Out of stater moving to Seattle Do's and Don'ts?

[AT-AT28]

Originally Posted by Luv2byte

Umbrellas are used only for women, in a big downpour, to walk from car to office. Rarely anything more than that. We all even walk the dogs in the rain without an umbrella. Rain happens. Rain dries.

Portland is tree huggers, nerds, hippes, executives & corp wannabes with a splash of redneck. Women wear little to no makeup, on avg, walk or run at lunch & try to decide what to do for their next "kindness" or activists activity. All love the outdoors - parks, zoo, camping, walk, hike, bike...organic is the way of life.


I grew up in Seattle, live near Portland now & work out of Portland. I like the Portland area more. Both are accepting of all lifestyles, nationalities & genders but I like the chill, relax vibe of Portland over the Seattle hustle. Also, people in Portland are a bit friendlier. Do expect to have a door held for you in each city & people willing to help if you ask for help.

.

I need a city with a lot more hussle and bussle and people who are more motivated with their careers, especially woman and the more I look into it, the more Portland just isn't for me. I'll slow down when im dead, and i'm not one for doing things in nature anymore, being born and raised in Montana will do that. The most i'll do is a day hike somewhere or walks in Seattle. Beyond that, im retiring from skiing, hiking, biking and camping when I move, i'm bored with it. On my free time, I wanna meet fellow geeks, play games with people until the wee hours of the morning and go to gaming/dress up conventions and be a total nerd surrounded by other nerds.

Also growing up with non motivated hippies all my life, i'm rather tired of being around them, I wanna be around more professional and motivated people in the work enviroment. And I'm not a beer drinker either, I love coffee and Seattle is the coffee capitol of the USA, so another reason I wanna do Seattle more then Portland, the microbrew champion of the NW.

In short, im a diehard geek yuppie if I could classify myself. However, I AM NOT a hipster and now being older, like spending money on designer clothing to stay in fashion.

[Salmonista]

Check out the Southend Gamers group on Meetup - it's a group of people who really embrace their geekiness/nerdiness.

[AT-AT28]

Originally Posted by Salmonista

Check out the Southend Gamers group on Meetup - it's a group of people who really embrace their geekiness/nerdiness.

Yeah, I did a quick search for gaming and bronys in Seattle and I was very pleased and happy to see so many groups of people I can go to and find new friends, not even including coffee gatherings, wine tasting, and other things. Man, I really hope I can find a job in Seattle soon, I so badly wanna get outa this state and start the next section of my life.

[Blondebaerde]

Way back when, I was a geek who migrated to Seattle. They were giving jobs away damn near literally. Heady times, doubled my salary on Day 1 from a science career and never looked back. If you were good, you made it. If not, you just didn't. The ultimate meritocracy, back then.

Not so these days, like the rest of the country IT is a bit...I would say "cautious." Interviews more-thoughtful, org fit, etc. Naturally they're just that much more discriminating, when you start to be skilled and "expensive" for them to have around. Seems to be a megatrend, since we (the collective We) were bit in the rear so hard back in '08 and the country has by no means "recovered" jobs wise.

That said, Fortune calls Seattle metro best in the country for IT jobs. Maybe, maybe not. They listed other metro areas, too, including Boston, SF-San Jose, and more.

Thus, maybe, from what you said: it's gonna take awhile. Good luck with that, and hope you can find work here before arriving.

I don't know if it's "easier" to travel N-S, or any direction at all. Yes, all of it sucks. To do it again, I would take mass transit much more seriously. I commuted north to eastside for 11 years, mostly via car or motorcycle, and never liked it: varied wildly from wide-open to horrifying, 1-2 hrs each way. Too many variables. Mass transit didn't quite work from where I lived: a bit far, a bit too unreliable. Trying it again, I'd live literally within 1 mile of a major hub (bus, or train) and call it good, end of story. Would have loved to ditch the car all those years. Saw some wild and unpleasant stuff out on those freeways and was involved in some of it.

Or, if you have more time than money, simply use mass transit regardless of how far you must travel or number of transfers. Dress accordingly. Cold and rain wears on a person here, believe it. Combined with darkness, it's dismal so you'd better be motivated 6 months/year to make that all work.

As for "adapting," everyone handles that differently. Depends on your personality. IT people are eccentric and that sort of behavior (typically introverted) is quasi-normal here, wouldn't worry on that too much. As for meeting people, well: birds of a feather flock together. All my pals, to the last (wo)man first few years, all worked for the company. A big tech company. Those were heady times, indeed, with money to be made and Age of Empires to be played.