So, the last tech job I had was chronicled in this thread http://xepher.net/forum/index.php?topic=330.0 and it lasted only 8 weeks and ended with much hate. This current job was way better, and I kept it the full year I promised myself I would. I gave my notice at the start of last week (written on my "happy one year at the company" balloon actually.) So this week is my last at the company. It's actually the longest I've ever held a job and I think I may even miss some aspects of it, and definitely the people, so it feels kinda bitter sweet. The problem was just the job itself... fixing computer problems all day for other people... was never going to be satisfying enough.
Anyway, I'm now going to be unemployed and looking for what to do next in life. I've saved up about $25K over the past year, so I have enough of a cushion there to move pretty much wherever and get started doing whatever I want. My thoughts right now are to move someplace "awesome" and probably go back for my Master's in Creative Writing... stick around at school and eventually become an english professor maybe. The main question I have is WHERE to go for that. Part of it is a school with a decent program, but the majority of the question is where I actually want to move to. I'd love to have some cool weather and mountains again, but mostly I want to live someplace that's good to live. A town that's not TOO big, but with some culture... a music scene maybe, but at least some people my age (late 20s-30s) that aren't all drop-outs or whatnot.
Bottom line is I'm really excited to do something new... just gotta figure out what. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Where's a cool place to live (if you could)?
Every once in a while I take a trip up to Boston and I enjoy it up there.
It's got your classic old-school town side and you can also find new-age, crowded city stuff there too. And then there are plenty of schools you could attend, too. Great food, too. Just be prepared to be swamped by American history.
I don't know how good it is job-wise, though.
(And since I go to school in the DC Area, I suppose I could vouch for that too. No mountains, but you have open access to a lot of stuff. There are lots of places to work out here, in border DC-Virginia.)
I think the Seattle/Redmond WA area is pretty damn cool. Tons of culture, cool weather, it doesn't rain all the time (as people think), plenty of live music bars and clubs (even big band clubs), and yes even mountains. :P
St. John's :p
You have more money saved up in the past year than I make in a year :(
ZOMG, it rained today... like the first time it's rained here in the last 2 weeks I've been here. :P
It's not raining anymore though.
I want a job. :C
I do feel bad for quitting a good job when everyone else is really trying hard to find one... but I can't help it. FREE AT LAST! Just got out of the last day of work. Woot!
St. John's... I really do want to check it out up there. I wish it wasn't so fraking expensive to even get there. If it was cheap like most places in the states, I'd just go for the heck of it. It's like $900 for the cheapest flight available. I can literally fly to japan for the same price.
Santa Cruz is pretty laid back, I like it here. There's UCSC, lots of theatre and art, and some good music comes by once in a while. You've got mountains and redwoods (I'm a mountain girl myself, actually :)) twenty minutes away from the beach, it's never too hot or cold...
The only downside? It's freaking expensive to live here. D: Sorry to get your hopes up.
I spent some time working in Boise this spring. Nice, small city, with the college and state capitol, mountains &etc. Very much _not_ a miniature Salt Lake, as I'd expected. Did a later trip to Olympia, WA mid-summer. Much more pleasant than the urban build-up of Seattle-Tacoma, but still lots of people. Same mountains, plus the ocean.
Me, I want badly to live in Seattle. Or at least somewhere in NY for a while.
Where I live now isn't exactly a cultural dead zone, but it's not for me.
I'm thinking to take a road trip up to the pacific northwest soon. Check out few grad schools up in oregon and washington, maybe montana. With any luck, I'll beat the bad weather. May check out Boise and such too.
Montana, though I only drove through it for a day, was pretty damn nifty.
Several (well... many, many) years ago stopped in Bozeman. College town, reminded me of a smaller version of Boulder. First town of any size out the north gate of Yellowstone. Watch out, though...winter is only about 5 weeks away up there, and it can mean serious snowstorms!
I lived in northern colorado for several years, and drove a bus at night for one winter while I was there. I'm used to snow and ice. :-)
Who knows how the recession's swinging, but Oregon's got pretty bad unemployment right now. But you're tech, so you'll probably have more luck. I'm not sure whether to insert a smiley or a frown face because I'm unhappily unemployedish.
Is the St. John's you'd like to the one in Annapolis? If so, I have a friend who went there and she could probably give you an idea of what's involved. She transferred out though, so there might be some bias, but I think she could give it a fair review of the good and bad stuff.
Well, luckily(?) I don't want to work in tech. I'm primarily looking at going back to school, so the job market doesn't really worry me. The St. John's I'm talking about is St. John's newfoundland... a city on the far east coast of Canada, where Gwyn lives.
Well, what DO you want to work in, if not tech stuff?
If I knew THAT, I'd be doing it already. :-P
Seriously, I don't really know. My main thought is to go back to school, and eventually become a professor of English. I may get a year down that road and find I don't like it either though.
So I just found out that I can qualify for a permanent resident visa in Australia... I've always wanted to go there. I'm really thinking that would be a decent adventure to try. Anyone have any experience or advice about where in australia is cool to go? How's the job situation, what should a potential american ex-pat know?
Heh, I have no idea, but I know some people there who I talk to on MSN a bit.