You've lived in San Diego before so you know from a weather and close to the ocean and no harsh winters how great it is.
You have a huge leg up on others as you have family in the area that you say will allow you to stay with them free until you get on your feet. Most people don't have something like that to fall back on and a HUGE advantage if you're coming to a town like San Diego.
But I think from a realistic standpoint, your chances of finding "great paying defense contractor jobs" in San Diego with no college degree is slim and none. You can't compare a town like DC with San Diego. Lots of people with college degrees can't find jobs in that field so you competing against them isn't going to be a pretty competition.
Definitely if you are going back to school, and have a free place to stay it sounds like that part of your plan is good, plus you can escape brutal winters.
But you MUST have reasonable expectations. I don't think it's reasonable to assume you're going to be able to find a "great paying job" in the defense contractor field.
The biggest problem is DC, San Diego and Kansas City are totally different types of cities that are like comparing apples and pineapples.
So the part about you coming to San Diego to further your education, living rent free with family is good and smart. But the part about expecting to find a great high paying job without a college degree...not so much.
It's good that you have savings. And the unemployment, my advice is to bank all of that while you go to school. Make a good game plan with the best case and worst case scenarios. But by all means stay totally realistic. And also think about the "end game". What's your end game? Because realistically you say your mid 40's (which isn't over the hill by any means but not exactly a spring chicken either in terms of the working world and bias on ages).
The worst thing you will want is to be 50+ with no significant savings, no stable work, living in a city with a high cost of living and a very high unemployment rate. So it always goes back to what your end game plan is?
Why not indeed? Sorry your KC experience has been less than sterling. We find life here in the Ozarks of SW MO to be delightful, as are the people.
You have the benefit of returning to someplace familiar so you won't suffer culture shock and your opportunities to return to defense contract work will certainly be enhanced there. As your needs appear modest and you already have a support network in place, San Diego may be just the spot for you.
Once you land, take a good and realistic look ahead and start thinking about how you'll eventually retire. As you know, SoCal (I was born in SD) ain't cheap.
Best of luck.
Hi Curmudgeon-
Thanks for replying. Not all the people in Missouri are bad, didn't mean to imply that, it's just once I got out there and saw the way of life in Florida and D.C. I feel like S.D. is a combination of both those places. Warmer climate, more people, I think more jobs will exist for me with and yes it's good to think about retirement years ahead. Thanks so much for your encouraging words.
Glad you are enjoying life in Missouri.
Sounds like some good reasons for a change in scenery for certain. I dont know much about KC regarding defense work to compare with SD though.
You spoke of some negatives in SD, but didnt elaborate what makes them horrifying. Do have a plan B if SD really doesnt sound feasible?
This has been said before by myself and other posters but coming to SD with little savings and relying on unemployment is not an ideal situation. Even if there was work here in the defense industry, I would look hard at other cities that have a much lower cost of living in the south or TX (where lots of folks appear to be moving). You are really going against the grain so to speak unless you have something locked in here first and then move.
Could you use the address of whoever the locals are that you know in SD to put on your resume? Get a google voice number or a skype local number for San Diego. For locals here its no mystery that having out of state numbers and addresses doesnt do an applicant any favors.
Good luck
Hi Shmoov_grovzsd-
Thanks for relpying, I am speaking of the difficulty of finding a job and being able to pay for an apartment. I dont want to be 40's and homeless. And also the superficial end of things. I most certainly am not coming to SD to keep up with who has the nicest car or house or fake boobs.. Although that is every where, I have heard it's extra bad in SD.
I have sent my resume to a few places with my family's SD address but I still have my D.C. cell phone number. I will change that soon as I am there.I totally agree with having out of state address's and such are not a good thing.
I have about 45 days until move time and I'm looking now, so we will see, I just want to get as much information as possible. I have a brother who left SD just a few weeks ago who is 50 and was not making it but he and I are in different work fields. Looking for different things.
I have read alot about people leaving SD because of crowded conditions and bad traffic and the economy.
Again, thank you for responding..
And as far as the defense industry being here in MO, there are small branches located at Ft Leavenworth about 30 miles away from me, I had 3 interviews for clerical type jobs and the difference in what I was used to working in D.C. compared to here was tremendous. Alot smaller and unprofessional.. It would take too long to go over all of them. Not alot of opportunity on that end here.
Hi Early Retirement, I was up against degreed people in D.C. I mean it's the best of the best there.
Alot of competition yet I was able to find work that afforded me what I needed and to save for retirement. I think alot of it is what each individual is looking for. I was taking a few classes working there also.. In any big city you have to work your butt off to make it, it's just that way. I miss that, and liked that aspect of it. I moved here to KC and after working for 7 months in a dead end job, OMG I'm just ready to go. And it took me a year to get that job here. My plan B would be to move back to D.C. or Florida. San Diego is like a combo of Florida and D.C., nice weather, good jobs are there.. And more people. I know the competition is high right now for any job but I'm determined to make it, and I know I can.. I have moved to different cities -in my younger years.. with less info and just less and have made it. The lessons learned were like gold in those situations.. Thank you so much for the feedback..
I really appreciate it..
Heart...
when you say you have had defense contractor positions, what exactly do you mean...clerical/administrative? Do you have security clearances, that sort of thing. If you go to the San Diego Business Journal website, and research their Book of Lists, it does have all the names of defense contractors in San Diego.
I think you might have to start out with temp to hire kind of work, most administrative jobs (if that's what you are looking for) are set up that way now. and please keep in mind you probably won't be getting a DC salary here. More like a KC one.
SD is a very weird job market with alot of talented people here looking for employment but you sound like a very level headed person, and it sounds like you've made up your mind to come here and take your chances. Best of luck!
Yeah I'm a little confused about what you did for defense contractors. I'm a defense contractor and I've never actually applied for one of my jobs. They find me. Then they move me to where they need me. I think you are facing an uphill battle moving there and applying directly as most of the time they are prepared to find the person they need wherever they are, in this case an out of town address isnt a huge deterrent if you are the one for the job.
If you are in clerical/admin it might be a different story. I'd probably sink my money/hopes into going back to school in San Diego and applying for student loans....they can often be enough to get by without working full time,
the problem with going back to school is, say you need 3 years to get your degree, that will put you at 43, which is really pushing into scary territory as far as finding a new career, degree or no degree. Esp in SD, which is geared toward a young population.
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