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Hello everyone. This is my first post at City-Data. I'll give some background on myself quickly, then ask some questions that I need help with.
I'm a soon-to-be 22 year old. I graduate from University of Nebraska at Omaha in December with a Bachelor's degree in Business Management with a minor in Marketing. I have a job opportunity immediately after graduating in Dallas with a L-3 Communications as a Product Manager of sorts.
I have been planning on this for months, and looking forward to moving to warmer climates and new scenery. But as of late, I've been looking at other places (e.g. SoCal, Phoenix, Austin, perhaps Florida). Since I've mentally been preparing myself to say goodbye to friends and family in Omaha when I leave to Dallas, now I've realized that I have no ties anywhere. I can live anywhere! So why not choose a spot that I will want to stay for the rest of my life, that I will be truly happy with. Dallas is great, but I'm not into cowboys and cowgirls, boots, spurs, cowboy hats, hick accents, and big belt buckles.
One of the most intriguing spots is San Diego, or places around in Southern California. I know that is widely expensive, but also assume you get paid more out there to offset the higher cost of living. The questions I have are these
1) Are there any specific companies that are reputable and popular out in San Diego? (i.e. Omaha's Union Pacific, or our Kiewit Co.) I want to work for a great paying job, and I'm pretty easy going with regards to what I do within my degree's specifications.
2) What areas should I look at living? I want fun, trendy spots with similar age groups. I'm not a crazy partier, but I do enjoy a good time on the weekends. I do want to live in a place that my family, when visiting, would love to.
3)Is there anything I should know before looking at San Diego? Is there anything that would help me find jobs out there?
My advice is go to Dallas and take the guaranteed job and bank up some serious savings. I went through the EXACT same situation as you when I graduated college.
I really wanted to move to San Diego and several of my friends did. But I stuck it out in Dallas for almost 9 years and got ahead in my career, paid off student loans, built up serious savings and now I'll be moving to San Diego established.
The economy is very strong in Dallas since there are so many large companies based there. Granted, Dallas isn't San Diego and it's flat and doesn't have the natural scenery of San Diego.
However, I think you have the wrong impression when you say, "Dallas is great, but I'm not into cowboys and cowgirls, boots, spurs, cowboy hats, hick accents, and big belt buckles. ". Because unless you are living in Ft. Worth, I doubt you will se much of this at all. I lived in Dallas for almost 9 years and didn't run into this stereotypical type of thing you're mentioning.
All my close friends were transplants from other places (including many from California). You won't run into the "cowboy/big buckle, spurs, etc type thingy" unless you go out of your way to try to find it. In Dallas, there is a large corporate environment and it sounds like you don't know it too well based on these stereotypical things you mentioned.
Take the sure thing in Dallas that will pay well, IMHO.
I don't look at it as not having ties anywhere and being able to move anywhere you want. More as I look at it as furthering your career, temporary sacrifice and patience for long-term gain. It's really tough for many 20-something year olds to think longer term into the future but I think that's the best thing in this case.
Unless you have a job already lined up in San Diego that is at least the same salary after figuring the cost of living...then I'd say run to Dallas. Remember there is no state income tax in Texas.
I had at least 8 friends that moved to San Diego out of college and they had the same hopes as you did, "choosing a spot to live in for the rest of their life". Long story short.... none of them live in San Diego anymore due to the job market, cost of living, cost of homes, etc. Very few people out of college live in the first city they decide to work in the rest of their lives.
Take the guaranteed job. You will thank yourself later for it or not. There are a lot of uncertainties in life that obviously at 21 are difficult to measure or even predict. On the one hand you could care less because you are only 21 but on the other you do want to set yourself up reasonably for the future. Right now in SD, there are two demographics that I can think of that stick in my mind for any post college: its the recent graduates looking to party for another few years that have little to no career aspirations and the mid-senior professional that has a family and means to afford to life here. SD is not the friendliest for the go-getter post college grad generally speaking. Everyone else aside from that is working a blue collar job, is struggling to find work, is in the military or planning on leaving SD entirely.
Some good, sound advice is what should be taken into consideration as earlyretirement said. Take the guaranteed job and THEN take a look around. For one, there are kids like yourself that are a dime a dozen in the Universities here that are just getting out that have the same ambitions to live and work here.
If you take the job in Dallas, go in with an open mind and are accepting of the fact that you are going to be low man on the totem pole in a large corporation, then you are miles ahead of your colleagues that want it all now. Personal experience: I interview kids with EE degrees all the time and they are useless to me because they never last more than a month on the job because they dont want to tough it out and think they deserve more. The last thing you wanna have is a crappy attitude and believe stereoptypes before going into the working world from years of college. Its like some of these star college football players that fail miserably in the NFL because of said attitude.
Have you ever been to San Diego? I am just curious because there are lot of people that post here that see it on tv or hear about it through someone else about how great it is.
I appreciate the advice! I'm always surprised when I see someone take the time out of their day to reply and help an online stranger. Thank you very much.
I had the same game plan in mind, actually. It will help my resume' out at least, I obviously don't have any career work experience.
The problem I have with moving down from Omaha is the culture. Technically, I'm not moving to Dallas. I will be moving to Greenville, which is roughly 45 minutes northeast of Dallas. It's more "hick": heavy accents, slow-paced.
I'm more of a city man myself. But the area that I've scoped out for living is Rockwall, which is on the closer-to-Dallas side of Greenville. The landscape and scenery there is gorgeous. I really do enjoy it. It has a similar vibe to Phoenix, almost a Mexican decor thing going on.
I'm going to be hunting for jobs in San Diego in the meantime, just to keep my options open. What areas would a guy my age love in San Diego? Or places that I could search for possible jobs?
Thank you once again. I truly appreciate it.
-Jordan
I've never been to San Diego, I've only seen pictures. That seems a little immature, a little candle in the wind, but I'm ready for a change. I have been to Exeter, California (an hour south of Fresno); I have step-grandparents that live there. I went when I was 13, the weather was gorgeous as was the atmosphere. From what I remember, I loved it. But that was years ago, of course.
To be brutally honest, and this is probably making myself sound a tad childish, but when I see movies, they're always shot in the SoCal region. I see this beautiful, great place, sights, people (obviously that doesn't mean much), gorgeous weather. I know that I should be taking everything I see in these movies with a grain of salt, but I've always been fascinated with it.
It is hard to find really good jobs in San Diego just out of college. San Diego's only has two industries where a college graduate can build a decent career: wireless and biotech. For entry level positions, those industries are typically looking for engineering and science types with particular technical knowledge. For a business management type, they will tend to recruit people with experience. If you really want to live in San Diego, and not feel poor living here, this is what you should do:
- Get a job in any major city working in either wireless communications or biotech/medtech.
- Put your head down and do the best you can at that job for at least a couple years.
- After you've gotten at least a couple years of years of experience, start trying to find a job in San Diego in the industry segment you have chosen. Keep trying until you find one.
If you are serious about your career, you should focus on finding the best job you can anywhere in the world. Do that first, and stick with it for at least 2 to 5 years before you start making career choices based on location. All else being equal, focus on opportunities in the top 5 to 7 major metro areas in the US (assuming you want to stay in the US). There are many more jobs and better networking in these cities. Establish your career first, and then you will have a much easier time relocating elsewhere.
I think the advice people have given is good. My husband first visited SD 20 years ago (before I knew him), and always wanted to live here, but knew one needed to be sensible and have a job (he has children to support). We visited 5 years ago, and I really loved it, but dismissed the area b/c of the cost of living-it was prime bubble time. Anyway, low and behold my husband applied for a job, a good one mind you, and got it. So we waited until his career was solid and established before moving here. You are really young and have many years ahead to become more marketable. My advice to anyone coming out is not have any debt at all-not even a car payment, b/c it costs even more than expected, the pay is generally lower, and it can take a long time to find a job. I am about 6 months in and thus far I can report it is worth it, especially after that dreadful winter everyone experienced.
Ah, yeah, Greenville is much different from Dallas. Definitely you're right that there IS the "hick" factor in that neck of the woods vs. Dallas/downtown area/Plano area, etc.
But I'd stick with my advice to stick with the guaranteed job. The BEST thing you could ever do for yourself is take advantage of the power of compound interest. Start at a young age like when you're just graduating out of school and stick to the savings plan. I know it's hard to do when you're young out of college but take my word for it..... it will be the best thing you could ever do for yourself and your future family.
Get some experience under your belt in Dallas, make some money, bank some money, make some business contacts and then later if you decide you want to move to San Diego (or anywhere else for that matter) you will be in a much stronger position. Both from a professional standpoint as well as a financial standpoint.
Think worst case scenarios. What if you move to San Diego, can't find a job, don't get any experience, don't build up any savings and then you're automatically starting your career in a really bad position.
You can always move to San Diego later. Especially if you've never even been there. Also, it's one thing to see it on TV and think it's glamorous but another way to look at it is if you can't find a job, in debt or living paycheck to paycheck ...it's NOT going to be fun. And good luck trying to land a quality girlfriend with no job, no real savings, etc. You gotta think long term here, IMHO. Trust me on this.
Dallas certainly isn't a glamourous city but there are worst cities out there. Even if you will be working in Greenville, I'm sure you will find you'll be in Dallas on the weekends going out with friends. I found Dallas extremely easy to make friends in and it was a GREAT city if you're a bachelor. I loved it as a bachelor there and never had problems meeting beautiful, educated girls there. Almost none of them were from Texas. As mentioned before, there are a ton of transplants there from other areas. Great restaurants, good bars and the people are friendly and the cost of living is low there. I'd make the best of it there.
Good luck whatever you decide to do.
Last edited by earlyretirement; 05-22-2011 at 01:58 PM..
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