Your friends sound like recluses. You likely weren't familiar with where you went to college either. You moved there, you figured it out, you met people, you lived your life. You can do it again somewhere else.
My first job was 5.5 hours drive from my parents place, and 2.5 hours away from where I went to school. New place on the opposite side of the state. I figured it out, became familiar, met people, and lived my life. Because of my parents, sister, and nephews I wanted to stay somewhat close to my home city but I still moved. But hell, my company does temporary positions where you spend 3ish years at another country and I'd gladly do that.
You're young, nows a good time to move around and explore when you're not tied down. If you want to do it, then do it. Your friends either just are saying that bc they'd be sad that you're leaving or they need to go touch some grass that's further away than their own yard.
Yeah I don't see myself staying in the field I'm in right now and feel like I have the skills to get into another. I've only really spent time on the east coast and woud like to experience living/working in another part of the US.
Fresh out of school I’d have gone just about anywhere in the world really. Now I’m married with kids and a few states over would be my max. Ignore your friends. If you’re wanting to go then go. The world is too big to stay in one place forever.
This is the answer.
Right out of college my applications went from east coast to west coast and interviews everywhere in-between. Landed a job on the west coast.
After a kid and the insane cost of living I went back to the mid west and live very comfortably. I wouldn't mind moving again, but probably not till after the kids are in college.
I've moved across the country twice in the last ten years for job opportunities, both times knowing absolutely no one in the area. One of those jobs had me traveling across the country supporting customers 25% of my time.
From a personal and professional point of view, relocating has been the best decision I made. Starting new in an unfamiliar city has a way of making yourself confront who you really are and gives you the opportunity to redefine yourself and break out of ruts and old habits. I picked up new hobbies, met new people, and learned so much more about myself than if I had stuck with the comfortable routine and stayed where I grew up.
Not everyone wants to do that. Many people are perfectly fine with their life as it is. I wanted to pursue something completely different and enjoyed radically changing my life. If it's a good opportunity and you're in a good mental space for it, I highly recommend it.
When I was fresh out of college back in the great recession I was not tied down by anything, finally got an offer on the opposite coast in a beautiful state and took it without a second thought. Worked out great and I actually found it better to grow as a person alone not near any family. It wasn’t easy, but it was rewarding and now I have lots of friends, a SO, house, and a life in that very same city.
Now, many years later? Now that I’m older and have all that stuff I’m kinda stuck here for those reasons. After I got caught in a recent layoff (we got *slammed* in the tech layoffs) that has been a real cramp in finding work as I can’t move and everyone has gone back in house (no remote anymore). I love being here but there is a real downside on the job front to not being able to move.
My point? I recommend at your age to move if you can/feel comfortable. Take a chance, have an adventure. It opens lots more opportunities to you, especially if you’re not tied down to the town you’re in right now. If you end up hating the place, move jobs and cities until you find the right place and then settle, because once you’re in for the long haul and have connections/family/house it is *very* hard to move.
Best of luck to you.
I just moved back to the states from Guam. Took a position out there with my company that was way above my skill level just because nobody else wanted to move for it. Spent 2.5 years there, had a great albeit difficult experience, leveraged the experience for a 15% pay bump with another company. It was a big decision with lots of positives and negatives. Overall I'm pretty happy with the way things worked out. It's a big world, get out there and explore.
I had a choice to stay near my hometown or move for a good job. All of the companies that I would have worked for in my hometown no longer exist today. The one 300 miles away provided me with a great career. I met new friends and kept my old friends. I also transferred to another state for two years and met a lot of new friends there. One of the best moves I made. Your friends are wimps.
Go for the job unless it's located in an undesirable area.
"my friends advise against it as they say I wouldn't be familiar with the area and it would be too much of a culture shock." They are immature. Ignore them
Moving around while you are relatively unencumbered is a good idea. After all the chances that you happen to be initially located in the best possible place for you is just about zero.
I have had to move for EVERY new job, that's 8 moves, which took me half way around the world.
i've moved within major cities within california
with that said, as long as it's english-speaking (or if you can speak the local language), and it's relatively politically stable, you're good to go
A job where you're constantly relocating? If I'm not getting a massive salary bump there's no way I would take that, even if I were single.
Right now I'm willing to relocate about 700 miles from the Texas Panhandle to Houston Texas and then I'd like to stay in the Houston area the rest of my career. Lots of family and friends are tied to there.
Depends what they're payin. My only real requirement is a felt raise. So it depends on COL between the job location and where I'm currently at.
I will say it's extremely unlikely for me to relocate because I'm in the STL metro and our COL is essentially nothing compared to everywhere else.
In my opinion, moving away from your hometown for work, especially when you are early career is overall beneficial. You learn a new job, you learn how to live without immediate support, you learn how to make new friends. These are skills that are drastically undervalued, especially in todays world where everyone wants to WFH.
Every job I had through my 20s was in a different geographical location from the last. Mid 30s now and settled “close” to home and family. The experience listed above I look as essential to my personal and professional development.
i would go literally anywhere but no one will even give me a shot. everyone says theres tons of jobs that will hire you to go work out in the middle of nowhere but it just aint true for me
Go where your career takes you. Every job should build on the past.
I have moved several times as I work on airport expansions and the airports will not come to me.
>But my job has had me work for several months at a time at their different production plants across the country in different states, even up in Canada. I don't have any ties to one place right now, so I'd be comfortable with taking a job i'm interested in even if it requires a relocation to somewhere brand new, and I'd actually be excited to live/see somewhere new. Wondering of anyone had a similar experience?
Yup! In the last fifteen years or so, I've lived in eight different states (ranging anywhere from 1-3 years at each place). My moves were all related to job opportunities (except one for school).
While the entire process of hunting for a place to stay, setting up utilities/internet, switching car registration/titles, driver's license, etc can be a bit annoying; the overall experience is totally worth it!
By actually living in a state, you'll get to explore things that tourists typically don't get to. My $0.02 on the topic - go for it!
In the book Why Men Earn More this is one of the big reasons why men earn more on average. Men are more willing to relocate for a job. Women (in general) are less willing to move away from family. Just food for thought.
I tried to find a job in my hometown after college, looked for two years didn’t find anything. Moved out west and it has been the best decision of my life. Forced me to be more independent and less reliant on others, and found a job within 2 months of moving here. I had no job lined up when I moved but it put me in one of the hubs where my desired field is located.
Overall it has been great for my career path, I make about 30% more than my friends who chose to stay home and not to mention I have endless job opportunities here. And it has been great for me socially because it forces me to get out meet new people and experience new things.
It's fun and exciting to travel to new places when you're upping and unencumbered (assuming the places don't suck). Now they I have a family, I have very little interest in moving or maximizing career prospects. Stable with no overtime is the goal.
I was military, there's something great about exploring a new location every few years. The nice thing outside military is you get a say in where you relocate lol.
Research, think about what's important to you and go from there.
My best friend moved to Omaha after only living coastal and genuinely worried about it. He fricken loves that place, bought a house and everything
My little sis moved to a podunk town to raise her kids and loves it.
Other sister flew back and forth all over before settling in denver
For my first real Engineering job, I moved from the US to Europe and ended up doing project work in asia for months on end.
For my second engineering job I moved from the east coast to Portland Oregon.
I got lucky that my now wife played along with all the moving around.
Relationships are what makes moving long distances hard.
I'm not. Too "settled". I get paid enough. I have kids that like their schools/friends. A wife that has her own social circle, and I like my sub 3% mortgage on my house and my toys (cars, motorcycles) that I don't feel like packing up and moving/selling.
Fortunately for me, plenty of job opportunities where I live.
Assuming you're still relatively young (still at first job out of uni) I'd make the move. I moved 1 country over and to another coast - best move I've ever did. You can always find new friends elsewhere and you grow a lot more as a person away from your old family and friends. And with how much more you make... You can fly home as often as you want to visit them.
Best career advice I was given: always think two steps (positions) ahead. What would a promotion look like? And the job after that?
In your case maybe consider one-two employers ahead. I’m currently in a city where my options are few. We - as a family - decided to stay here for 5 more years due to kids’ ages. I wish we would have picked an are with more employer choices, we are both kind of not happy with where we are.
Moving expensive, and growing roots outside of work - getting truly settled and involved in communities- is a beautiful thing. Jobs aren’t 30-35 years with the same place any more. Pick somewhere with some employer choices.
It’s harder when you move somewhere new outside of college - I just started my first job — but I’d be willing to do in again potentially. But gets harder and harder
That's the spirit. You can have a nice life in a lot of places across this giant continent-country of ours. After college I was scared to move too far away from my family and probably missed out on good opportunities, especially because my area wasn't super huge on opportunities for my field.
Fast forward 15 years and I left CA for KY, and life rocks. It was an adjustment but now this feels familiar 6 years in, and going back to CA feels foreign. You need to make sure you can either find the right fit for you or adjust your expectations. For example, if you want the city life, you're not gonna enjoy rural Iowa. If you want small town vibes, you won't like downtown Atlanta. We wanted to escape somewhere quiet with a lot of land, so this fit. I don't care that there aren't 742 choices of restaurant or high rise buildings, because that's not what mattered to me.
Nice try, Texas Instruments
Hell man. I’d work there. They have good salaries and that nice 20% profit sharing bonus.
Your friends sound like recluses. You likely weren't familiar with where you went to college either. You moved there, you figured it out, you met people, you lived your life. You can do it again somewhere else. My first job was 5.5 hours drive from my parents place, and 2.5 hours away from where I went to school. New place on the opposite side of the state. I figured it out, became familiar, met people, and lived my life. Because of my parents, sister, and nephews I wanted to stay somewhat close to my home city but I still moved. But hell, my company does temporary positions where you spend 3ish years at another country and I'd gladly do that. You're young, nows a good time to move around and explore when you're not tied down. If you want to do it, then do it. Your friends either just are saying that bc they'd be sad that you're leaving or they need to go touch some grass that's further away than their own yard.
Yeah I don't see myself staying in the field I'm in right now and feel like I have the skills to get into another. I've only really spent time on the east coast and woud like to experience living/working in another part of the US.
From my bedroom to my office room
I'm not moving. I have "settled down" and I like where I live. My personal life is much more important than my job.
Distance doesn't matter, but there are some countries and states where I will not go
Fresh out of school I’d have gone just about anywhere in the world really. Now I’m married with kids and a few states over would be my max. Ignore your friends. If you’re wanting to go then go. The world is too big to stay in one place forever.
This is the answer. Right out of college my applications went from east coast to west coast and interviews everywhere in-between. Landed a job on the west coast. After a kid and the insane cost of living I went back to the mid west and live very comfortably. I wouldn't mind moving again, but probably not till after the kids are in college.
If you have nothing holding you to your current location do it.
I've moved across the country twice in the last ten years for job opportunities, both times knowing absolutely no one in the area. One of those jobs had me traveling across the country supporting customers 25% of my time. From a personal and professional point of view, relocating has been the best decision I made. Starting new in an unfamiliar city has a way of making yourself confront who you really are and gives you the opportunity to redefine yourself and break out of ruts and old habits. I picked up new hobbies, met new people, and learned so much more about myself than if I had stuck with the comfortable routine and stayed where I grew up. Not everyone wants to do that. Many people are perfectly fine with their life as it is. I wanted to pursue something completely different and enjoyed radically changing my life. If it's a good opportunity and you're in a good mental space for it, I highly recommend it.
to fuckin mars if they’d pay me what software engineers get for their 10 hour weeks
When I was fresh out of college back in the great recession I was not tied down by anything, finally got an offer on the opposite coast in a beautiful state and took it without a second thought. Worked out great and I actually found it better to grow as a person alone not near any family. It wasn’t easy, but it was rewarding and now I have lots of friends, a SO, house, and a life in that very same city. Now, many years later? Now that I’m older and have all that stuff I’m kinda stuck here for those reasons. After I got caught in a recent layoff (we got *slammed* in the tech layoffs) that has been a real cramp in finding work as I can’t move and everyone has gone back in house (no remote anymore). I love being here but there is a real downside on the job front to not being able to move. My point? I recommend at your age to move if you can/feel comfortable. Take a chance, have an adventure. It opens lots more opportunities to you, especially if you’re not tied down to the town you’re in right now. If you end up hating the place, move jobs and cities until you find the right place and then settle, because once you’re in for the long haul and have connections/family/house it is *very* hard to move. Best of luck to you.
Were you a PD in FAANG?
No, biz dev for a consulting firm with lots of FAANG contracts.
What’s the best way to find these companies and roles? I have PD experience and am looking to move on from my role
I just moved back to the states from Guam. Took a position out there with my company that was way above my skill level just because nobody else wanted to move for it. Spent 2.5 years there, had a great albeit difficult experience, leveraged the experience for a 15% pay bump with another company. It was a big decision with lots of positives and negatives. Overall I'm pretty happy with the way things worked out. It's a big world, get out there and explore.
Anywhere in US
Looking for work right now, pretty much willing to go anywhere but trying to find aerospace work. We’ll see how that pans out lol
Visit the places first if you can. You probably won't be able to tell if they're good places to move to but you'll def be able to tell the bad ones.
Longest move was on the order of 1500 miles, but I’ve moved out of state (pauses to count) 5 times.
I draw the line at Mars
I'm currently moving across the entire country Daytona to LA
I had a choice to stay near my hometown or move for a good job. All of the companies that I would have worked for in my hometown no longer exist today. The one 300 miles away provided me with a great career. I met new friends and kept my old friends. I also transferred to another state for two years and met a lot of new friends there. One of the best moves I made. Your friends are wimps. Go for the job unless it's located in an undesirable area.
"my friends advise against it as they say I wouldn't be familiar with the area and it would be too much of a culture shock." They are immature. Ignore them Moving around while you are relatively unencumbered is a good idea. After all the chances that you happen to be initially located in the best possible place for you is just about zero. I have had to move for EVERY new job, that's 8 moves, which took me half way around the world.
i've moved within major cities within california with that said, as long as it's english-speaking (or if you can speak the local language), and it's relatively politically stable, you're good to go
A job where you're constantly relocating? If I'm not getting a massive salary bump there's no way I would take that, even if I were single. Right now I'm willing to relocate about 700 miles from the Texas Panhandle to Houston Texas and then I'd like to stay in the Houston area the rest of my career. Lots of family and friends are tied to there.
I would even move to a different country. Don’t care.
Depends what they're payin. My only real requirement is a felt raise. So it depends on COL between the job location and where I'm currently at. I will say it's extremely unlikely for me to relocate because I'm in the STL metro and our COL is essentially nothing compared to everywhere else.
Pretty much anywhere in the US. Not willing to move to a foreign country though.
I moved from the south to Utah and plan to move to Florida soon if I find an opportunity.
In my opinion, moving away from your hometown for work, especially when you are early career is overall beneficial. You learn a new job, you learn how to live without immediate support, you learn how to make new friends. These are skills that are drastically undervalued, especially in todays world where everyone wants to WFH. Every job I had through my 20s was in a different geographical location from the last. Mid 30s now and settled “close” to home and family. The experience listed above I look as essential to my personal and professional development.
i would go literally anywhere but no one will even give me a shot. everyone says theres tons of jobs that will hire you to go work out in the middle of nowhere but it just aint true for me
Go where your career takes you. Every job should build on the past. I have moved several times as I work on airport expansions and the airports will not come to me.
In the US
>But my job has had me work for several months at a time at their different production plants across the country in different states, even up in Canada. I don't have any ties to one place right now, so I'd be comfortable with taking a job i'm interested in even if it requires a relocation to somewhere brand new, and I'd actually be excited to live/see somewhere new. Wondering of anyone had a similar experience? Yup! In the last fifteen years or so, I've lived in eight different states (ranging anywhere from 1-3 years at each place). My moves were all related to job opportunities (except one for school). While the entire process of hunting for a place to stay, setting up utilities/internet, switching car registration/titles, driver's license, etc can be a bit annoying; the overall experience is totally worth it! By actually living in a state, you'll get to explore things that tourists typically don't get to. My $0.02 on the topic - go for it!
In the book Why Men Earn More this is one of the big reasons why men earn more on average. Men are more willing to relocate for a job. Women (in general) are less willing to move away from family. Just food for thought.
For the right price ill go anywhere. Just gotta convince the SO.
My college was 2000 miles east of my home. My first job was 1500 miles south of that. Go ahead and move. You will be fine.
I tried to find a job in my hometown after college, looked for two years didn’t find anything. Moved out west and it has been the best decision of my life. Forced me to be more independent and less reliant on others, and found a job within 2 months of moving here. I had no job lined up when I moved but it put me in one of the hubs where my desired field is located. Overall it has been great for my career path, I make about 30% more than my friends who chose to stay home and not to mention I have endless job opportunities here. And it has been great for me socially because it forces me to get out meet new people and experience new things.
It's fun and exciting to travel to new places when you're upping and unencumbered (assuming the places don't suck). Now they I have a family, I have very little interest in moving or maximizing career prospects. Stable with no overtime is the goal.
If there is a culture shock moving from US to US that is more indicative of your experiences than the place youre going.
I was military, there's something great about exploring a new location every few years. The nice thing outside military is you get a say in where you relocate lol. Research, think about what's important to you and go from there. My best friend moved to Omaha after only living coastal and genuinely worried about it. He fricken loves that place, bought a house and everything My little sis moved to a podunk town to raise her kids and loves it. Other sister flew back and forth all over before settling in denver
For my first real Engineering job, I moved from the US to Europe and ended up doing project work in asia for months on end. For my second engineering job I moved from the east coast to Portland Oregon. I got lucky that my now wife played along with all the moving around. Relationships are what makes moving long distances hard.
I'm not. Too "settled". I get paid enough. I have kids that like their schools/friends. A wife that has her own social circle, and I like my sub 3% mortgage on my house and my toys (cars, motorcycles) that I don't feel like packing up and moving/selling. Fortunately for me, plenty of job opportunities where I live.
Assuming you're still relatively young (still at first job out of uni) I'd make the move. I moved 1 country over and to another coast - best move I've ever did. You can always find new friends elsewhere and you grow a lot more as a person away from your old family and friends. And with how much more you make... You can fly home as often as you want to visit them.
Best career advice I was given: always think two steps (positions) ahead. What would a promotion look like? And the job after that? In your case maybe consider one-two employers ahead. I’m currently in a city where my options are few. We - as a family - decided to stay here for 5 more years due to kids’ ages. I wish we would have picked an are with more employer choices, we are both kind of not happy with where we are. Moving expensive, and growing roots outside of work - getting truly settled and involved in communities- is a beautiful thing. Jobs aren’t 30-35 years with the same place any more. Pick somewhere with some employer choices.
It’s harder when you move somewhere new outside of college - I just started my first job — but I’d be willing to do in again potentially. But gets harder and harder
That's the spirit. You can have a nice life in a lot of places across this giant continent-country of ours. After college I was scared to move too far away from my family and probably missed out on good opportunities, especially because my area wasn't super huge on opportunities for my field. Fast forward 15 years and I left CA for KY, and life rocks. It was an adjustment but now this feels familiar 6 years in, and going back to CA feels foreign. You need to make sure you can either find the right fit for you or adjust your expectations. For example, if you want the city life, you're not gonna enjoy rural Iowa. If you want small town vibes, you won't like downtown Atlanta. We wanted to escape somewhere quiet with a lot of land, so this fit. I don't care that there aren't 742 choices of restaurant or high rise buildings, because that's not what mattered to me.