Thinking of moving to Dallas (1 Viewer)

[Kelley_B]

After another great weekend trip to Dallas me and my soon to be wife are thinking more and more about packing up the home theater and our two weiner dogs and moving down to Dallas. What we need to know is how is the IT job market down there. I looked on Monster.com and there looked to be a lot of jobs out there, but I want someone to back this up who actually lives there. I have no degree(some college credit hours) and no certs, but I am going into my 3rd year of IT work(systems analyst, ASP developer, Server Tech, Unix Admin, I have a lot of different things).
Also what is the cost of living in that area, and if we want a house where would be the place to get one at. Anything else we should know before we decide to do this? We are both just sick and tired of living in Tulsa, OK. There is nothing here to do, we just feel too young to sit around and do nothing all the time, we want somewhere to go to and to do something, we want options, we want out of this place.

 

[James Nguyen]

Kelley,
a good friend of mine just moved out to Dallas from CA to work as a SQL Server DBA. His general comments were that the IT market is a bit shakey, but in general more stable right now than either of the coasts right now. Because much of the Internet boom occured in the West and East coasts, more of the layoffs are thus occuring there. That's not to say that the market is shrinking a bit, he mentioned noticing fewer postings toward the end of his job search compared with just two months prior.
I really don't know how expensive it is to live in OK, but I too also recently moved to TX (Houston) from CA. For me, was definitely a nicer cost of living, but CA and OK are apples and oranges. My friends who now live in Houston but who've lived in Dallas say that the housing costs in general are comparable...i.e. you have your nicer neighborhoods, your middle of the road suburbs, and so forth. I've recently looked at a few homes and condos in "pretty good" parts of town in Houston and am running into a price range of about 190 to 240K or so? Fairly nice places, typically 3,4 bedroom, around the 2500 to 3500 square foot range or so.
Your mileage may vary, but good luck though!

 

[BrianB]

Also what is the cost of living in that area, and if we want a house where would be the place to get one at. Anything else we should know before we decide to do this? We are both just sick and tired of living in Tulsa, OK. There is nothing here to do, we just feel too young to sit around and do nothing all the time, we want somewhere to go to and to do something, we want options, we want out of this place.

Cost of living is good in DFW - no state income tax for starters. Car insurance would be higher than Tulsa, I'd imagine... Housing costs are good, plenty of good homes/sites available, plenty of apartments for rent too...
The tech bust has hurt the area though - a lot of telecom people have lost jobs. American Airlines is one of the biggest employers in the area, and they've laid off a bunch of staff too. I'm unsure of the jobmarket in your field though.
http://nt.mortgage101.com/partner-scripts/1150.asp?p=tgilley&pw=600
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Nothing In Particular

 

[Kelley_B]

quote: One thing to note, Kelley, I've yet to find a decent independent gameshop in the DFW area[/quote]
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! But still there are no good indies in Tulsa. I have to get all my stuff from a guy based out of Columbus.
BTW: We went through Irving when we got lost on Saturday.
[Edited last by Kelley_B on October 08, 2001 at 01:24 PM]

 

[BrianB]

BTW: We went through Irving when we got lost on Saturday.

You must REALLY have been lost. Where were you heading to?
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Nothing In Particular

 

[ikiru]

The cost of living here may be cheap, but the job market is not that good. There has been a rash of layoffs at major telecommunications companies and there are a ton of people that are jobless with your qualifications or more. It all comes down to how good you are in your interview. I personally dont interview well so I am glad I still have a job.
If you do find something, I highly recommend moving here. The people here are great and there are plenty of places to go out to eat
Anyway, good luck!
-ikiru
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*Enjoy the Sauce*

 

[Kelley_B]

I think a lot of my thoughts are coming from the fact that whatif I get the laidoff from my company, who just friday cut 20% of its workforce. Then what am i going to do. In Tulsa there are no jobs open for IT workers, but in Dallas there were tons opened.
I normally do really well in interviews, matter in fact I have never not gotten a job that I have interviewed for, and I have had 4 jobs. I have this ability to adapt to the person I am talking to and make it seem like I am just like them and that we should be best buddies.

 

[BrianB]

I normally do really well in interviews, matter in fact I have never not gotten a job that I have interviewed for, and I have had 4 jobs. I have this ability to adapt to the person I am talking to and make it seem like I am just like them and that we should be best buddies.

Great ability to have!
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Nothing In Particular

 

[Jason L.]

The IT field has been hit hard in Big D. The big fallout has been with the Telcos. Nortel, Alcatel, Nokia, Ericsson, as well as the smaller players all have operations here and have had major layoffs. Cisco canceled a big facility they were beginning to build here.
Other IT players in the area include Texas Instruments, EDS, Perot Systems, Yahoo! [the former Broadcast.com part] and others. Microsoft has a big campus here [primarily support positions].
Other DFW-based companies include American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Sabre, Exxon, GTE [or what's left of it], JC Penney, Brinker International, CompUSA, Frito-Lay, The Associates [or what's left of it].
Don't get cocky about your interviewing skills. I too had an offer for every job I applied for, but this is a whole new ballgame. Our company recently had a position for a web developer and we had 300 resumes to go through.
You aren't that far away from Dallas. You could probably set up interviews here and take the day off and drive here for an interview.
Oh yeah, if you do move to Dallas, the first thing that you must learn is that: HOUSTON SUCKS!

 

[James Nguyen]

Oh yeah, if you do move to Dallas, the first thing that you must learn is that: HOUSTON SUCKS!

If I had any sense of civic pride in H-Town I'd try to defend my city's honor, but honestly, I'm not that big a fan of the place either.

Born and raised in Southern California, spent much of my college years doing research in the San Francisco bay area and Berkeley, so I'm very much impartial to the Golden State.
Dallas (and Houston) have their charms when I had the chance to visit for a bit, but yeah, soon as the fiancee is done with med school, I'm packing up and leaving again!!