Stuck in Ohio- but Moving to So Cal in 6 months! ADVICE (San Diego: house, luxury)

[Clevelandgal]

Ok here's a thought. I'm sorry of I seemed negative previously, but I was being realistic. maybe come out here after graduation, presumably with money for rent for a month to month room, and living expenses for a few months. Instead of telling the OH peers you are blowing this ****stand for good, Say you worked hard in college, and want to collect your thoughts for your future and are exploring and networking a little. Then when you come it here, eat a bunch of your vegan food stuff, watch somesunsets, kiss a vegan boy, surf,aspire to be a model/engineer looking for a job HARD, but it might not happen. Well it probably wont...Not because you didn't try, but bc the economy sucks now and 22 year old(hell 40 year olds) with all kinds of ambition want to live here. There will be no reason to leave with tail between legs as long as you did not leave stink karma when you left OH implying those suckers will never see you again.
If you're smart, you won't work a waitress job (if you were lucky enough to get a decent


one)with a bachelors degree so you can live here. You'll move where you can work.Anywhere. And you may come to love that place. But you may not. You may think about San Diego (or fill in the blank). This time when you apply for jobs, some years down the road,you have experience and can actually get a job. And if you think someone over 40 is over the hill and can't possible appreciate a relocation to SD, you are mistaken...BTW, we lived 8 years in so called boring OH and LOVED it. Not going back, but it was a fun time.

[tonyinsd]

There's nothing wrong with working a low level job while you're looking for something better. It pays the bills and you don't end up somewhere that the only thing you like about the place is the job you got.

[analyze_this]

Northern California (the Bay Area) has a far far better economy than southern California. Cities like SD have become like Miami nowadays.

Of course SF is the new Manhattan.

[Clevelandgal]

tony was missing from your advice is you brought some experience to the table when you came out here. You working a transitional job after coming it is different than a new grad. Once you take a low wage job you can pigeon hole yourself. I find it impossible to belief that this young lady is better off being a model/waitress in San Diego and trying to meet guys on linkin for happy hour "networking" vs the real engineer she is capable of in St louis ( or fill in the blank of gross city) for a few years then making a move and having a real future. I am 100% sure that's a better 5 year plan to be a professional in San Diego. For gods sakes no one is saying you need to be 75 years old before you fulfill your whims, but let's be real in your 20s you can be happy most anywhere. If I followed every goofy whim I thought I need fulfilled when I was 25 I'd never be sitting at my beach house in San Diego typing this.

[blauskies]

Originally Posted by Radical347

Good grief, you don't need anything close 80k to get by solo anywhere in the Bay Area (except maybe SF city, but even then you'd probably be fine) and you especially wouldn't need anywhere near that much if you're living frugally.



Yes, this is true. But one can live very comfortably on less than 80k in San Jose or less than 48K in Youngstown.

First off I am talking for an "Engineer" and $80K after California/Bay Area taxes isn't much, if your paying the average rent in the Valley which is around $1700/month + and rising which will get you nothing fancy. Sure if your renting a dump or a room with a bunch of others it's doable if you enjoy that type of living? If you have no debt, student loans or car payments, it's a lot easier on top of it.

Also the Bay Area work ethic for engineers = a lot of hours, no work life balance, sometimes 50-60 hours a week in Start-ups is the norm, weekends and lots of stress not knowing your working for another Solyndra that may be locked up Monday morning with a photo copy sheet on taped to the door that say's "closed", a lot of people can't deal with that, they either leave or just quit.

It's not for everyone and most Engineers can make a better living elsewhere if they desire to own a home and have a much larger disposable income for other things which goes up in smoke with the high cost of living there.

[blauskies]

Originally Posted by analyze_this

Northern California (the Bay Area) has a far far better economy than southern California. Cities like SD have become like Miami nowadays.

Of course SF is the new Manhattan.

Miami is way worse, but San Diego salaries are in line with South Florida if not worse.

[analyze_this]

Originally Posted by blauskies

First off I am talking for an "Engineer" and $80K after California/Bay Area taxes isn't much, if your paying the average rent in the Valley which is around $1700/month + and rising which will get you nothing fancy. Sure if your renting a dump or a room with a bunch of others it's doable if you enjoy that type of living? If you have no debt, student loans or car payments, it's a lot easier on top of it.

Also the Bay Area work ethic for engineers = a lot of hours, no work life balance, sometimes 50-60 hours a week in Start-ups is the norm, weekends and lots of stress not knowing your working for another Solyndra that may be locked up Monday morning with a photo copy sheet on taped to the door that say's "closed", a lot of people can't deal with that, they either leave or just quit.

It's not for everyone and most Engineers can make a better living elsewhere if they desire to own a home and have a much larger disposable income for other things which goes up in smoke with the high cost of living there.

I agree...I went to school in Austin, TX but want to move back. COL and high stress can make a massive difference in your life. Far better to live in a low COL city like Austin (which is quite pretty BTW) and be able to afford a home than live a stressful life in high COL cities on the coasts. Thanks to the new american economy, these areas have become just playgrounds for the people who are born with silver spoons and dont have to work for a living. Or the really poor.

[blauskies]

Originally Posted by divagotstyle07

80k minimum? How are people surviving off of a serving job? Or even working full time at a retail store?!

Living with their parents or in a 600 sq ft apartment with 4 other people sharing 1 bathroom. Keep in mind the deductions from your paycheck, at $80K nearly 10% state income tax on top of everything else the feds take, sales taxes are very high too and going up slightly thanks to Prop 30. Fact is everything is more expensive, car registration, licenses and oh do you have a pet? They like to charge pet rent by the month, often $25/month in some places and parking for 1 car only, these are in a lot of apartment complexes.

I really suggest you do your homework, City Data is good for getting multiple opinions, but go and visit, read other sites and etc. Sure you will get those who say that $80K is more than enough, but it depends on your standards and desires in life. In my opinion it's not enough after you weigh it all out.

[jkbatca]

Originally Posted by divagotstyle07

thank you so much for your response! good to know someone went thru the same thing I'm trying to do! And I'm praying my little heart out here in cold ohio for some guidance-- the possibilities are endless, it's hard to decide what's best!

1.) would you suggest just googling different places and trying to put my resume in with the HR person? How can I find out what places are hiring other than monster.com....usually they don't say it on their website??

I'm not a guidance counselor so unfortunately I cannot help in that area too much. But if you think about it, think about an area you know and what industries are there, and what percentage of companies do Monster or Google list? Only a fraction. The trick is to find the other businesses which hire the engineering major you're in for a given area. You will have to use all you're detective work you can muster to find those other businesses in the area which are hiring engineers through any means - trade journals, news articles, trade shows, anything and correlate the industries listed there to the location you're looking for. Networking is also great. Other than that, and this especially applied in my case, a whole lot of luck of applying to the right place at the right time. Especially in today's economic climate. Sorry.

Originally Posted by divagotstyle07

2) I can definitely live frugally, and I would love to bike places too! I'm very into the outdoors, and I'm going to have to lease some sort of vehicle, so I'll keep cheap in mind for that!!
3) I'm visiting for 16 days in about a month over the holidays to check out some parts near San Diego-- I'll be staying in Chula Vista. Maybe I will be able to squeeze in another visit between graduation to see other parts, depending on if I get any interest from companies in other areas.
6) absolutely! i was using street view earlier in the week!


It definitely helps my decision thank you!

No problem! As others said, whatever you do don't limit yourself to just the San Diego area, CA is a BIG BIG state and has MANY MANY desirable areas to live. If you are like me and never seen CA before, you may not realize just how many desirable areas there are here. The bay area, for example, has LOTS of tech companies which hire engineers of all types. There are still small pockets of aerospace in SoCal which hire mechanical / electrical / whatever engineers. So whatever you do DON'T focus on just ONE SMALL area of CA as the probability of getting a good job will go way down if you do.

Just remember that (a) visit the area (interviews are best!) you intent to live in, (b) DONT move UNTIL you get a job and (c) there are many other western states which are nice also, it's your decision on where to move to.

[blauskies]

Originally Posted by analyze_this

I agree...I went to school in Austin, TX but want to move back. COL and high stress can make a massive difference in your life. Far better to live in a low COL city like Austin (which is quite pretty BTW) and be able to afford a home than live a stressful life in high COL cities on the coasts. Thanks to the new american economy, these areas have become just playgrounds for the people who are born with silver spoons and dont have to work for a living. Or the really poor.

Could not have said it better myself, you are in tune with this effect and it is very evident in California and without a doubt South Florida, both places attract these types young and old. I always wondered what all those young people were doing at Starbucks in the middle of the afternoon sitting around with their laptops and iPads while I saw a plethora of luxury cars parked out in the parking lot. I was just strolling in for a iced coffee on my lunch break and it looked like a Saturday afternoon but it wasn't.