smoorenc Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 I would move Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woldson Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 Gotcha ya:) I had no ill will and hope the best for you!! P.S. I do go to church and am Catholic, mabey that will help shed light on my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73DatsunZ Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 I don't know much about the SF Bay Area, but my dad applied and relocated to Santa Barbara CA and a house like ours there is like $600k. I have lived in Nevada and been to Reno a few times, but, If I were you bro, I'd move. $24k a year in Cali is horrible. Reno would be a new and awesome experience, and if you end up not liking it, I'm sure your boss could relocate you back? Just my 2 cents Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeZ Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 I agree. 24K in SF is bad. High school diploma will never get you or most people any place. Go back to school. I pay my drivers in Houston that much not to mention all of the other perks. If that isn't a possibility, I would move and go to a local community college part time. At least you don't have a wife, mortgage, and rug rats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73DatsunZ Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 x2 ^. I make like $9+ an hour now and I go to school full time at the community college. Its hard sometimes, but I manage to do alright for myself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240Z_478 Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Well housing and living is a little cheaper but still not going to be able to buy a house here in reno/sparks on that income I promise that! I make almost 50k and my wife almost the same and it has been really tough getting things in-line for a house. A condo might be ok for someone who is single. I thought you had mentioned a girlfriend that did not seem to want to come. I am in no means religious but I do have friends and family here and there are a quite a few good churches here that you could start a new "family" with. About the no smog thing not really going to happen here unless you live in fernley or carson, about 45 minutes away from town. But its not as strict here to get it smoged. Let me know if you do decide to come over here to Reno or have any other questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted January 10, 2008 Author Share Posted January 10, 2008 The girlfriend is currently talking about making the move with me if I do move. :S There will be a long talk involved about that one... Anyways, about the school advice - Yes I agree an education is good, but certainly not needed to make a good living. In the bay area especially experience is much better than anything else, and I've run and managed my own company doing IT repairs and such. I could make much more money in that field, but finding work lately has been tough and tiring. I've known plenty of YOUNG people able to make well over 70k here in CA with nothing more than a high school diploma, it's about finding the right company to hire you, and working your way up. Hence why I'm considering this move. Yes i'm making $12 and hour now. But if I'm still with this company in 10 years I should be making very good money. If things don't work out I'm thinking I'm gonna try to find an entry level position in marketing for one of the norcal pharmaceutical companies. Hardest part there is getting the interview, after that I'm sure I'd be fine. Right now I'm about 80-90% sure I'll be making the move. Been looking into the fernley which is outside the county, so no smog. My calculated commute is about 35 minutes on google, since I'll be working in sparks, near the city center I believe. I believe that the experience will be good for me, and I have much I can learn from my boss which will be more important than what I can learn in school. (he is a harvard business school graduate after all) I hope to make a trip up there in the near future to check out the area. Maybe I'll drive the Z up there if I get it running soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 "I've known plenty of YOUNG people able to make well over 70k here in CA with nothing more than a high school diploma, it's about finding the right company to hire you, and working your way up." Commission Based Sales. Fine if you can keep up that pace. I know plenty of line mechanics at dealerships in LA that make six figures, too! But it's line work, flatrated, plus parts commission. When you get to your 30's and your hands need to be soaked in icewater due to repetitive stress injuries, you reconsider your six figure salary and the toll it takes on your body. Sometimes it isn't all about the money. When you're young it's one thing. Sales takes it's toll in other ways, and education is always attractive. One thing I ALWAYS bargian for in lieu of salary is 'time off and paid schooling'...basically flex schedule to allow you to take continuing education and get your degree. It benefits both you and your employer to get more education, and when they are PAYING for it, it makes it a no-brainer for both entities. And later, when you jump ship for the next company offerring a 35% pay increase (I forecast in about 5 years...) you will have schooling to justify an even more exorbitant pay bump. And that degree? That will get you more. In technical trades, it can mean easily 30-40K per year more in base salary. You read it right. You are considering moving for a job that pays $40K...where likely if you had a Degree down the road, the difference in what you are paid will be $40K. Those high-school educated youngsters making $70K annually think they are doing well, and they are. But their counterparts with a degree in many cases are making $120K. It's just the way it is, not for everything but it is for many things... Just keep that in mind. Education pays in more ways than one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 This "you'll starve to death without a college degree" thing is one of my pet peeves. You don't need a piece of paper to make money. You might need a degree to get a particular job that starts with a high wage, but that is far from the only way to make money. I've worked for and with too many self educated and self made millionaires to believe the BS about college degrees being a prerequisite for a successful life. The pressure put on me as an adolescent to achieve in school and go to college made my middle and high school experience pure agony, caused me to rebel in a self-destructive way, and was in retrospect totally unnecessary. So far as I've been able to identify them, there are two main factors that dictate "success". Ambition is the most important, and intelligence is secondary, but also very helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240Z_478 Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 One thing to remember about fernley is that drive will kill a vehicle your talking almost 70 miles a day. Fernley also is still a growing town that only has two entrances into the town, and not much is out there yet. A forman at my work lives out there and the drive is getting to be worse due to the ammount of people and traffic moving out there. Houses are not much cheaper than they are here in sparks especially if you are just renting a house. So the wear and tear on the vehicles is almost not worth the $30,000.00 you will save buying in fernley. A better area to look into would be spanish springs (Certain areas are no smog) or North valleys, Stead area. Also you can just get a P.O. box in Fernley if no smog really means that much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil280zxt Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 I'd suggest visiting the area before hand to help make the decision if you haven't already done so. A nice weekend trip could help reduce alot of your fears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted January 14, 2008 Author Share Posted January 14, 2008 Latest update: I'll be applying for a job at a company my uncle works for. The job would be programming related, Access more specifically. I have a bit of programming experience, and I'm sure I can quickly get to a sufficiant level of skill for their requirements. Me and my uncle will be working over the next few weeks getting me up to speed in access programming, working on a project that will be a large part of my resume. They design/sell software for hospitals. Not all what they sell is their own stuff, but they're moving more and more into that market. The upside is that if I DO get the job, then it'll most likely pay a healthy starting $18/h or so, and be a work from anywhere type of job. The main office is located in concord, so even if I do have to commute, it's not bad and reverse commute still for me. Would actually be a shorter commute. The hard part will be convincing the man in charge that I'm up to the job. I interviewed before and apparently I spoke too much about my main passion, music, and that's what stuck in his mind. The other partners in the company love me already, and love my computer hardware background. So if this works out I guess i'll be staying in CA for a while Oh yea, and with this new job prospect, there's the flexability for me to possibly go to school at the same time. One of the owners sons works for the company and is also going to school full time, since he can work from anywhere (it's a virtual company for the most part). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 Moving from urban (and urbane) California to small-town Middle America can be a traumatic experience. I moved from Los Angeles to Dayton, Ohio in 2000. It felt like political exile to Siberia! The shock was staggering, and I’m still working through the depression that the move induced. I travel to Reno annually for an aerospace engineering technical conference; in fact, just came back from there last week. While every town must surely have its strong points, after a decade of annual trips to Reno, it strikes me as dreary and benighted. Unlike small towns in the periphery of a large city, Reno is isolated, and must fend for itself. But it lacks the authenticity of a self-sustaining town, trying instead to be a tourist trap like a mini-Las Vegas. Oh, and the winters are almost as brutal as in the Midwest. Regarding formal education vs. personal initiative and ambition… clearly one size doesn’t fit all, so consider: if you prefer a structured environment where you can concentrate on your technical area of expertise, then “corporate slavery†is the way to go, and an embossed fancy piece of paper is how to get there. Big corporations - and especially the biggest corporation of all, the federal government - loves fancy pieces of paper. If on the contrary you prefer seat-of-the-pants improvisation, devoting years on formal schooling may not be productive. Small businesses seem to care more about targeted expertise, such as familiarity with the latest programming language. Who among us doesn’t crave the romance of entrepreneurship, or at least the laid back social environment and “get it done†focus of a small shop? Big bureaucracies dawdle and run in circles, while small companies are agile and reward competence and hard work. Well, maybe. But later in life many people realize that the security and insulation of working for a large institution also has its benefits. This means that we lie to ourselves regarding our tolerance for risk, eschewing compromise from hubris rather than from conviction. My recommendation is: stay in the Bay Area, and take classes part time at the local community college while keeping your present job and looking for a better one. After a year or two at the community college, you can decide whether to get a technical certificate (Microsoft network administration, automotive electronics, whatever) or to transfer to a 4-year college for a Bachelor’s degree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 That's a tough call... I'm that entrepreneur that michael references in his note above... I also was that govi employee michael references in his note above... I'm also an employer who supplies workforce to the gov't. The gov't likes those pieces of paper, or equivolent experience. They really like a combo of the two. Whatever you do, you want to structure it such that you have health care, time off for sickness and mental health, and a career path that allows you to put money into a retirement account (Pre and post tax) so that you can afford to live reasonably comfortable long after you're done working. The person you are today will evolve in two decades into someone you do not recognize now. These "benefits" and "retirement plans" will mean more the older you get... But remember this: You will not be able to make up for the years you missed contributing to your own retirement plan. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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