Emigrate from Germany to San Diego (Carlsbad: apartments, leasing, how much)

[Levensteen]

Hi @all,


next year I would like to emigrate from Germany to San Diego. I am looking for a safe environment / neighborhood to live. The first three months I would like to live in an apartment and look for a job in the IT area. In addition, I would like to know how the IT jobs available in San Diego (computer scientist) and how much is the average income. How much is the the average of money you need to live monthly (first 3 months).

Excuse my worse english



Thanks for a serious feedback

[oddstray]

Do you have some sort of visa that will allow you to move here and then look for work?

Usually, you can't do it the way you describe. If you come here on a tourist visa, you're not allowed to work. To come here on a work visa, you would already need to have the job and the employer would need to apply to get you your work visa.

[oddstray]

TOS requires postings in English. It might be useful to the OP and others if the people who posted the German would post a translation of it.

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by oddstray

TOS requires postings in English. It might be useful to the OP and others if the people who posted the German would post a translation of it.

Nothing bad is being said.

[Levensteen]

@ LuvSouthOC ... thank you for your help :-)



@ oddstray Ok, I understand that ... here the translation
Thank you first, for yourFeedback ... and, yes I am looking for a one-room apartment in a relatively reasonable environment and, ... in any case, for the first time a car!. I have visited San Diego before but this is a while ago and at this time I did not have a greencard. I spent 6 weeks at Mission Beach. As far as the job offer is concerned, I am a Senior Systems Engineer - Infrastructure with a focus on VMWare and I got my greencard relatively late (Ü45). If I may, I would like to ask you some things, but still need some time to work out details. Maybe you know how the application looks like; Is there a way to upload my CV (indeed, etc.), so that potential employers can see (just before the move, of course) or do I do better on site?

[RosieSD]

Thanks for translating.

There's no harm in replying to ads on sites like Indeed.com, Monster.com, etc. before your move. If so, you may want to make it clear that you won't require or expect assistance with relocation costs, and also indicate the date you will be arriving here. I'd also suggest researching which companies in the San Diego area are most likely to hire Systems Engineers and then going to their websites to see if they are hiring.

You may already know this but a number of major employers here in San Diego who hire Systems Engineers are government agencies and government contractors who may require or strongly prefer that prospective employers be able to pass a U.S. government security clearance for certain jobs. This will usually be noted on job ads, but not always.

If I'm not mistaken, for certain levels of clearance, U.S. citizenship (not just a green card) is a requirement. So, that may be a factor in your job search to some extent. It may rule out certain employers and jobs.

Are you also considering other parts of the U.S. for your move? Or only San Diego?

[kettlepot]

Originally Posted by Levensteen

How much is the the average of money you need to live monthly (first 3 months).

Let me try to answer this question. It sounds like you are asking how much money you should have saved up to fund your living expenses while you job hunt.

Your situation makes this very difficult to calculate.

For example, how much for rent? Given that you would be a foreigner, without a job, many (most) apartments would not want to rent to you. Your options would be

A) do a longer term business rental like Executive Suites that specialize in that sort of thing. However, they are more expensive than your typical housing rental costs.
B) find a roommate situation. Less expensive on a monthly cost, but they might want you to pay several months up front because you are a foreigner who doesn't have a job.

Transportation - Having your own car is pretty important for job hunting in San Diego. Many places won't hire someone who doesn't have their own transportation. Plus you'll be doing interviews in many different locations which would make using public transportation difficult because you'd have to figure out all these different destinations.

The answer to your car problem would be to buy, lease, or rent a car. Renting or leasing a car by someone who is younger than 25 is difficult and expensive. Buying a car might actually be easier, but the last thing you want to is to tie up your savings in a car purchase.

If you were an American moving here, and wanted to know how much money you should have to make it 3 months while job hunting, I would say $12,000 to $15,000 if you were bringing your own car with you. It's not that you would need $4k - $5k every month, it's just there are lots of basic furnishing costs, and deposits which have to be made to get yourself going. You, however, have to resolve your transportation and housing issues as well. Those would be extra.

[Joejoey]

I wouldn't come to SD without a job contract. It's difficult to find a high skilled job without experience in the US. You also need a high level of English for that.

[L-Costa]

If legal aspect of the immigration is not an issue, San Diego-Carlsbad is not a bad place to be for an IT professional. Market is healthy and if the applicant has right skill set, it is a function of time of how many weeks will take to get a job offer. Salary - we all start somewhere, from my prospective IT salaries in San Diego are competitive with the rest of California. And you do not need to have perfect English to be a valuable developer and your German accent will not scare anybody. There are plenty other people which do not know how to code but have perfect language skills to close the gap. Good luck!

[Fran66]

Originally Posted by L-Costa

If legal aspect of the immigration is not an issue, San Diego-Carlsbad is not a bad place to be for an IT professional. Market is healthy and if the applicant has right skill set, it is a function of time of how many weeks will take to get a job offer. Salary - we all start somewhere, from my prospective IT salaries in San Diego are competitive with the rest of California. And you do not need to have perfect English to be a valuable developer and your German accent will not scare anybody. There are plenty other people which do not know how to code but have perfect language skills to close the gap. Good luck!

I agree. But just FYI: it could take 6 months to get a job. Hope OP has that monetary cushion. Another thing: The universities and colleges might not be a bad place to start looking for jobs. AND you could wind up with a lot of contacts in the field. So you wouldn't have to stay in the education system.