I've actually never been to scottsdale (except when I was young) but I hear that its a bit of pre-planned community hell. If you don't live in the burbs, you might hate the fakeness of it all. bridgeport-village-esque but with hot chicks.
Santa Fe all the way.... First rate place....unless you are a city boy and require all the metro stuff. Beautiful place in the mountains...RIo Grande river runs through town. Lots of history and cool places to check out.
Maybe a little bit. They're based out of Denver. But they have the consultants live at the client locations rather than fly them in every week and pay that extra expense, which isn't too unreasonable in my opinion. But it's a growing company and if I work hard there's definitely a chance in three years I could be heading up a new client location. I've never been to Scottsdale, so I don't know how I'd react to the weather or the people. But I get the sense that it may be like you said, snobbish and Bridgeport-esque. Originally I had Denver and Madison as the high points on the list. But for another job (which HP decided to not hire anyone for) I was ready to go to Boise, Idaho if required. As for Relocation $$$, I don't know, but I would bet that they will compensate me some. But I really don't have that much stuff to move. This company is going to pick up the tab on my heathcare/insurance premiums aka heathcare with no out of hand expenses. I think they'll take good care of me. And yes, it does feel good...finally.
he's an early 20s male with disposable income and wants to have a good time....is there really good nightlife in Santa Fe? I mean if he's older, more established..maybe. I just can't imagine him NOT being bored out of his ass.
I've heard good things about Santa Fe, especially the art scene and that it's beautiful. I would like to be closer to a big university, so that I could potentially work on a Master's degree, however. And Santa Fe is kind of on the small side for what I'd like. I get the sense that it's about the same size as Corvallis, and while I don't need to be a multimillion person city, I'd like there to be a couple hundred thousand people at least. Would like to find some cute girl(s). I suspect that Santa Fe may be lacking in that department. Especially since I tend to go for the blonds.
i remember my buddy got like $5k to move from Portland to Olympia (for Intel). that was in the dot-com era though. sometimes those areas like scottsdale are fun but you'll get tired of it if you're not in the party scene....going out 4-5 nights out a week, showing up to work drunk still from the night before...been there, done it...its a bit draining but fun to do while you're young. you'll get sick of eating at Bonefish grill and Cheesecake factory-type restaurants for sure. but its pretty good to have convieneit minimalls and shit. and making 70grand in your early 20s is pretty awesome, you'll have fun.
The offer is closer to $65 grand, but also with overtime pay and a lot of perks like the heathcare thing. So I figure it'll probably be $70 grand by the end of the year when things are said and done. I would also probably get tired of the heat in Scottsdale. And while I try to be a pickup artist, I don't know if that's what I really enjoy. Going out a few times a week is great, but I don't know if I need to go out every night. No, I know that I don't. But 2-3 nights a week (so a decent nightlife) would be great. I think I could probably deal with colder weather better than insanely hot weather. Hawaii would be okay though, if they come on board as a client. Denver still seems pretty legit though, and I'm sticking to my guns that Madison (especially with over 40 thousand students) would be pretty solid. Even Baton Rouge intrigues me, as I nearly did Teach For America in New Orleans (and LSU is there). What can I say, I like the college environment and the energy that it brings. I know that people who have been hired in the last six months have gone to Charleston, St. Paul, and Salt Lake City. Who knows. I'll probably accept the offer because I don't think anyone I'm currently interviewing with will be able to match it. I have to think that $65 grand is a pretty sweet offer straight out of school, especially with a degree in Business Administration.
Baton Rouge seemed depressing. only passed though while driving to Mardi Gras but it seemed kind of small time to be honest. You might be tired of the "scene" and "cliques" in the types of nightlifes in AZ...much of the same shit is in vegas...very money-centric..very superficial. the agressiveness of people in general may not click with you really. you should accept it...good to make as much cash as you possibly can right away out of college, the other shit like quality of life...deal with in a few years. its not like you're going to spend your whole life there anyways.
here are some quick shots: Montgomery, AL- Heard there are some decent industries here, but I'd hate living in the midwest. Arlington, VA- would be cool to be close to DC and metro areas. Baton Rouge, LA- hick-ish, bunch of racist southerners perhaps? dirty dirty. hurricane path. Bismarck, ND- oh god, north fucking dakota? are you kidding me? Salt Lake City, UT- i hear from a friend that its not really that mormon there, lots of mexicans and islanders. Madison, WI- don't know shit about this place. Little Rock, AR- wouldn't want to live in flyoverville Denver, CO- would probably provide the best balance and quality of life. might suck to fly through due to flying through the rockies and winter delays if you want to go to PDX for Christmas though. Atlanta, GA- i hear housing is cheap. dunno, might be too "crunk" for ya? Springfield, IL- ???? all I know is that the burbs in Illinois suck...and this is Chicago. Depressing as hell, boring as hell. St. Paul, MN- twin cities? might be good to live here. Santa Fe, NM- southwest food might rock, but that's about it. Scottsdale, AZ- hot chicks, souless. Charleston, WV- dunno anything about it. lots of cousin-fuckers here?
http://www.forbes.com/2008/07/09/ci...-forbeslife-cx_mw_0709youngprofessionals.html Based on that guide, St. Paul would be a good location to go to. As would Arlington (near D.C.), which are ranked 5th and 6th respectively. Atlanta was 17th and Denver 20th. Portland was 21. Phoenix is at 31. Salt Lake is 36. There are some places I wouldn't mind living (Pittsburgh) that I know the company won't expand to, and others (Austin, Honolulu, Columbus) that I wouldn't mind and think they would like to expand to (again, state capitals are where they end up). Of course these types of guides are probably crap, but it's interesting to look around and see what's out there.
you've mentioned hawaii a few times....while honolulu sounds ideal, you might get "island fever". one of my buddies lived there for his medical residency and was considering staying there....while I was out there I just kept on asking if he really wanted to get stuck on the island...where he'd make ok money but never really get ahead.....the thing is, you're so confined on the island after a while you crave a real city. you can only be a beach bum for so long. the pace of everythign is kind of slow...makes you not really want to be a go-getter type. I'd love to live in hawaii...as a second residence...that's about it though. and living in the midwest, at least to me, would suck...those midwest, hick cities. I'd actually love to go back and live in PDX one day though. LA isn't all that to live in...but its work right now. I don't like going out here all that much any more..i'm actually really really sick of nightlife here...usually try to go out of town (usually vegas in the summer) to party up. that's the thing, if you have some $$$, you can always travel to overcome the boredom of the weekdays. Plus, with the internet, its easy to keep up with shit you normally wouldn't be able to now.
Yeah, I joined a fraternity in college and tried to "fit in", when it really wasn't me. I was always the more introverted nerd than the cocky jock, and I regret trying to change who I am to some extent. I can get tired of the superficial stuff, cliques, pretty quickly like you mentioned. But I understand those type of people, as I have been around some guys who, if you didn't know better, were from that sort of area or scene. Very pretentious. The kind that will lease a really nice car that they can barely afford (or using parent's money) to demonstrate their wealth. Baton Rouge has nearly a half-million people, but I've never been there so I don't know how "small-time" it is. I actually think it would be a pretty interesting place to live and work for a few years. I'd prefer to not be in the south, but it is one of a few places down there (another is Austin) that I would be open to. To be honest I didn't even realize Scottsdale was a location until I posted this and someone pointed it out. Before I was looking at Madison, St. Paul, and Denver. Arlington and Baton Rouge are also good in my opinion. So when I talk with them I'll have to mention those places and see if they can try to get me there as opposed to a Charleston or Salt Lake.
My mom and her fiance are thinking about getting a place there, but they're in retirement mode and would be there in the winter, and back in Oregon in the summer. Hawaii would be good for a few years I would think though. If not now, maybe at a different point in life too. It's all speculative anyways, as they aren't a location (although there are a few clients in the Caribbean). Short term I think I'll have to go with my previously mentioned preferences.
Bismarck is an example of a place I wouldn't be thrilled about going to. I never thought about moving to Minnesota or Wisconsin before, but that may be where I end up. Or Louisiana. Weird how things work out. Most of those Midwest cities are really small also, too small for my tastes. I'd like at least 150k people where I'm going I think. That's a far minimum too.
Well I'm going to be accepting the job and roll the dice, hopefully I'll end up some place nice. I had a phone interview with another good company in Portland today, but they couldn't match the salary and benefits of this other company. It feels good to set a high precedent on my salary history with $65,000 right out of college. Now I hope I end up in a large enough location that I can watch the Blazers play a couple of times a year.
Is the salary dependent on where you end up, like cost-of-living adjusted? Because if not, that $70K salary could set you up like a king in some of those cities, whereas it wouldn't go nearly as far in big cities.
On paper, it's actually $64k but with good benefits (for example, they pay the full insurance premiums, etc.) and overtime pay for anything more than 40 hr/wk which I'm sure will happen at some point. It's not location adjusted, so the one benefit to going to a smaller location would certainly be that the money goes further. I'm going to try and purchase a house to get in on the $15k tax credit this year.
Cool. Great time to buy a house, I'd imagine. Even if you don't plan on settling down there, chances are pretty good that the value will appreciate from current levels by the time you want to pull up stakes and move.
Do you have 20% down, and are you willing to spend that now? If I were you, I would rent and horde money right now until you can find an awesome deal. At about 65k, you could probably afford a 250k-300k house or so and "keep afloat" (probably more doable on the 200k-250k houses though), but you'd need 40-60k in cash as a down payment right off the bat. factor in property taxes, interest, maintenance, HOAs, etc and home ownership is less attractive than simply writing a check every month and not worrying about it...esp. if you're unsure about the area. Last thing you'd want is having a house in an area you don't like. I would only advocate buying a house if you truly want to live in the house for a minimum of 5-6 years. Just rent for a few years, enjoy having disposible income and have a year+ worth of money in the bank for emergency.
