Asian immigrant "fleeing" from California (Seattle, Vancouver: fit in, home)

[midnight_puppy_2303]

Hello all,

My family and I moved to Southern California 6 years ago. As I was born and grew up in a small mountain town in East Asia, I don't like living here because of the crowdedness, horrible traffic, high living expenses and the lack of greenery. I guess I'm more of a tree person than a beach person per se. I've been to Seattle twice, once in summer and once in spring, and I really love it there, since people are so laid back, apparently a bit reserved, and drive much more courteously than here in Cali. Being a calm and introverted person, I feel like I will fit in better in WA.

I'm a full-time student right now and expect to graduate in 8 months with a B.S degree in Mechanical Engineering. I plan to look for jobs in WA as soon as I've graduated and move there. Now I don't know which region in WA I should start with. The two occasions I visited WA, I stayed in Burien and Mill Creek and of course I loved them both. What I'm looking for is an area with beautiful nature, good schools for my future kids (I'm 25 btw), not too high housing costs, and most importantly, jobs. I heard that Boeing is huge over there, but I'm sure many other companies offer good career opportunities for Mechanical Engineers. Also, a 30-minute-or-less drive from an Asian supermarket would be nice, since I can't live with 100% American food.

By the way, I've also heard good things about Oregon but have never been there. I wish I had more time to explore before graduation. If anyone here has lived in Oregon and could give a comparison, that would be very helpful to me.

Thank you and I appreciate every input of yours

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by midnight_puppy_2303

Hello all,

My family and I moved to Southern California 6 years ago. As I was born and grew up in a small mountain town in East Asia, I don't like living here because of the crowdedness, horrible traffic, high living expenses and the lack of greenery. I guess I'm more of a tree person than a beach person per se. I've been to Seattle twice, once in summer and once in spring, and I really love it there, since people are so laid back, apparently a bit reserved, and drive much more courteously than here in Cali. Being a calm and introverted person, I feel like I will fit in better in WA.

I'm a full-time student right now and expect to graduate in 8 months with a B.S degree in Mechanical Engineering. I plan to look for jobs in WA as soon as I've graduated and move there. Now I don't know which region in WA I should start with. The two occasions I visited WA, I stayed in Burien and Mill Creek and of course I loved them both. What I'm looking for is an area with beautiful nature, good schools for my future kids (I'm 25 btw), not too high housing costs, and most importantly, jobs. I heard that Boeing is huge over there, but I'm sure many other companies offer good career opportunities for Mechanical Engineers. Also, a 30-minute-or-less drive from an Asian supermarket would be nice, since I can't live with 100% American food.

By the way, I've also heard good things about Oregon but have never been there. I wish I had more time to explore before graduation. If anyone here has lived in Oregon and could give a comparison, that would be very helpful to me.

Thank you and I appreciate every input of yours

Definitely take a look at Oregon, lower cost of housing, you could live in Vancouver and commute to Portland.

[pnwguy2]

Washington is more than just Seattle. If you were looking for a quieter place consider other Washington locations like Longview Kelso, or Bellingham and if you want more sunshine and dry weather look into the Tri-Cities in south-central.

[87112]

I like Burien a lot, everything you need is in the South End. You can buy Asian Groceries in Kent, Rainier Beach and MLK area and South Seattle and shop till your wallet is empty at Southcenter mall. All this without going past the traffic area of Downtown. I think Burien is the best place to live in Seattle area. I think Bellevue and Kirkland have no soul, if you don't have a taco truck nearby forget it, its not livable to me.

Your other choice Mill Creek, all I think about is North End insane traffic. Burien is the best trust me.

But overall the golden rule is live near you work In Puget Sound, its not LA traffic bad but not far behind either.

Where in SoCal did you live?

[Thom52]

Mechanical Engineering pretty much limits you to the Greater Seattle area. And maybe close to Portland.

If you happen to get a job outside of these areas, and the inevitable layoff happens, you will be stranded.

Best bet for pay combined with job options is to aim for high tech and/or medical device companies.


I raised a family for 31 years with a mechanical engineering degree income in the Seattle area, before getting the inevitable getting booted to the curb with the age discrimination that is rampant in engineering. (I started my career in Silicone Valley)

I tried to get a job in Bend Oregon, with a dynamite mechanical engineering resume. On a day that you could find at least 10-20 places to apply to in the Seattle area, you might spend a month of looking to find one place to even send your resume in Bend. And the same job that would get you $120k/ year as a Senior mechanical engineer in the Seattle area, would be lucky to get $80k (or less) in Bend.

Expect the pace to be intense in High Tech though.

[thatguy950]

Traffic, COL, crowdedness, are all just as bad in Seattle as they are in SoCal, if not worse now. You're going to be better off elsewhere like SW WA if you want a change. You will probably also find jobs in Seattle are harder to get right out of school and often pay lower wages (or contractors with no benefits) than in SoCal, the job market is hyper competitive in Seattle and very saturated with talent thinking it's an economic wonderland. I can speak to these things because I live about half the year in LA and have an MS in EE and now and MBA....

You will, however, find plenty of greenery up there.

[CrazyDonkey]

Be flexible. Find a landing spot, but be prepared to move closer to work when you land a job. Boeing has facilities in Seattle (Boeing Field), Renton, Everett (Paine Field), and Bellevue (Boeing Computer Services), so wherever you live, you could end up working a ways away.

Also look at Paccar, Fluke, Esterline Technologies, Electroimpact...

Note: There is a large future need projected for marine engineers in the Puget Sound area, including Washington State Ferries (WSF), Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, and Vigor (formerly Todd) Shipyards. Seattle's Fishermens Terminal is also home to a large part of the Alaska fishing fleet. No local universities have marine engineering degree programs, but Seattle Central College has a certificate program: The Seattle Maritime Academy at Seattle Central College | Marine Engineering Technology Program at Seattle Central

[analogkid84]

Maybe consider alternative/renewable energy companies as well.

[MJ5150]

You'll find more greenery in this region, but that's about all that is different from your list of SoCal annoyances.

-Mike

[Ruth4Truth]

Agree with above poster ^^^ that Seattle is no different from what you hate about CA, except that it's green. It might work for you if you could live near where you work, to avoid the horrific commutes. Otherwise, look elsewhere in the state, or in Oregon. Also note that fall/winter tend to be gloomy and rainy, and it's dark by between 4:00 p.m. and 4:30 in winter.

Good luck in your search. Let us know when you find a place and get settled in. Let us know how you like it.