Low down freedom, you done cost me...
February 26, 2010 2:09 PM Subscribe
How do I get out of where I am, and soon?
I graduated from college in December, which puts me in the awkward position of needing to get a job where I am to pay the bills before my lease runs out in July. It's doable, though I won't be able to get a job that will allow me to save a lot over the next few months.
I want to leave here in July, probably to the SF bay area, but I just don't know how to make that happen. I've thought about the usual route of applying to jobs in the places that I'd like to move to, but I can't pay for the travel costs, and I don't think my qualifications are such that any prospective employer would be interested in paying them. Those are:
- I graduated from one of the universities you see close to the top of the U.S. News ranking. I hate that list and everything about it, but it's at least a small positive on my resume.
- I have a total of six months professional experience working as a PHP developer. I graduated as a music major, but I have a minor in computer science and a fairly good command of OOP procedures and design patterns, as well as intermediate-level arcana like low-level programming with C and assembly, and some of the more interesting algorithms/data structures in CLRS.
I realize that prospective employers will care much less about what I know than what I've done, and I unfortunately haven't done much programming in the last year of finishing up my degree.
My difficulty is this: I have, as I see it, fairly low chances of getting hired in a remote location, but I won't be able to save up enough in the meantime to attempt to just dive in (I foresee being able to save around $2000 at maximum, which could last a few months, except I'll have to start paying my student loans right around then). I have a friend who would host me in the Bay Area, but if I failed to find a job and get on my feet there I think it would be a disaster. I have a similar connection in NYC, but that seems even less realistic.
My question, then, in a few parts, is this: do you have any experience or good strategies for trying to make this sort of move happen? If not, do you think my prospects of finding gainful employment with a $2000 buffer are realistic?
Alternatively, is my best bet just to stay where I am for another year, have some good projects done to show for it, and plan the move more carefully? It's really not what I want, but if it's the right choice then I'll do my best to make the most of it.
I graduated from college in December, which puts me in the awkward position of needing to get a job where I am to pay the bills before my lease runs out in July. It's doable, though I won't be able to get a job that will allow me to save a lot over the next few months.
I want to leave here in July, probably to the SF bay area, but I just don't know how to make that happen. I've thought about the usual route of applying to jobs in the places that I'd like to move to, but I can't pay for the travel costs, and I don't think my qualifications are such that any prospective employer would be interested in paying them. Those are:
- I graduated from one of the universities you see close to the top of the U.S. News ranking. I hate that list and everything about it, but it's at least a small positive on my resume.
- I have a total of six months professional experience working as a PHP developer. I graduated as a music major, but I have a minor in computer science and a fairly good command of OOP procedures and design patterns, as well as intermediate-level arcana like low-level programming with C and assembly, and some of the more interesting algorithms/data structures in CLRS.
I realize that prospective employers will care much less about what I know than what I've done, and I unfortunately haven't done much programming in the last year of finishing up my degree.
My difficulty is this: I have, as I see it, fairly low chances of getting hired in a remote location, but I won't be able to save up enough in the meantime to attempt to just dive in (I foresee being able to save around $2000 at maximum, which could last a few months, except I'll have to start paying my student loans right around then). I have a friend who would host me in the Bay Area, but if I failed to find a job and get on my feet there I think it would be a disaster. I have a similar connection in NYC, but that seems even less realistic.
My question, then, in a few parts, is this: do you have any experience or good strategies for trying to make this sort of move happen? If not, do you think my prospects of finding gainful employment with a $2000 buffer are realistic?
Alternatively, is my best bet just to stay where I am for another year, have some good projects done to show for it, and plan the move more carefully? It's really not what I want, but if it's the right choice then I'll do my best to make the most of it.
except I'll have to start paying my student loans right around then
Can your loans be deferred until you have more income? Income deferrals for student loans are very, very common.....
posted by anastasiav at 2:16 PM on February 26, 2010 [2 favorites]
Can your loans be deferred until you have more income? Income deferrals for student loans are very, very common.....
posted by anastasiav at 2:16 PM on February 26, 2010 [2 favorites]
Generally, one strategy I found helpful in job-hunting after college is to always claim a local address on your resume, whether it's local or not. If applying to jobs in SF, use your friend's address. I think employers see you as a surer, less expensive bet if you're local already.
posted by Vhanudux at 2:18 PM on February 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Vhanudux at 2:18 PM on February 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
If you are highly motivated, go to your alumni office and ask for a list of alumni and their contact information who are in your desired field. Make 10 calls per day asking them for advice, and put them on alert you are looking for a job.
posted by yoyoceramic at 2:22 PM on February 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by yoyoceramic at 2:22 PM on February 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
do you have any experience or good strategies for trying to make this sort of move happen?
Grad school for comp. sci. or engineering or informatics or some other more marketable subject. Yes, I'm serious.
The biggest mistake I made in life was waiting 10 years after graduating college to get a Master's (I was also a computer-leaning music major, which made jobs hard to come by).
posted by coolguymichael at 2:28 PM on February 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
Grad school for comp. sci. or engineering or informatics or some other more marketable subject. Yes, I'm serious.
The biggest mistake I made in life was waiting 10 years after graduating college to get a Master's (I was also a computer-leaning music major, which made jobs hard to come by).
posted by coolguymichael at 2:28 PM on February 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
Generally, one strategy I found helpful in job-hunting after college is to always claim a local address on your resume, whether it's local or not.
Similarly, get a Google voice number with the local area code. This made a lot of difference when my husband was job hunting.
posted by desjardins at 2:32 PM on February 26, 2010
Similarly, get a Google voice number with the local area code. This made a lot of difference when my husband was job hunting.
posted by desjardins at 2:32 PM on February 26, 2010
Generally, one strategy I found helpful in job-hunting after college is to always claim a local address on your resume, whether it's local or not.
Just remember what location you've given for each job, and have a plausible reason you can't show up if they call and say "we'd like you to come in tomorrow for another interview, will that be okay since you're local?"
posted by davejay at 2:40 PM on February 26, 2010
Just remember what location you've given for each job, and have a plausible reason you can't show up if they call and say "we'd like you to come in tomorrow for another interview, will that be okay since you're local?"
posted by davejay at 2:40 PM on February 26, 2010
I was in a similar situation back in 2006. I had under $2000 and moved across the country to a place where I knew no one and had no employment lined up. Here's what I did (though the same approach may not work for you):
In the months before I moved, I made as many connections in my destination city as I could, over the internet. My strategy was to find a church to attend and get to know a few people long-distance first, so I could hit the ground running socially when I arrived. For you that might mean some sort of club or organization, if not a church. If you can make some friends with similar interests to yours before you leave, you'll have a much easier time integrating into a new place.
In my case, knowing people in advance also led to finding housing. There was an elderly gentlemen in the church who had recently lost his wife to cancer. He needed some companionship and I needed a roof over my head; things fell together perfectly. I moved into an extra bedroom in his house for as long as I needed to find work, for free. It doesn't work that well for everybody, but you never know what you'll find if you get to know people and ask around. Character references and heartfelt emails help when you're reaching out to strangers so many miles away. Be prepared to be overly polite and flexible. You never know what doors may open.
When the time came to move, I filled my car with my stuff. Had to get rid of many things that wouldn't fit, things that were easily replaced later on. Some sentimental stuff stayed behind with my parents. My car wasn't huge and I had to slim down to the bare essentials. I think not bothering to rent a truck or ship things to myself was the smartest cost-cutting decision for a big move on such a shoestring budget. The drive took four days. I was able to spend the night with some old friends who lived along the route, and only needed a motel one night. I didn't push myself to hurry and there really wasn't a need to. When I got tired of driving I stopped at a rest area and napped in the car for an hour or two.
I can't stress enough how good it was to have friends and a soft bed waiting for me when I arrived. On the downside, it took longer than I expected to find a job. I ended up living with the elderly gentlemen for six months, which I felt awful about but he assured me was no problem. I took on a menial job as a chauffeur while still looking for something in my own industry. Since we didn't have broadband at the house, I set up a job-hunting command center for myself in the local library. I finally got an offer from a premier employer in my industry, and it sucked so much that I refused it and switched industries, basically starting over my job hunt from scratch. Not everything will go like you've planned. But at the same time, the experience is totally rewarding. If you've never gotten out on your own before, like me, the independence can be exhilarating. And scary! But totally worth it.
If you're resourceful, friendly, good with money, and prepared to enter Survival Mode, you absolutely can strike it out on your own with $2000. I'm really glad I did.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 2:44 PM on February 26, 2010 [6 favorites]
In the months before I moved, I made as many connections in my destination city as I could, over the internet. My strategy was to find a church to attend and get to know a few people long-distance first, so I could hit the ground running socially when I arrived. For you that might mean some sort of club or organization, if not a church. If you can make some friends with similar interests to yours before you leave, you'll have a much easier time integrating into a new place.
In my case, knowing people in advance also led to finding housing. There was an elderly gentlemen in the church who had recently lost his wife to cancer. He needed some companionship and I needed a roof over my head; things fell together perfectly. I moved into an extra bedroom in his house for as long as I needed to find work, for free. It doesn't work that well for everybody, but you never know what you'll find if you get to know people and ask around. Character references and heartfelt emails help when you're reaching out to strangers so many miles away. Be prepared to be overly polite and flexible. You never know what doors may open.
When the time came to move, I filled my car with my stuff. Had to get rid of many things that wouldn't fit, things that were easily replaced later on. Some sentimental stuff stayed behind with my parents. My car wasn't huge and I had to slim down to the bare essentials. I think not bothering to rent a truck or ship things to myself was the smartest cost-cutting decision for a big move on such a shoestring budget. The drive took four days. I was able to spend the night with some old friends who lived along the route, and only needed a motel one night. I didn't push myself to hurry and there really wasn't a need to. When I got tired of driving I stopped at a rest area and napped in the car for an hour or two.
I can't stress enough how good it was to have friends and a soft bed waiting for me when I arrived. On the downside, it took longer than I expected to find a job. I ended up living with the elderly gentlemen for six months, which I felt awful about but he assured me was no problem. I took on a menial job as a chauffeur while still looking for something in my own industry. Since we didn't have broadband at the house, I set up a job-hunting command center for myself in the local library. I finally got an offer from a premier employer in my industry, and it sucked so much that I refused it and switched industries, basically starting over my job hunt from scratch. Not everything will go like you've planned. But at the same time, the experience is totally rewarding. If you've never gotten out on your own before, like me, the independence can be exhilarating. And scary! But totally worth it.
If you're resourceful, friendly, good with money, and prepared to enter Survival Mode, you absolutely can strike it out on your own with $2000. I'm really glad I did.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 2:44 PM on February 26, 2010 [6 favorites]
I don't see it as a potential disaster at all.
If you just up and go there, you will be working within a few weeks, a month tops. Maybe not full-time, but you can get something through a tech temp agency, or even programming gigs off CL if need be.
If it was me, I would take the risk even without a place to stay. The fact that your friend will host you- that makes it a pretty safe bet, in my opinion. The worst possible case is your friend gets sick of you and you move back, and try again later.
posted by drjimmy11 at 2:45 PM on February 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
If you just up and go there, you will be working within a few weeks, a month tops. Maybe not full-time, but you can get something through a tech temp agency, or even programming gigs off CL if need be.
If it was me, I would take the risk even without a place to stay. The fact that your friend will host you- that makes it a pretty safe bet, in my opinion. The worst possible case is your friend gets sick of you and you move back, and try again later.
posted by drjimmy11 at 2:45 PM on February 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
If you really want to do this, you can. I did.
I had a few thousand saved up and just moved to San Francisco with no job. I crashed on a friend's couch for a couple months and then moved to a cheap room with tons of roommates. I knew I wanted to be there.
Then I signed up for a temp agency and even worked as a bike messenger so that I wasn't forced to take the first career job just because I was running out of money. I went to Harvard, by the way and yes, I was working as a temp doing filing. There's no shame in that. It allowed me to barely survive and eat and pay rent.
It wasn't easy. I won't say that. But I am to this day so proud of what I did. I was in Silicon Valley, in 1992. Right where things were happening and everything was about to explode. And that changed the entire course of my life.
posted by vacapinta at 2:57 PM on February 26, 2010 [2 favorites]
I had a few thousand saved up and just moved to San Francisco with no job. I crashed on a friend's couch for a couple months and then moved to a cheap room with tons of roommates. I knew I wanted to be there.
Then I signed up for a temp agency and even worked as a bike messenger so that I wasn't forced to take the first career job just because I was running out of money. I went to Harvard, by the way and yes, I was working as a temp doing filing. There's no shame in that. It allowed me to barely survive and eat and pay rent.
It wasn't easy. I won't say that. But I am to this day so proud of what I did. I was in Silicon Valley, in 1992. Right where things were happening and everything was about to explode. And that changed the entire course of my life.
posted by vacapinta at 2:57 PM on February 26, 2010 [2 favorites]
Right now, at this point in time, you are younger and freer than you will ever be again for the rest of your life. Stop looking for excuses or reasons why you can't do what you want to do. Don't psych yourself out or convince yourself it will be too hard. Just pack your shit up and go for it. You have a college degree, you clearly have a brain, and you have skills that are marketable -- you're gonna be OK.
posted by spilon at 3:17 PM on February 26, 2010 [4 favorites]
posted by spilon at 3:17 PM on February 26, 2010 [4 favorites]
If you can spend your time getting lean enough to move across the country in a car, do it, and then stay that way as long as possible - rent a room in SF via CL and don't buy any furniture, a car, electronics, etc. Just a bike and a laptop. :)
Once you're out here, if you're any good at all, you'll get a PHP job the first day.
posted by kcm at 4:15 PM on February 26, 2010
Once you're out here, if you're any good at all, you'll get a PHP job the first day.
posted by kcm at 4:15 PM on February 26, 2010
When I graduated from college I moved to Seattle with no job prospects, far fewer marketable job skills than you have now (YAY FILM SCHOOL), a car packed with everything I owned, and about 500 bucks in my pocket.
Starting with a long-term youth hostel and a few temp agencies, I bootstrapped a decent lifestyle in about three months. This was before craigslist, or in fact the internet, existed.
At this point I'm supposed to turn on the warm glow of the nostalgia lamp and say it was the best days of my life. Actually it kind of sucked; the temp jobs were mostly boring and the hostel was dirty and etc. But it was totally doable. And I learned a ton from temping -- it was invaluable in terms of teaching me what office culture is like, and learning to recognize which companies were in good shape and which were dysfunctional. I have no regrets.
There are always more reasons not to do something than to do it. But you'll regret not doing things a lot more than you'll regret doing them.
posted by ook at 4:41 PM on February 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
Starting with a long-term youth hostel and a few temp agencies, I bootstrapped a decent lifestyle in about three months. This was before craigslist, or in fact the internet, existed.
At this point I'm supposed to turn on the warm glow of the nostalgia lamp and say it was the best days of my life. Actually it kind of sucked; the temp jobs were mostly boring and the hostel was dirty and etc. But it was totally doable. And I learned a ton from temping -- it was invaluable in terms of teaching me what office culture is like, and learning to recognize which companies were in good shape and which were dysfunctional. I have no regrets.
There are always more reasons not to do something than to do it. But you'll regret not doing things a lot more than you'll regret doing them.
posted by ook at 4:41 PM on February 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
I loaded up my car and moved out of state the week after I graduated with my BA. I sold or gave away most of my furniture and stored some boxes of stuff in my parents' garage. I think I had around $1000 to my name when I left. I scoured the local newspaper online and found a local older lady who wanted to rent out one of her bedrooms. The bedroom had an attached bathroom. I got myself a waitressing job to tide me over while I looked for better jobs. Working in a restaurant or bar was a quick way to meet people and make connections. I ended up finding a non-food-service industry and moving into a house with several of my co-workers. I did differ my student loans for a year while I was getting on my feet.
posted by pluckysparrow at 9:13 PM on February 26, 2010
posted by pluckysparrow at 9:13 PM on February 26, 2010
After living on my own after college for two years, I packed up and moved to London from NYC with a single duffel bag. All of my furniture went into my parents' garage, and then into the new home of a younger sibling years later.
I was very lucky in that I got the very first job I interviewed for, and it was a great job. It helped that I had a decent amount of "what I've done" in my programming portfolio. You really need to have some current portfolio work (and I use the term "portfolio" loosely), even if it means freelancing for free. Contributing modules and code for core of substantial projects might also be a good way to add some depth to your CV.
What made the move possible for me, though, was that I was perfectly willing to flip burgers and babysit, and could have made my portion of the rent on the houseshare I grabbed off the back of the paper doing that. Have you run the numbers for that? Do you have a firm grasp of cost of living in SF, particularly at the broke end of the spectrum?
posted by DarlingBri at 11:55 PM on February 26, 2010
I was very lucky in that I got the very first job I interviewed for, and it was a great job. It helped that I had a decent amount of "what I've done" in my programming portfolio. You really need to have some current portfolio work (and I use the term "portfolio" loosely), even if it means freelancing for free. Contributing modules and code for core of substantial projects might also be a good way to add some depth to your CV.
What made the move possible for me, though, was that I was perfectly willing to flip burgers and babysit, and could have made my portion of the rent on the houseshare I grabbed off the back of the paper doing that. Have you run the numbers for that? Do you have a firm grasp of cost of living in SF, particularly at the broke end of the spectrum?
posted by DarlingBri at 11:55 PM on February 26, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ceri richard at 2:11 PM on February 26, 2010