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Moving to WA
JW_III
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
After a series of regrettable events, I’ve determined to make a major change, and I find myself in need of help and advice.
Currently I live in California’s Central Valley, which has some of the worst air pollution in the country, and is also the most unappealing stretch of land I’ve ever lived on. But, money was tight and here I am. The locals here will tell you that it’s “just 2 hours from everywhere and anything” like it’s a good thing. When I first moved here I asked someone, “What’s that awful smell?” only to be asked, “What smell?”
I work as the Supervisor in a contract position, and over the last year my responsibilities have slowly been stripped as the contracted workers are being phased out and replaced due to the budget sequester. I heard through the grapevine from a company that bid on the contract that my position will terminate in December, and I’m losing my last employee this month. The workspace environment has also become completely toxic. And, for a lot of reasons, many of my personal relationships have regrettably deteriorated.
After attending PAX Prime in 2012 (and again this year) and seeing Seattle, how could I not want to live in a place with trees and green grass? And I completely fell in love with the city. So Seattle is the goal, even the surrounding areas, and I apparently have several months to save for a move and find a new job. It feels like a shot in the dark, but any advice on the job market, where and where not to live, would be greatly appreciated. For myself, and with the clock ticking, I’m also looking into other more immediate options. But I’ve got to get out of here.
And thanks for your time.
Currently I live in California’s Central Valley, which has some of the worst air pollution in the country, and is also the most unappealing stretch of land I’ve ever lived on. But, money was tight and here I am. The locals here will tell you that it’s “just 2 hours from everywhere and anything” like it’s a good thing. When I first moved here I asked someone, “What’s that awful smell?” only to be asked, “What smell?”
I work as the Supervisor in a contract position, and over the last year my responsibilities have slowly been stripped as the contracted workers are being phased out and replaced due to the budget sequester. I heard through the grapevine from a company that bid on the contract that my position will terminate in December, and I’m losing my last employee this month. The workspace environment has also become completely toxic. And, for a lot of reasons, many of my personal relationships have regrettably deteriorated.
After attending PAX Prime in 2012 (and again this year) and seeing Seattle, how could I not want to live in a place with trees and green grass? And I completely fell in love with the city. So Seattle is the goal, even the surrounding areas, and I apparently have several months to save for a move and find a new job. It feels like a shot in the dark, but any advice on the job market, where and where not to live, would be greatly appreciated. For myself, and with the clock ticking, I’m also looking into other more immediate options. But I’ve got to get out of here.
And thanks for your time.
Average height. Messy hair.
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Both Portland and Seattle have decent tech job markets, but I would say in other areas they are struggling just like every other American city.
As far as a place to live, the PNW is pretty rockin'. I know we have a ton of people spread out between Portland and Seattle, and I don't think you'll find many of us who don't love it. You still deal with big city crap (traffic, homeless people, funky smells, masses of people), but in both cases you're 15-30 minutes from clean air, clear water and the great outdoors. The people up here tend to have more of an eye on the environment in general, and both places are pretty progressive in their politics. There are four distinct seasons (which you'll either love or hate, I love it), and the talk of rain is real...the PNW is basically a giant temperate rain forest (in fact, we have a REAL rainforest in Washington, the Olympic National Forest), so rain is a thing. It's what I call "livable rain" though. It rarely poors so hard that you can't just go about your daily life. You will get A LOT less sun than you're used to in California though, so that's something to keep in mind.
Overall I really love living in the PNW. If you have more specific questions about the general area, let me know. I'm sure someone with more specific Seattle knowledge will wander along soon.
To clarify on my job, I work at a military installation, and the responsibilities are all over the map (no pun intended). I coordinate and oversee the transition of members separating/retiring from deployed (out to sea) commands, transferring for medical purposes (injury/PTSD/terminal illness) and coordinating their medical care, arranging flight and transportation for members transferring into deployed commands, and checking/verifying they're receiving proper pay entitlements. It mostly involves a lot of coordinating with multiple specialized departments, paperwork and records keeping, and communicating with deployed commands and coordinating with their movement.
I’ve had a difficult time describing what I do in the “civilian world” other than the generalized administrative work. I’ve never been active duty, and before this I’ve stocked shelves, worked as a bartender, a communications agent, a waiter, a medical records clerk, and a landscaper (and I'm probably forgetting a few more). I went to school for music, but ended up in the hospital and never finished my degree. But at 29 years and declining opportunities, I’m honestly ok with a pay cut and entry level again (as long as it pays cost of living). I’ve been looking at getting back into creative projects I’ve abandoned for time and work, writing and music. But I appreciate the honesty that the market’s struggling, and I’m not qualified through school or professional experience for tech jobs.
A lot less sun sounds nice. Weeks in 100+ degree dry weather in the summer and months without rain kills me.
Edit: Fixed spelling.
I think Gnome gave you a really solid description. My two big issues (having lived in both California and Washington) were it feeling like it was dark 10 months of the year and the congestion. There's just so many fucking people here. From the sky it just looks like a pine forest, but when you get down on the 5 you realize you might as well be in West Covina.
It's also serious for people who have seasonal depression.
Other than the weather i love it here, but the weather is not something to take lightly. If you like to camp, ride motorcycles, shoot, hike, etc you have like 4 dry sunny months to do it and thats IT.
It's a beautiful place if you can hack it, but it can kill you if you're not a good fit. Not even hyperbole.
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
And I appreciate all the warnings about the weather. I’ve moved around quite a bit growing up (military family), I’m comfortable in colder climates and in the Central Valley I avoid summer activities due to the intense heat. Right now it’s 90 degrees F, highs for the next week all around 104. In September.
If you've got experience in the armed services I'd look for jobs in and around Lewis-McChord as others have said. I'd place the areas around the base about 1-2 hours out depending on where you're living out there. It's not terrible getting to the city but the "base traffic" along I-5 makes me want to scream sometimes. Don't let that scare you away because the housing down there is more reasonable than the city. But if you want to spend some fair time in Seattle or Redmond, then you'll want to look at areas between South Seattle and Tacoma. Olympia's a cute little city but I wouldn't want to make a commute to Seattle unless it's at a lull in traffic.
And the weather thing is for realz. Seriously. I moved here from Detroit and I get depressed because of it. I manager, but it does get to you. Hence all the bars and coffee shops.
Also, Seattle's a sleepy town. Most things shut down between 8PM - 10PM and we don't have a spectacular night life, at least not like New York, LA or Chicago. Lots of folks turn in early so they can be up at 3 AM to make it to the outdoors by sunrise, get their nature on and be back home by the afternoon.
Rents are high in the city but if you find something in the burbs it's manageable. The trade off is not having the ease of getting back and forth from your neighborhood. I live in Ballard and absolutely love it. I've been here going on 7 years, never moving outside of an area outside of about 12 square blocks because it's just so damn convenient here. Work is a 10 minute drive away, 20 minutes by bus, and 30-60 if I ride my bike depending on bridge traffic and how much of a workout I want.
Ugh, I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's seriously a great place to live. At this point the only other places I'd remotely consider living would be the Bay Area, Portland and Chicago. Plus, with global warming, Seattle will be like North Cali in about 50 years.
The rain there is different from some other places. It slides down gently and caresses you instead of trying to pelt you to death or drown you. I usually didn't bother with an umbrella unless I was going to be walking for more than a block. I also had plenty of sunshine in the Portland suburbs on the edge of the mountains. It was delightful being two minutes from corn and llamas, 20 minutes from downtown Portland and less than an hour from Mt. Hood which I could see from my windows.
Owning and driving cars in WA is more expensive than in OR but when I lived there, there was no sales tax in OR and OR residents didn't have to pay sales tax in WA if you got that little paper, the name of which I can't recall. Property taxes were higher in OR, so the government will screw you out of your hard earned money one way or another.
Salaries are low so if you want a good lifestyle, I would suggest getting creative and doing something better than just being an employee. If I remember correctly--it's been years--I was making about $15/hr doing something similar to what I had done in NYC for $50-60/hr. and that was unacceptable.
Generally speaking, the people are friendly and helpful and much more polite than in many places, especially CA and NY. It's easy to make acquaintances but not so easy to become friends with the locals. My experience was that they tend to try to tell you what they think you want to hear rather than the real truth under the guise of politeness, so that took some getting used to.
Overall, given the right circumstances, I would move back there in a heartbeat--but to the foothills on the east side of the Willamette River, not to the cities. BTW, Seattle is usually about 10 degrees colder and more rainy than the Portland area. That works for the summer but not so much for the winter. Seattle burbs tend to get snowed in a lot more than the Portland burbs so be prepared to have everything you need to stay at home for a couple of weeks at a time, just in case. Also, be prepared for the earthquakes, which I'm sure you're familiar with.
I would suggest watching the local TV stations in OR and WA to get a feel for the place. Good luck.
I'm still looking at different areas across the PNW. Cecily, you brought up owning cars, what is the public transportation like for the cities in particular? I'm pretty attached to my car, it's been paid off for a year, and when I relied on public transportation in Los Angeles I was pretty much late everywhere if I didn't want to otherwise be exceedingly early. Though I can definitely relate to having to pay for public parking at every outing being a nightmare on my wallet.
Also, if anyone has jobs leads, I'm all ears, though I wouldn't want anyone going out of the way doing legwork I'm already going at. I'll return the favor if you ever move to the Central Valley (also don't move there).
Sorry, I don't know much about parking prices either. I lived in a nice suburb of Portland and parked in my driveway, mostly. I think parking at the Coliseum was spendy but they have great shows there so it's worth it. Downtown has the usual parking meters. The police were very "conscientious" about making sure you're doing everything right with the traffic and your car and tickets are expensive. It seemed to me that there was a traffic cop on every corner and three on every corner for the last few days of the month. If your vehicle inspection sticker is out of date by a day, expect to get a ticket. It's pretty easy to get around the metro area since it's a small town compared to LA. Seattle, not so much.
Rents are reasonable in Portland but higher in Seattle. I had a lovely little 1200 sq.ft. house in a white picket fence neighborhood for $550. Most houses in the PNW do not have central air/heating because they don't need them. There's a LOT of fog which took a while for me to get used to. In fact, the PNW is also called the Fog Belt, and it makes for dangerous driving.
You can probably contact the Portland and Seattle Chambers of Commerce for lots of info, including bus schedules and routes. In Portland, I recall a couple of places where there were drive and ride lots to park your car that you drove from home and take the bus to your final destination.
Congrats on getting out of commiefornia.
@JW_III the vehicle thing depends entirely on where you're living and working. If you live near downtown in either Portland or Seattle, the public transportation is pretty great. And again, the further out you live, the less convenient and timely it is. If you're hoping to work at JBLM you'll need a car, regardless where you happen to be living because it's definitely not close to any city center. Parking downtown in either city is on a street by street basis, there are tons of garages but street parking isn't too terribly expensive. I had a parking spot at my apartment in Seattle, but I street park at my place in Portland.
Apartment costs are similar, I paid $1300 for a 750 sqft 2b/1ba in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, and I pay $1425 for a 1200 sqft 2b/1ba in the Buckman/Sunnyside neighborhood of Portland, but the housing demand in Portland is much greater (it may take you a while to find a place that isn't immediately snatched up). I found Padmapper to be really helpful.
Stock up on Vitamin D, buy a sun lamp, a good raincoat and a pair of Gortex boots and you'll be set.
Streaming 8PST on weeknights
Not a big Italian population in either place, so that part is unsurprising.
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
At the moment I'm reaching out to semi-personal contacts (apparently I have a cousin in the area), and trying to get my ducks lined up. And apparently I need to google "gortex boots".
Now, if you'd like to travel by bike or walking, that's very easy to do in both cities.
But hey, in like 50 years we'll have cool light rail too. And half the city will be underwater from global warming. >_<
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
The rain thing is more about no sun rather than heavy rain. I've lived in the PNW my whole life and I've never really owned a legit rain coat. Don't get me wrong, gortex coats are baller, but for the most part it's just not necessary. It just mists constantly. The few times I've been on the east coast you can immediately tell the difference. I can walk 1-2 miles in seattle most rainy days and just be a little damp. I couldn't walk 2 blocks in boston when it rained without being completely soaked.
Also agree with the portland>seattle>most other cities in terms of public transport.
One thing I usually point out in these types of threads is that living in a city is different than living near a city. Living near a city means you can do cool trips when you have some free time. For most people that means things like a day trip downtown for some shopping/movies, or catching the odd week night symphony show, or whatever. But the important point is that it will be an occasional thing, with most of your time spent mostly at your place in the burbs. Living in the city means you can do shit every night. Every single night is an opportunity to catch a live show or try a new restaurant or head out to the bars. Both ways can be great, but they are not the same. So really think about what it is you want. I'm actually transitioning right now. When I got here at 22ish I wanted to be in the city so I could go out all the time. At 26 and thinking about starting a family I find that I would be ok with giving up the high rent and tiny apartment for the more spacious and secluded burbs.
Also, the burgers out here generally aren't as good as the Midwest either. Not sure why, they just aren't. I can get decent ones, just nothing mind blowing yet. You can find really good Vietnamese, Thai and Korean, but there are sooooo many of those restaurants that the bulk are between substandard and mediocre.
Salmon and crab are done well here, better than anywhere else I've had them.
One thing to be aware of if you're coming from Southern California is that the daylight hours actually vary. Like, a lot. In the summer not only is is sunny, but it'll be sunny from like 5:30 AM to 9:30 PM. The flip side is that if you happen to work indoors? God help you over the winter, it'll be dark when you get up for work and dark when you leave the office. I work in a cubile in windowless interior office right now, and when the clock rolls back I'll basically say goodbye to the sun until like April.
I'm not saying that it's not possible, but if you were really interested in it. I would start sending resumes up here fast.
Use this website and put in either Fort Lewis or Mcchord Air Force Base. There are a ton of job listings right now.
― John Quincy Adams