Need an opinion on this

[PushRod]

Originally Posted by Seacove

Has the OP ever been to Washington?

I have not...yet. But I'm coming for a visit, I have moved to new area's without visiting them first but only after doing research.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by PushRod

I've planned trip to come out for 8 days in aug. and I have 2 friends that live in Kent. If I used a local address what could i do about my phone number? I have a google voice # but it's from the portland area since I couldn't locate any Washington numbers

Just get a cheap cellphone with a 206 number.

[Ira500]

I don't think the local phone number is nearly as important as having a local mailing address.
As fas a local phone number, laservoicemail.com offers free local voicemail. You can't answer the phone, but you can retrieve messages to return calls. I used them many moons ago. It's your voice that will be recorded.

[CityWok]

If there is no one you can bum an address off of, you could also consider getting a mailbox in Seattle for the local mailing address. Most likely you will have to take care of flights for the interview, but at minimum you could see if you got more attention from recruiters or not.

[Cecilia M]

Have you thought about looking for remote jobs? then you could live wherever you want.

[PushRod]

Originally Posted by Cecilia M

Have you thought about looking for remote jobs? then you could live wherever you want.

I have thought of that. Those jobs are really prevalent in some places and not so much in others, I would still rather be there so I could explorer everything that the state has to offer.

[Blondebaerde]

Originally Posted by PushRod

I have been working in the Information Technology field for aka IT for over 14 years now, I've lived in Tampa,fl for the past 5 years.

Washington still looks very attractive to me after searching around. I don't have a desire to work for any of those big names (e.g. amazon,Microsoft,adobe, etc.) I just want to join a team of good people and churn out good results. As I sit here now, I see about 25 positions that I know I am a good fit for, and I'm sure the market is super competitive everywhere there so would I be nuts to sell my house here then move out there to be exposed to the great outdoors and IT job opportunities ?

So you've been in the game awhile, and don't need to be patronized. Indeed.

I got into the game here with a job in hand, but only a couple years of experience. Way back in the day when the then-majors were hiring like there was no tomorrow. There WAS no "tomorrow," everything was the explosion of SaaS apps and fat data pipes. Early entrants sometimes won big, those who could go all-in. Most failed, though. A wild West in every sense of it. That boom ended with a...boom...but was interesting first couple years.

Those "big names" will find you if they want you. Actually talked to a few people who applied...usually a waste of time...and yet were sifted from hundreds of applicants and eventually hired. I wouldn't have believed it unless I heard it right from a couple guys. The reqs must be out there for a reason, though there is usually more going on with the hiring process than meets the eye. When you're well-positioned, they WILL find you but that is a heckuva way how not to go through life, living on someone else's largesse.

Seattle is nurturing tech startups, they want to be the next big thing based locally (depends who you ask). Pretty obviously there is a massive push for Cloud apps here in-town and I really hope we become "the" place for that, as all that 20th Century obsolete garbage on-premises stuff is gradually swept away. Good riddance to most of it, that will be niche-only and (very) old news in ten to fifteen years tops.

So who knows, really: I'm a Conservative guy in my thinking, there's that. I plan, and take only moderate risks on big plays. Depends how you roll, if you want to try and hire in remotely, and you've got the particular chops they need, think carefully about your approach vector. Smaller firms will listen, if you're the right person for their role. And they employ thousands, quite handsomely too I must say. There is money to be made, though cost of entry for a nice home in a cool part of town starts at roughly $500K. For less, you get less, at vastly greater hassle mostly in traffic problems. Think on that a bit, too.

Good luck, I couldn't be dragged from this place in my working years (peak earnings). After that, dunno: I'm waffling around year-over-year on that decision but those are musings for the "retirement" forum.

[PushRod]

Originally Posted by Blondebaerde

So you've been in the game awhile, and don't need to be patronized. Indeed.

I got into the game here with a job in hand, but only a couple years of experience. Way back in the day when the then-majors were hiring like there was no tomorrow. There WAS no "tomorrow," everything was the explosion of SaaS apps and fat data pipes. Early entrants sometimes won big, those who could go all-in. Most failed, though. A wild West in every sense of it. That boom ended with a...boom...but was interesting first couple years.

Those "big names" will find you if they want you. Actually talked to a few people who applied...usually a waste of time...and yet were sifted from hundreds of applicants and eventually hired. I wouldn't have believed it unless I heard it right from a couple guys. The reqs must be out there for a reason, though there is usually more going on with the hiring process than meets the eye. When you're well-positioned, they WILL find you but that is a heckuva way how not to go through life, living on someone else's largesse.

Seattle is nurturing tech startups, they want to be the next big thing based locally (depends who you ask). Pretty obviously there is a massive push for Cloud apps here in-town and I really hope we become "the" place for that, as all that 20th Century obsolete garbage on-premises stuff is gradually swept away. Good riddance to most of it, that will be niche-only and (very) old news in ten to fifteen years tops.

So who knows, really: I'm a Conservative guy in my thinking, there's that. I plan, and take only moderate risks on big plays. Depends how you roll, if you want to try and hire in remotely, and you've got the particular chops they need, think carefully about your approach vector. Smaller firms will listen, if you're the right person for their role. And they employ thousands, quite handsomely too I must say. There is money to be made, though cost of entry for a nice home in a cool part of town starts at roughly $500K. For less, you get less, at vastly greater hassle mostly in traffic problems. Think on that a bit, too.

Good luck, I couldn't be dragged from this place in my working years (peak earnings). After that, dunno: I'm waffling around year-over-year on that decision but those are musings for the "retirement" forum.

I remember the explosion of SaaS apps and fat data pipes but I can't imaging what it was like there . I'm sure it had a gold rush sort of feel to those who were at the right place at the right time. I still see opportunities around though.

Originally Posted by Blondebaerde

There is money to be made, though cost of entry for a nice home in a cool part of town starts at roughly $500K.

Could you list what you consider to be the cool part of town?

[Blondebaerde]

Originally Posted by PushRod

Could you list what you consider to be the cool part of town?

Sure, I'll put some boundaries around what are, in my opinion, cool places to own a home.

A home in this context does not equal a townhome or condo, note. Clearly if those latter two are options, the game changes in terms of prices. I owned a townhome more than a decade and mostly liked that lifestyle. I like a house better, but that's existential rather than a function of "need" in my particular case.

To me "cool" contains the following, echoing many of the questions and terms bandied about on this forum:

- Safe, as in no grave concerns walking down the street for safety of life and limb. Property crimes are supposedly more prevalent throughout Seattle, overall, so there's that.

- Close to the greatest business concentrations, those being downtown and eastside. However, Boeing in Renton and Everett may be most-relevant to a particular situation, note.

- School quality, if-applicable

- Tolerable commute, ties in with "close", above (may be the same thing)

- Great things to do in-town: varies by demographic.

All of that...together...comes at substantial cost. "Affordable" is the 1/x (inverse) of most the above.

If one accepts the above, there are many cool neighborhoods Eastside and directly around Seattle-proper. Too, some both north and south-end, if Boeing's your thing. I'm not going to rehash the dozen or more than fit the above, at least by popular accolade (and thus real estate prices). Zillow and other sites have average and median prices for various specific neighborhoods.