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IT Career / Relocation Decisions
devoir
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm new to these forums, although I've been looking in every now and again over the last two, three years, so I apologise in advance if I have missed a rule or quirk of this particular community that I accidentally violate while I acclimatise.
There is a TLDR version and a short version. I'll do the short version first, and then the long version if you want to look for details relevant to what you have to say in reply. I do apologise about the amount of content in the long version, but I figure if I'm going to ask people I don't know for advice I might as well give them as much relevant information as I can think of.
Short version:
- 21 years old, self-sufficient, renting
- Live in rural Australia
- No degree or formal qualifications, but significant work to both of those
- Two years of industry experience, 6 months as ISP helpdesk, 18 months doing outsourced comprehensive IT support
- Experience in programming (HTML, Java/Script, VB, C/C++, perl), servers (Win2k/3, FreeBSD, Linux), desktop hardware/software (Windows 3.1+, Redhat-type flavours of Linux)
- People/communication skills, upfront, hard worker provided challenge is there
Decision:
I have my eye on working and living in America. Australia and the US have an agreement which means that people with relevant industry qualifications or a degree get access to a special Visa ( http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/us/e3_visa.html ) which would be helpful to me.
I'm not entirely sure what I should do, aside from look at completing my industry qualifications. I have a vague idea, obviously, I need to find a job, etc. Further thoughts in the long version.
LOL TLDR Version:
Me:
I will be 21 years old in a few weeks. I live in a rural centre in Victoria, Australia. I have no responsibilities to anyone, live alone and am in good physical condition. I have no debts, own basically everything a single guy needs, and I rent.
I'm fairly forthright, like to consider my options, can be blunt at times, but have no problems dealing with people. I like to get the job done, and well, but once that's done I'll muck about like any well-adjusted twenty year old.
I don't drink, smoke, do mind altering substances (pity me!) or do any other 'mortally dangerous' activities.
I have no relationships to tie me down, aside from friendships, all with people at work.
Qualifications:
I have essentially 2 years of a 3 year general IT degree down (majoring in programming / technical rather than business side of things), but I left that a few years ago because I was sick of the local university, the lack of relevant course material and there were some issues at home.
I have completed all the course work, aside from exams, under instructor guidance for the MCSAdmin. I have been involved in IT as a hobby/self-learning experience since 1997-1998, doing the whole building PC thing, home networking before I finished high school.
My best marks at university were in the programming courses. I learn Java, but I have passing familarity with C/C++ syntax/structure, VB, HTML/Javascript, Perl, etc. Operate in 99% Windows environments, but I have experience with Unix/Linux systems.
I learn quickly, adapt to changing situations and operate best under pressure. In fact, I find it hardest to work when there is little to no urgency to what I have in front of me.
Employment:
I work in what is essentially a contract IT support company for local businesses. We are fairly small fry, less than 5 technicians kind of deal, providing what I'd categorise as outsourced systems admin work. Servers, networks, small project management, workstation fixups (but we try to stay away from those). We sell equipment, but we are trying to stay away from the whole 'computer shop' business of selling and servicing one-time desktop sales.
Decision:
After some time off from work and evaluating my life and contained accomplishments, I decided I wanted to challenge myself. I've started to get too comfortable where I am, and I don't want to get to the age of 30 and suddenly bitch at myself for not taking chances or seeing the world when I had no relationship, no debt, and the energy to do anything.
I've always wanted to go to the United States, despite all the badness that people talk about endlessly regarding Bush, crime, etc. Even if I don't stay, I reckon it'll be an awesome line item on my resume, and just a good life experience. San Francisco appeals to me, being in a temperate area, high Chinese population (I'm of Chinese extraction), some cool sounding culture and being fairly techie-centric. However, I do not have my heart set 100% on San Francisco, as I know the best thing one can be in these situations is flexible.
Longterm, if things work out, I'd like to have dual citizenship, but that's getting ahead of myself.
I'm not entirely sure how I should go about it. I'm having difficulties setting a list of goals to help myself work towards this endgame of living and working in the States. The biggest issue I'm having is what to focus on in terms of employment. I like what I currently do in the sense that it has the potential to keep me challenged constantly, dealing with new issues and new clients on a daily basis.
I don't know whether to try and network myself heavily, or just throw my resume continually at job postings on job websites.
I don't know whether to try and focus on programming maybe, as I've definitely got the interest, aptitude and skillset for doing stuff like AMP.
In short, I'm at a crossroads at my life and I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed by the possibilities and choices. At my age, I don't have a whole lot of life experience, but I feel if I back away from this at any stage, I may miss out on opportunities that could redefine my life. That is something I do not want to miss.
In conclusion, I want to work hard, be rewarded for it and experience something outside of my comfort zone, in the United States.
Thanks for reading.
There is a TLDR version and a short version. I'll do the short version first, and then the long version if you want to look for details relevant to what you have to say in reply. I do apologise about the amount of content in the long version, but I figure if I'm going to ask people I don't know for advice I might as well give them as much relevant information as I can think of.
Short version:
- 21 years old, self-sufficient, renting
- Live in rural Australia
- No degree or formal qualifications, but significant work to both of those
- Two years of industry experience, 6 months as ISP helpdesk, 18 months doing outsourced comprehensive IT support
- Experience in programming (HTML, Java/Script, VB, C/C++, perl), servers (Win2k/3, FreeBSD, Linux), desktop hardware/software (Windows 3.1+, Redhat-type flavours of Linux)
- People/communication skills, upfront, hard worker provided challenge is there
Decision:
I have my eye on working and living in America. Australia and the US have an agreement which means that people with relevant industry qualifications or a degree get access to a special Visa ( http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/us/e3_visa.html ) which would be helpful to me.
I'm not entirely sure what I should do, aside from look at completing my industry qualifications. I have a vague idea, obviously, I need to find a job, etc. Further thoughts in the long version.
LOL TLDR Version:
Me:
I will be 21 years old in a few weeks. I live in a rural centre in Victoria, Australia. I have no responsibilities to anyone, live alone and am in good physical condition. I have no debts, own basically everything a single guy needs, and I rent.
I'm fairly forthright, like to consider my options, can be blunt at times, but have no problems dealing with people. I like to get the job done, and well, but once that's done I'll muck about like any well-adjusted twenty year old.
I don't drink, smoke, do mind altering substances (pity me!) or do any other 'mortally dangerous' activities.
I have no relationships to tie me down, aside from friendships, all with people at work.
Qualifications:
I have essentially 2 years of a 3 year general IT degree down (majoring in programming / technical rather than business side of things), but I left that a few years ago because I was sick of the local university, the lack of relevant course material and there were some issues at home.
I have completed all the course work, aside from exams, under instructor guidance for the MCSAdmin. I have been involved in IT as a hobby/self-learning experience since 1997-1998, doing the whole building PC thing, home networking before I finished high school.
My best marks at university were in the programming courses. I learn Java, but I have passing familarity with C/C++ syntax/structure, VB, HTML/Javascript, Perl, etc. Operate in 99% Windows environments, but I have experience with Unix/Linux systems.
I learn quickly, adapt to changing situations and operate best under pressure. In fact, I find it hardest to work when there is little to no urgency to what I have in front of me.
Employment:
I work in what is essentially a contract IT support company for local businesses. We are fairly small fry, less than 5 technicians kind of deal, providing what I'd categorise as outsourced systems admin work. Servers, networks, small project management, workstation fixups (but we try to stay away from those). We sell equipment, but we are trying to stay away from the whole 'computer shop' business of selling and servicing one-time desktop sales.
Decision:
After some time off from work and evaluating my life and contained accomplishments, I decided I wanted to challenge myself. I've started to get too comfortable where I am, and I don't want to get to the age of 30 and suddenly bitch at myself for not taking chances or seeing the world when I had no relationship, no debt, and the energy to do anything.
I've always wanted to go to the United States, despite all the badness that people talk about endlessly regarding Bush, crime, etc. Even if I don't stay, I reckon it'll be an awesome line item on my resume, and just a good life experience. San Francisco appeals to me, being in a temperate area, high Chinese population (I'm of Chinese extraction), some cool sounding culture and being fairly techie-centric. However, I do not have my heart set 100% on San Francisco, as I know the best thing one can be in these situations is flexible.
Longterm, if things work out, I'd like to have dual citizenship, but that's getting ahead of myself.
I'm not entirely sure how I should go about it. I'm having difficulties setting a list of goals to help myself work towards this endgame of living and working in the States. The biggest issue I'm having is what to focus on in terms of employment. I like what I currently do in the sense that it has the potential to keep me challenged constantly, dealing with new issues and new clients on a daily basis.
I don't know whether to try and network myself heavily, or just throw my resume continually at job postings on job websites.
I don't know whether to try and focus on programming maybe, as I've definitely got the interest, aptitude and skillset for doing stuff like AMP.
In short, I'm at a crossroads at my life and I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed by the possibilities and choices. At my age, I don't have a whole lot of life experience, but I feel if I back away from this at any stage, I may miss out on opportunities that could redefine my life. That is something I do not want to miss.
In conclusion, I want to work hard, be rewarded for it and experience something outside of my comfort zone, in the United States.
Thanks for reading.
devoir on
0
Posts
As for whether or not to come to San Francisco, it's a really nice place but competition for tech jobs is very, very high. You'll have a much easier time finding a tech job in a growing city like Phoenix or Austin, and the cost of living will be much lower. San Francisco is not a good place to try to establish yourself.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
So Texas is an up and coming tech state? Something I didn't consider.
I am looking at finishing the degree, however the E3 Visa allows for equivalent industry recognised qualifications, so I'm guessing if I follow the MS certification path to its logical medium level step (MCSE), that would qualify.
Thanks again for your thoughts. If anyone else has any opinions, please feel free, I really have no access to anyone around here who has any kind of similar ambitions so it's hard to know what is viable and what is not.
As to your question about how to really start looking, hit up the job boards as has been mentioned, dice.com and monster.com are usually the best. Get your resume in for anything that interests you. You'll probably need a pretty nice cover letter/intro e-mail to go with it as they'd almost certainly prefer to hire someone already in the area and at least in the country. After you submit your resume you should e-mail (or call if you want to pay the bill) the recruiter directly if they provided their contact info on the job listing. They're always far more helpful when you contact them directly rather than just being one of the thousands of people sending your resume for the job through monster.
I don't want to push the generosity, but could I have a few names of cities, maybe a few words on what they're like in terms of living conditions? I'm not dreadfully picky, but I essentially don't want to trade one small place with minor prospects for another one of the same, albeit in another country.
Thanks a lot. This helps in particular because I've never formally interviewed for a full-time position. I got my current job through essentially networking and being demonstrably well qualified for the job through prior contact.
I should say to anyone reading, if there's anything at all you think might help, no matter how blatantly obvious it is to you, please go on ahead.
If you're looking for a bigger place, the above mentioned cities and surrounding areas are of course good choices. Got a friend in Nebraska, although I can't remember the city or nearest major city for the life of me.
There are advantages and disadvantages to going through the recruiters you'll find on dice and monster. Most of these are through contracting firms who are either handling HR for a small company or doing contract and contract to hire for bigger companies. The nice thing about this is they can usually prepare you at least a little bit for the actual interview. The downside is that many of them are little better than used car salesmen as actual people and frequently know fuck all about IT, which can make it hard to find one who actually recognizes what you are capable of and will submit you for those jobs rather than just trying to stick you in some shitty support job as it appears you've got little to no professional programming experience and no 4+ year degree.
It probably was either Omaha or Lincoln.
What specifically are you looking for? Do you want to live in an urban city center, or more of a suburban or commercial area? Warmer or colder climate? (you mentioned mild, which I think NC does quite well) Culture? Laid back or fast-paced? Lots of museums and opera houses, or lots of movie theaters and video arcades?
"The Triangle" refers to the cities of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill in North Carolina. There is a fair amount of tech companies. Chapel Hill is the smallest of the three, and is home to UNC-Chapel Hill, where I went to school.
I live near Atlanta, GA now. I'm pretty happy with the area here, but I live outside of town where the cost of living is not so expensive, and I work within a mile or two of where I live. If you get a job downtown you will probably have to deal with obscene traffic or obscene housing costs.
I also liked Seattle, WA a lot. I only lived there during the summer though, and I have heard that the winters may not be so nice. But there's a nice university district I think, and there's lots of mountains close by to hike around on if you like that.
www.computerjobs.com is fairly popular in the Atlanta area, but maybe not so much in the rest of the country.
It's a little bit of a geographical-mindset change, I think. I'm so used to a single state having a single city worth living/working in.
I won't be moving and then applying for a job, so I won't be waiting tables or doing level one support. I don't think I have a disproportionate view of my abilities; I'm confident in my Windows server stuff and deal with a lot of associated tech/software/hardware considerations on a day-to-day basis so my knowledge isn't confined to what you'd pull out of an MS manual.
I'm looking for a city which has a high density CBD (central business district) where I can have access to a large field of opportunities in my chosen career path. I also want that city to have a decent sprawl to it, so not everything (food, stores, living, entertainment) is focused down on one point. It has to be viable from a travel/lifestyle/hassle point of view to live in the suburbs and still have access to all the good things that the city has to offer. I'd like it to be somewhat green so I don't see bare concrete and glass as far as the eye can see.
In terms of pacing, I'm guessing nothing as full on as what New York seems to be, but I don't have a lot of experience in that regard of a city's 'speed'.
As stupid as it sounds, I'd like a blend of the 'classical' culture and the things that make modern cities modern. I'm not a video arcade junkie, but stuff like IMAX, good malls/shopping centres would go hand in hand with some decent museums and places to learn for bulking up my qualifications.
I'd much prefer cold if I had to have it, but not all year round. A mild, temperate climate is ideal.
Yep, well aware of that. I only really mentioned the coding stuff in relation to if systems administrator/consulting-type work was not really in high demand in the States. But thanks, it reinforces what I knew and reassures me I have some idea of what I'm planning.
I'm a big public transport fan to avoid dealing with city traffic. A city where it is viable to work in a suburb (as in outside of the core CBD) would be nice, but primarily from an options point of view. As I've said before, I'm flexible and my main goal out of all of this is to experience new things, so I'm more than willing to push my comfort zone to see what really suits me.
Seattle isn't tapped out for work like most people indicate New York/San Francisco to be? What with Apple, Microsoft, I was under the impression it attracted so many techies that it's more difficult to get into the market there than it is in SF.
Lastly just like to emphasise that I will be getting a job first, then moving. While the comments about particular cities gives me an indication of the difficulty in getting the job initially will be, what do those people think about the worth of that approach? From talking to people and reading up on the internet, SF does seem to fit what I want out of a city.
Not that I'm discounting these other areas, I just don't want to be discouraged early on if the timeline I'm looking at affords me the luxury of being patient.
You probably wont make as much, I'll be honest with you, although our dollar is definately getting strnger lately. But the lifestyle? Can't beat it. Smooth, comfortable, relaxed, warless, virtually gunless and a strong promoter of a totalitarian free diet. Van especially has an immense flexibility in its businesses, you can get as crisp as you want or as laid back as you can handle. By far one of the nicest cities I have ever been in, and I've lived in nearly every state and 16 different countries.
That's something I had never considered and you make it sound like a really nice option. Really makes sense from the Commonwealth point of view. If you have any other comments on Vancouver, I'd love to hear them.
Hmm. Sort of depends on how many times you want to move. If you'd like to move once, try it out, and keep going home as option but plan to stay if you like it, then I would try to find a place that matches where you love now, but in a different location. One of the reasons Canada has a virtual exchange program going on with Austrailia is because at least on surface terms the two countries are very similar in setup and culture. We (as countries) both have a parliament, tend to have the same relaxed political veiws, enjoy cultural fusions while embracing multi-cultural identities and have very similar laws. It's very easy to adapt while still maintaining your roots - there's very little pressure to 'be Canadian', we'd prefer it if you came to hang out with us, enjoying the best of our stuff while bringing a taste of the best of your stuff with you.
Wherever you decide to go, check to see if you have friends there already (who enjoy where they live!) to see if they have any recommendations. If that just isn't about to happen, then I would apply for a student visa and take six months at whatever educational institution to make new friends and up your networking contact list. If you work for a company supporting the move, you'll have a work environment that can accomplish the same sort of results. Giving yourself time to adjust before commiting to anything seriously long term is key in making sound judgements in regards to one's future.
For some people, moving is very stressful and nearly traumatic, causing a great deal of fear. I've been moving around my whole life and don't feel this as much as others, but I've watched other people become overly cautious and hesitant at the last minute, afraid that once they leave homebase they won't be able to land in a decent position, or be able to make new freinds, etc. I've seen lots of moves fizzle out because of this fear. I would guard against it. It's an adventure; I've never had a move result in anything less than me learning more about human nature and becoming more intimate with myself and the workings of the world.
Make a rough plan, but consider it a sketch, and label that sketch 'Plan A'. About three months into the experience, you're going to have a far broader understanding of where you are and the new country you're in. This is going to highlight areas of improvement in The Plan, and even bring forward possibilities you've never considered. Things are far more stressful if you become tied to an idea of how things should be working out. Remember that as detailed as your plan may be, it is the small details in life that have the most impact as an overall theme,and of these small details you are, for all intents and purposes, quite ignorant. Letting go of The Plan is as crucial as developing one.
Shop around. If you want to go to a school, check out a couple, when deciding where to live, check out a few. Ask about the neighborhood, good places to eat, shop etc. It's pretty easy to get screwed in your first few months because you find something nice you can afford with no idea that there may be something better for less. Because the 'fallback' position is often quite difficult to reach (as in say, going home again) it is important to proceed with caution for the first while to minimize those first losses which will inevitably occur.
Lastly, get a box reasonable in size (couple square feet) and dedicate it to the useless junk you have in your room, house and neighborhood. Ask each of your friends if you can have something of theirs (preferably suited to display) to take with you. You probably wouldn't consider a tenth of the crap you have lying around important, but I'll tell you what, a few years from now when everything is hazy you'll be aching for some stuff -useless mundane stuff - that reminds you of home. Creating a memory box like this is a great way to 'keep in touch' with your old freinds. After moving, you will most likely get so involved with creating a new life for yourself you won't even think about old freinds etc, and you'll find yourself willing to let a lot of those long distance relationships go - they won't seem as important as making your new identity.
Old relationships help form who we are now though, and there are certain points after each move (every other year or so) when you will stop and consider your new knowledge. When deciding what changes to keep and what changes have not been so wise, a memory box can help bring back the themes that were important once upon a time, and the people that were important to us. Ensuring that the new understanding is grafted carefully on to the old, instead of just replacing it, helps bring additional value to the new experiences and retains the worth of your learnings up to this point. The idea behind any move should be to continue on with the growth experience as a person, not merely starting from scratch in a new place. It sounds simple, but it is a hard, very natural tendancy for people to overcome after they have been culturally transplanted.