Job Offer - Does Anyone Know About These Cities

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BalancedMan

BalancedMan

That's out of context....
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Hey everyone, after a few months of being graduated and yet unemployed, I was recently offered a very impressive job offer as a software consultant. The trick is that I'll have to relocate to one of their client sites. That being said, some of their sites seem like cool places to live. I won't get a say in the location I am assigned, but I'm trying to work on that. So, if you have any experience with the following locations, please let me know and help me out so I can decide how to rank where I would like to be placed:

Montgomery, AL
Arlington, VA
Baton Rouge, LA
Bismarck, ND
Salt Lake City, UT
Madison, WI
Little Rock, AR
Denver, CO
Atlanta, GA
Springfield, IL
St. Paul, MN
Santa Fe, NM
Scottsdale, AZ
Charleston, WV

I think that I'd prefer Denver or Madison right now, but am open to many of locations. I'm 23 and would certainly enjoy a decent nightlife scene and will probably look to live downtown, so good public transportation (light rail, etc.) is always a plus.
 
BeerBoy said:
Scottzdale, AZ would be my #1 choice.
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Yeah, I was just looking up some information on Scottsdale and it seems pretty happening. I'm not a fan of incredibly hot weather, but I know that I'll be able to handle it, especially given the salary I'll be paid to be there. Denver seems like it would be pretty cool also, and I like that Madison has such a large student population. Right now I think I'd prefer:

Tier 1:
Scottsdale, Madison, Denver

Tier 2:
St. Paul, Baton Rouge, Arlington

Tier 3:
Everywhere else (Atlanta, Montgomery, Bismark, Little Rock, Salt Lake City, Springfield, Santa Fe, Charleston)

Anyways, I know that a lot of you guys live all over the place. ABM, for example, I know just moved from Atlanta back to PDX. So if you have any insight on what it's like to live in one of these spots (do you love it, hate it?) please let me know.

Much appreciated.
 
Doesn't the company work in any nice places?

Probably just make the newbies go where nobody else wants to.

I vote for Santa Fe, in memory of Tony Hillerman. :cheers:
 
Arlington. It's a suburb of D.C. Lots of colleges/college aged people, and suitable nightlife.

Frankly, all those cities but Denver wouldn't seem too exciting to me.
 
BalancedMan said:
Anyways, I know that a lot of you guys live all over the place. ABM, for example, I know just moved from Atlanta back to PDX. So if you have any insight on what it's like to live in one of these spots (do you love it, hate it?) please let me know....
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A young buck with money would go nutso in midtown Atlanta. Plus, there's nothing quite like the girls from the south. That is, if that's important to you. ;)

Anyway, here's a real nice city forum. A great place to post and get a feel for most, if not all, of the cities you're alluding to:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/
 
Arlington, VA and Denver, CO would be my preferences, as the most urban environments. Scottsdale I've heard is nice, so I'd probably drop it into the third slot, if it were my decision.
 
i'd goto to denver. but i loved denver when i was there.
 
True about Arlington. I have a little bit of family in the area, so that would help. And despite the economy hurting across the country, there always seems to be a plethora of opportunities in the D.C. area. I could see that working well.

For me, I'm young and like a decent night life. I think that having a large college in the area would be important...you know, for the girls certainly.
 
MARIS61 said:
Doesn't the company work in any nice places?

Probably just make the newbies go where nobody else wants to.

I vote for Santa Fe, in memory of Tony Hillerman. :cheers:
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Mostly State Capitols. So in the future that could mean additional places like Honolulu, Austin...or mighty Salem.
 
Scottsdale is by far the most appealing choice. Awesome winters but the summers are hellish. Though, the heat is dry with no humidity. The other drawback, if you're not into golf or spa's, Scottsdale is incredibly boring.

Santa Fe is a very artsy little city. High desert climate. One day it could be 70 and the next it'll snow.
 
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Scottsdale. Girls are hot as fuck and you can buy a house or a sweet condo for not too much. Quick shots to vegas or anywhere on the west coast.
 
AgentDrazenPetrovic said:
Scottsdale. Girls are hot as fuck and you can buy a house or a sweet condo for not too much. Quick shots to vegas or anywhere on the west coast.
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Yeah, I've been thinking that too. My mom was like "it's so hot there", but I think it might be pretty fun. That's why it's definitely among the top of my list I think.
 
yeah, probably gets annoying..but hot weather means pool parties and women with less clothes on. probably a bunch of roided douchebags which might get annoying too.

don't know...i'd go crazy in a po-dunk hick town..or even the east coast...they would annoy me pretty quick.

denver would be cool too.
 
AgentDrazenPetrovic said:
yeah, probably gets annoying..but hot weather means pool parties and women with less clothes on. probably a bunch of roided douchebags which might get annoying too.

don't know...i'd go crazy in a po-dunk hick town..or even the east coast...they would annoy me pretty quick.

denver would be cool too.
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Either lots of women w/ less clothes on or lots of women staying in the air conditioning :dunno: Arizona has good weather year round and is pretty cheap to live in, plus you could see your beloved Blazers play LIVE! more than any of the other towns unless you really want to go to Salt Lake w/ all the mormons & no alcohol :sigh:
 
J_Ray said:
Either lots of women w/ less clothes on or lots of women staying in the air conditioning :dunno: Arizona has good weather year round and is pretty cheap to live in, plus you could see your beloved Blazers play LIVE! more than any of the other towns unless you really want to go to Salt Lake w/ all the mormons & no alcohol :sigh:
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I'm hoping for Scottsdale or Denver at this point, although I think Madison would be about as good as it gets for a "smaller" city. I've seen all three on "best places to live" lists. Some other areas wouldn't be nearly so bad either. But then again I'd rather not be in Montana or Alabama (or Arkansas or West Virginia or Utah) unless it was necessary.


But then again, what's the price you're willing to go somewhere you don't particularly like. I'm going to be earning a package that will probably be close to $70k a year as my first job after getting my undergraduate degree. It's over $20k more than other jobs I'm currently looking at.

Feels good to have an offer on the table.
 
If you live in a little shithole, at least you'll be making decent coin....you'll be able to travel on the weekends if there's a decent airport nearby. congrats on the job offer, hopefully everything works out for the best. I'd imagine that you'd probably do some travelling with a job like this anyways, for training and what not.
 
some of the cities I probably couldn't stand to live in though unless there was some upward mobility and a chance within two years to transfer to another city. but in this economy, getting a job and experience is pretty important.
 
Some day I'd like to get a winter place in Scottsdale. If you haven't been there the city does have a rep of uptight people/snobs. Thus the nickname: Snobbsdale. But that shit doesn't bother me. Oh, the black widows and bark scorpions that are common in that region are also something to take note of as well.
 
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.
 
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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.
 
AgentDrazenPetrovic said:
If you live in a little shithole, at least you'll be making decent coin....you'll be able to travel on the weekends if there's a decent airport nearby. congrats on the job offer, hopefully everything works out for the best. I'd imagine that you'd probably do some travelling with a job like this anyways, for training and what not.
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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.
 
ucatchtrout said:
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.
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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.
 
BalancedMan said:
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.
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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.
 
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AgentDrazenPetrovic said:
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.
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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?
 
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