Thinking of moving back home.

bigpanda

So I moved cross country about 6 months ago. Needless to say my plans for a life changing experience haven't exactly gone to plan.

So now I find myself back in debt and obsessing about it. I have pretty much an open invitation back with my previous employer both in the same department (IT) as well as a possible position as a junior DBA with the same office.

The benefits of moving back home would include cheaper rent (or minimall if I wanted to live with the folks again), the ability to mooch off my parents (i.e. some free meals and the use of their washer/dryer, etc.), being able to see family/friends, and an overall cheaper cost of living. The drawbacks, well, depending on how you look at it, home is Detroit. The city is generally a hellhole, but there's something that I enjoy about urban blight. Not sure why, maybe misery loves company. In general, Michigan itself can be a pretty nice state, and early autumn is typically gorgeous.

I'm currently in Seattle, and while I'm not crazy about this city, at least I've found a much healthier way of eating. The yuppie tradeoff seems to at least bring in some good, albeit pricey, grocery stores. The major downside is the much higher cost of living and finding that I can't really afford to do much outside of survive at the moment. I'm looking at some of my options if I stay here, which would include selling my car and finding somebody looking for a roommate rather than living alone. I wouldn't say that I'm happier here, but I'm not directly connected to a lot of the depressing things that are currently going on in Michigan (re: economic depression and the resulting frustration).

thej3w

I moved from Michigan to Chicago about 3 years ago. There are times when I feel like moving back, pretty much for the same reasons as you. But haven't moved back yet. I'm currently on the fence at the moment as I feel now would be the best time for me to move back if I was going to do it. My lease is almost up, I don't care about my job as much, and a lot of my friends are still in Michigan and I have friends here but not as many as I do there. So me and you are pretty much in the same boat.

bigpanda

Funny you're in Chicago. I've had about 5 friends move out there in the last year. Most were for more secure jobs, but one was because it's a better party town, they're all trying to get me to move there now. If my finances were in order it seems like a good time to buy a house there, only thing is that the job market is still pretty rocky if you're connected at all to the auto industry. I still have a fear that it will end up like Flint (not the GI Joe).

My bro was in Phoenix for a couple months looking for a job, but oddly enough he found one back in Mich so he went back for that. He hates being back right now (think he has SAD) but the job will help with his resume and skill set (artist) rather than being a box jockey for UPS or FedEx and plans on trying the southwest again in a couple years.

ElectricTurtle

What is it that you are currently doing here (employment) and where are you going with it? Do you know many people here?

witch_ie

I think there's another option you may have left out regarding finances and staying in Seattle - and that's finding a higher paying job. It's one thing to move back if you're not happy where you are, but it's another thing to do something like that solely on basis of money without exhausting your options first. Also, I'm not sure how Detroit is for IT stuff, but I'm thinking that Seattle is more of a hub and would better for you long term (career wise at least).

Again, if you have reasons besides financial reasons for moving back to Detroit, then you should probably consider it. Just try to make sure you're moving towards something and not just away or backwards.

bigpanda

I'm doing IT in Seattle. Basically systems administration and support. Macs and PCs and I'm working towards my MCSA right now but have a ways to go with it. I haven't really tried looking for a higher paying job yet (most work days are around 6 days a week, 12 hours a day although I've been working a 5/40 since the NBA/NHL playoffs started).

I took a transfer out here because they needed somebody to help get this office up and running and there was a pay raise involved. I'm still a couple K shy of what I should be making but probably not by too much. I also have a bachelor's in CS with more of a focus on graphics software engineering although I haven't done much coding the last couple years. The company I'm with is somewhat known for not valuing/understanding IT so I guess I could start shopping myself around.

I'm also trying my hand at Perl and Python since I'd like to try and get back towards graphics programming or at least 3D modeling again. I'm also interested in film production as well which had been one of the reasons for trying to head out west (special effects).

ElectricTurtle

witch_ie: Speaking as somebody who's been hangin' loose in the greater Seattle IT industry for the last near decade, Seattle's hub-oscity is both blessing and curse. Sure, there's a lot of jobs here, but there are a lot of really experienced techs vying for them. That aside, the job market here right now is healthy. There are metric fucktons of jobs in the region on dice.com and other such places every month.

Edit: Reading your last post which you were writing simultaneously, dude, seriously, start looking. I would even consider some place like strategy computers to get that MCSA on the fast track (as in a couple months). Certifications really do increase the pay you can get in the market, between the time before and after I picked up my A+, Network+, MCP and MCDST I practically doubled my pay. Although I'm sure you wouldn't see such a jump because you already have a four year degree, which I lack, an MCSA could add 10k a year to what you could get.

neville

Funny; I actually had to re-read your story twice to make sure you're not a friend of mine.
He moved out here about 6 months ago, but from Chicago. He isn't working, as far as I know, and seems to want to go back home. But since he hasn't really put much effort into exploring the city or experiencing it, I'm not that surprised. Any city is as non-descript as the next if you just sit at home.

So WHY are you not enjoying it here? I've been here 6 years and love it. If you've got experience with graphics, why not look for a job in games? Seattle has a number of good games companies...both casual and "hardcore"/console game places.

ElectricTurtle

Now that I think about it, have you even gone to PAX? If not, I'd seriously hang around until at least PAX at the end of August. Then you can meet all of the awesome local gamers, fruits and nuts.

Beyond that, neville has a point, and I'm bored enough to volunteer to give you a 3rd generation native's tour of some of the interesting stuff in the area. (Just never mention to my family that I did it, old natives are pretty... sensitive about all the recent influx of out-of-staters, but at least you're not Californian...)

Zephos

heh, i moved to chicago about 3 years ago and will probably be moving back to michigan in a couple weeks.

seems to be a common thread with michigan maybe?

ElectricTurtle

I suppose that's why Detroit's lost almost a million in population in the 50 years from 1950-2000. (snap!)

I know home is always home, but having lived in Illinois in 92-96, I'd have be getting tons of money from it to live anywhere in the Midwest.

bigpanda

Not sure if I'd say I have a lot of "experience" with graphics. I haven't really done much with it since college which I regret now. I think I was just burnt out on programming at the time and only saw the automotive industry as a use for it. Stupid I know, but that's how I felt.

I have a desire to re-try my hand at it. I had some experience with OpenGL and was pretty good with matrix algebra (highest grade in my graphics classes) so it's just a matter of getting up to speed on it.

As for trying to get a foot in the door, that's always where I seem to have a problem. Usually just in trying to sell myself, I tend to undervalue my skills and doubt my capacity even though I shine once I can get started. I guess I almost feel like I'd need to start as an intern or something and work my way up since I don't have much formal programming on my resume and my syntax is a bit rusty.

bigpanda

Thanks Turtle, I might take you up on that. I've talked to a couple natives and most haven't been too keen on the influx. Reminds me alot of that Seinfeld episode with the house in Tuscany. When I first moved out here I was trying to get an idea of the different neighborhoods and everybody would tell me how much they loved X but how I would hate it and there's nothing here and should look in Y. After I figured that they were just trying to keep out the outsiders I stopped taking it too personally.

As for PAX, yeah I'm there. I'll be home for the first week of August I think, but that's flexible so I could move those dates around a bit. I'll be familiar with some Python/Perl/Ruby by than so hopefully that will help a bit.

ElectricTurtle

Would this be your first PAX? If so, you'd best be prepared to have thine world rocked. I plan my whole year around it.

Also you have been PM'ed with contact info.

bigpanda

First PAX, but I've been to and worked several cons varying from local comic/sci-fi conventions to larger ones like Origins before it sucked, GW Games Days and the first two Star Wars Celebrations. From what I've seen PAX looks like it's going to be pretty impressive this year. I've had to put some of my hobbies on the shelf since the move, but I have an insane amount of miniatures and have always been a gamer so it will be nice to be back in that fold if only for a couple days.

ElectricTurtle

So do you do any tabletop RPGing with those miniatures? I've been thinking about getting a game started after my work hours got in the way of my other regular games.

It's a good idea to prereg for PAX now if you haven't already.