Stay in Bay Area or take job elsewhere (Oakland, Montclair: condo, house)

[Snort]

From what I gather, you can finish your thesis and get your PhD. while working for Intel, even though it's not in your favorite place.
If that's the case, take the job, finish your thesis and start putting away money for when you return to the Bay area.
I think it's good to see new vistas and have new experiences you would never get if you stayed home.
I know Phoenix well and don't like it. Lived there a couple of years. Nonetheless, there are some positives to the area and you can do a lot of mini-vacations to literally dozens of neat places in the southwest that you'd never experience if you don't go there to live.
Always choose the novel and the road less traveled.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by georgec84

Cool, thanks Derek.

I'm in mech engineering and my background suits me for the semiconductor industry. Obviously that is HUGE in the Bay Area, but even various people with whom I've interacted through research have had a bit of trouble landing jobs. I don't mean to paint an awful picture, but it's hyper competitive here.

The choice is to take the job, get experience, and try to do something else later or stay here, look at more options, and possibly risk not having any offers.

...

Well, it may be super competitive for recent grads. But once you have experience things should get a little easier in terms of landing work.

I'm just curious if have you tried applying for anything in CA yet? You say this job offer just sort of came to you.

Derek

[dmode]

My .02 on PHX is that although the Phoenix Metro area is nothing to write home about and has five months of horrendous weather, there are a lot of very cool areas around Phoenix. Grand Canyon is a 4 hr drive while Flagstaff and Sedona are 90 miles away. These places provide relief from summer as well as some breathtaking landscape. You would enjoy how the landscape changes from arid desert to lush green pine trees in Flagstaff. Arizona is also home to the biggest Indian reservation in the US - Navajo nation. And there are some incredible things to go visit there - Monument Valley, Canyon de Cheney etc. There are also some cool little mining towns. If you go to AZ / Utah border, Page has some unbelievable places including the Anteleope Canyon and the GC north rim. Also Zion and Bryce canyons are not too far off. Bottom line - although Phoenix valley is avoidable it does provide access to the gorgeous southwest which, in my opinion, is spectacular. Even if you end up taking the job, do not spend your weekends in Phoneix. Get out and see as much as you can.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by georgec84

Also, I've already been to the PHX area twice - for my interview and for the past couple of days to find an apartment. It's not bad, but it's no Bay Area. I don't know how I'd adjust unless I actually lived there.

Sorry I haven't given more details. I'm skeptical of releasing too much personal info on the web. That said, my biggest fear about taking more time for the PhD is that I won't accomplish much with the extra time and will end up in a rut. I just don't want to leave this area! I'd love to have a job outside of my field after graduating - even do something radically different. I'm willing to make less money and stay exactly where I am now, but to most people that's probably a silly, irrational choice compared to a good job, good money, and good experience. I could suck it up and do something I really want to do later on, but how many people say that then end up in the same place for 30+ years?

It would only be silly if that's what you want but don't follow it. We can all give our advice but ultimately it's up to you. I passed up a lot of chances of returning to the Bay Area over a job I had here which was rather secure. Then 2009 happened. Now I will be starting fresh in the place I love. If I had only just moved sooner. Oh well learning experience. If you really love the Bay Area and think you can still make it there, then I'm my very bias opinion, stay.

[Brendan M]

I think since you're working on your PhD, it would be better to stay in the Bay Area, since you should definitely be able to find a job there after you finish school. I also say this because I was born in San Francisco (the city proper) and used to live there, but I had to move away when I was a kid because the cost of living got so high, and I now live in Albuquerque, NM. Although I've come to like Albuquerque for some things, even after several years, I still miss San Francisco sometimes, I think it's the greatest city in the world, and I feel that eventually if I can, I would like to move back to SF, or to some other big city with lots of things to see and do, because I feel like many parts of Albuquerque are just strip mall after strip mall, just like you said about Phoenix, and that and some other aspects of ABQ make it kind of boring at times compared to SF. So I would say that if you have the option, stay, because it may be hard to move back later.

[georgec84]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

Well, it may be super competitive for recent grads. But once you have experience things should get a little easier in terms of landing work.

I'm just curious if have you tried applying for anything in CA yet? You say this job offer just sort of came to you.

Derek

No haven't really applied elsewhere because finishing sooner than December wasn't on my radar.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by georgec84

No haven't really applied elsewhere because finishing sooner than December wasn't on my radar.

Ok, well I guess you could look at it as the great experiment.

If you don't like after lets say a year, you could always start applying back in CA. If its not too bad you could probably stay a bit longer and gain valuable experience while working toward longer term goals (in terms of a target area to live).

Derek

[mayorhaggar]

For one thing it'll be easier to search for Bay Area jobs if you live here. You can look while you finish your dissertation, you'll have more free time to go to interviews than if you were working all the time.

[OakAve2OakLand]

OP I think you already know in your heart what you want to do. Yes, it may be slightly more risky to follow this path (per the "bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush" philosophy) but I would also be hard-pressed to believe that there is somehow more opportunity in your field and with your credentials in PHX than there would be in the Bay Area.

If you're coming on here to get "permission" to stay in the BA and take on the uncertainty of such a decision...please keep in mind that on you can give yourself such permission. Just reading this quote from you:

Originally Posted by georgec84

No haven't really applied elsewhere because finishing sooner than December wasn't on my radar.

...in my mind then, it's an easy decision (but that's just me). Accepting the PHX job would make more sense IMO if you had already applied for dozens of positions in the BA with no luck.

Anyway, best of luck whatever you decide...

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Just a general note. This thread is direct evidence of a bad trend. The good jobs for middle class people are leaving the Bay Area (or if new jobs are being generated elsewhere). We are increasingly left with "administrative" and Sr. Mgmt / HQ functions and at the extreme opposite end, all the servant and service jobs. I am actually a second gen tech guy and this thread really brings a tear to my eye. It is what it is, however, and I have to give my own mea culpa that I've personally moved thousands of jobs out of the Bay Area and most of them out of the state. I'm a hired hand, doing what is deemed necessary for survival.