Where should I live???

This is kinda random, but since this is a pretty geographically diverse group here I figured I'd ask y'all. I'm finishing Mechanical Engineering school in the spring, and at this point have no idea where I want to find a job. I went in to college with the idea of going into automotive, but since I've always got projects to work on at home, I'm no longer dead set on that idea. So really, I don't have a specific field I want to get in to, just something interesting and a good work environment. AND, I WANT TO LIVE SOMEWHERE COOL! I'm from WI, which is nice, and my wife is from IL, which is not, but we want to go somewhere else, at least for a few years. Thinking CO, WA, maybe CA, or even east coast direction, but really open to anything. (thinking mountains and/or oceans/lakes) We're big on the outdoors.

SO, I am looking for ANY and ALL opinions and thoughts. Think your state is cool? wish you could have lived somewhere in particular? or know of a dream company? just looking to grow my knowledge base. your input is appreciated! :yesb:

How about Calgary Alberta? We've got the stampede every year. Mountains only 20 min away. We have 7 ski resorts that are just as close. The bow river and nose hill park. Kananaskis provincial park with hikeing trails, bike trails, mountain climbing, white water rafting, tons of lakes, scuba diving. Banff national park with hot springs and hike/bike trails. And all year camping everywhere.

wa. near so much outdoors. boeing company

Lockheed Martin. Missile and air defense. Orlando, FL.

I had a roommate co-op with Kimberly-Clark near Seattle, WA. He loved that. Nice company too.

Don't know much about the ME field but as far as places to live Colorado and Utah seem to be pretty nice, I've always said if I ever moved out west it would probably be Boulder. As far as East Coast Asheville, NC and Blacksburg, VA are both cool places to live with easy access to hiking, skiing, white water rafting, etc. Also Research Triangle Park (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) area in NC is great for jobs and graduate school opportunities and is a stones throw from the Outer Banks (see my gallery for pics). The Uwharrie National Forest is not too far from there either, that's where Marlin, Joe Darlington, and a slew of other 'Zu folks go offroading several times a year (most notably Halowharrie this month).

Btw my wife is from Wisconsin (near Chippewa Falls) and she loves the mountains where we live (Asheville would be the same). You get the full range of seasons without the massive humidity of the East Coast or Southeast. If you have the money I would consider taking a trip to one or more of the areas you're interested in before you start applying for jobs, that way you have some idea where you want to be.

There are tons of folks out here in South-Eastern VA with govenment contracts in the engineering field. We have Langley Air Force Base, NAB Norfolk, Oceana Naval Air Station, Damn Neck Naval Base, Fort Story Army, and a few more I'm forgetting. Minutes to the ocean and a couple hours from ski resorts. Not to mention we need more VX out this way. :)

I moved to Colorado when I was 19 and I have never wanted to leave. There is so much to do in Colorado; skiing, boarding, rafting, climbing and 4 wheeling. The weather is mild compared to Wisconsin, I grew up in Iowa. The summers can be hold but there is almost no humidity. The winters are milder than you would think. Denver does have some heavy snow but generally only a couple of times each winter. There are some great companys as well, Martin Marietta, Ball, Sunstran and sevearl others. There is also that Colorado School of Mines and the University of Colorado for futher education, if you desire.

Montana.....Gorgeous

If you're thinking about Denver take a look at ADIC and StorageTek, they're two of the leading companies in the mass storage systems market and they manufacture robotic media libraries. I worked with their systems for the first 5 years out of college, pretty cool stuff.

Come to the DC metro area if you have a love for traffic, politics, and cookie cutter suburbanites.

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Originally Posted by WormGod

Come to the DC metro area if you have a love for traffic, politics, and cookie cutter suburbanites.

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Lol... true dat, true dat. I lived way down in Fredericksburg and I still hated the commuter traffic. I read once that the average new resident of the DC metro area only stays 4 years before moving away.

Steer clear... :yesy:

You did a good job on our state's many good qualities.... However you did forget to mention that we get a average of 260 pure sunny days a year.

I moved to CO over 20 years ago..... you would have to drag me out.

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Originally Posted by VX MileHigh

I moved to Colorado when I was 19 and I have never wanted to leave. There is so much to do in Colorado; skiing, boarding, rafting, climbing and 4 wheeling. The weather is mild compared to Wisconsin, I grew up in Iowa. The summers can be hold but there is almost no humidity. The winters are milder than you would think. Denver does have some heavy snow but generally only a couple of times each winter. There are some great companys as well, Martin Marietta, Ball, Sunstran and sevearl others. There is also that Colorado School of Mines and the University of Colorado for futher education, if you desire.

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Originally Posted by JAMAS

Montana.....Gorgeous

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I agree! But freakin' cold.

I don't want to make this thread sound like a broken record but CO is awesome for almost everything outdoors. CO does lack in large bodies of water, so consider that an issue if boating is your thing. My wife and I are CO natives and have no plans to ever leave.

x2 for VX Mile High & VXsport's comments AND you get a big VX community on CO... :thumbup:

Also, a friend of mine is a mechanical engineer and works at Lockheed Martin in South Denver.

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Originally Posted by VXorado

I don't want to make this thread sound like a broken record but CO is awesome for almost everything outdoors. CO does lack in large bodies of water, so consider that an issue if boating is your thing. My wife and I are CO natives and have no plans to ever leave.

x2 for VX Mile High & VXsport's comments AND you get a big VX community on CO... :thumbup:

Also, a friend of mine is a mechanical engineer and works at Lockheed Martin in South Denver.

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I agree! But freakin' cold. :bwgy:

Go West my son, go West.

I moved out here from Chicago 6 years ago. There is NO comparison. Set your VehiCROSS free!!!

Bart

Awesome guys this is helpful! Also, I didn't know all those companies were in Colorado. They're kind of up my ally since I've spent some time in aerospace at Sundstrand already. Its harder than it sounds to search companies by city. I went to Denver once and LOVED it, so leaning that direction, but I want to keep my eyes and mind open to all other ideas too.

KEEP IT UP! more opinions welcome, this is a major decision (duh...) so the more I know the better. I'd like to do some visiting. I'm hoping to get a couple places to fly me out for interviews if I can manage it. :yeso:

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Originally Posted by nfpgasmask

Go West my son, go West.

I moved out here from Chicago 6 years ago. There is NO comparison. Set your VehiCROSS free!!!

Bart

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Too freakin' cold there too! I am West (of you, lol).

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Originally Posted by Maddawg

Too freakin' cold there too! I am West (of you, lol).

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Reno? Cold? Naaaa. Chicago is cold. Wisconsin is cold. That place where Dub lives, is stupid cold. Reno has very mild weather in my opinion. I like 40s/50s/60s/70s. Outside of that is too cold or too hot.

Bart

If you like mountains or skiing, move to NH.

This should have been a poll thread, but I'm going to pitch in my two cents for WA. You get mountains, desert, snow, ocean, all within a few hours of each other! :)

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Originally Posted by HeckaTrebeka

This should have been a poll thread, but I'm going to pitch in my two cents for WA. You get mountains, desert, snow, ocean, all within a few hours of each other! :)

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You should work for the Chamber of Commerce, or do you, lol??:bwgy::bwgy:
You didn't mention the fog, rain for about six months a year. :yesy::yesy::yesy:

Well if we are planning someone else's life. I think to stay in the automotive industry I would pick a small village called Sant'Agata Bolognese or perhaps the larger city Maranello.

Hmmm, trying to think of how to promote Oklahoma. Our license plate slogan used to be "Oklahoma is OK" which I always thought was the same as putting on, "Hi, we're mediocre." :)

Seriously, though... if you spend a little time looking around - it's actually kinda neat! Desert-like scrub in the southwest, some big sand dune-y areas in the northwest and hills / forests in the east. Lots of great fishing lakes & rivers and the Wichita Mountain range (while ancient and worn down to nubs) are awesome for hiking, climbing and exploring. Most of these various terrains are about 2-3 hours away from the near-exact center of the state, Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City-life is also also diverse. Like any major city there are rich and impoverished areas intermixed with phenomenally wonderful schools and universities. Rabid allegiance to collage sports, OKC Thunder basketball and minor league hockey & baseball. We have plenty of world class employers interested in engineering talent.

Housing? Cost of living? WOW! Cheap, cheap, cheap!

May not be a first choice for those not willing to go out of their way for outdoor excitement, but due to the low cost of living is a prime early retirement spot.

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Originally Posted by Maddawg

You should work for the Chamber of Commerce, or do you, lol??:bwgy::bwgy:
You didn't mention the fog, rain for about six months a year. :yesy::yesy::yesy:

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Haha, well if I sound like I'm promoting Washington, it's because I've lived here almost all my life(with one year lived in AZ) ;po;

We just had an end to this year's 80 day drought which, IMHO, I can't wait to bring on the rain! But really, there are desert areas of Washington which do not see that much rain. Overall, Washington is drier than most other states. It's just the western coast of Washington that gets most the rain. I would say more like 9 months out of the year! I live on the rainy side of WA, but I love the rain and it really help you to appreciate the summer months when it's hot and dry out here. :supercool

I'll add another vote for Colorado. Wasn't enthralled with the Fredericksburg/DC area. MD is a pit. Orlando is like Hampton Roads for me... great for work and play for a while, but it gets old quick. I will say that if you can find someone to pay you to live out here, Hawaii doesn't suck. When that gets old for me, I'll try the Pacific Northwest next (unless I can con someone into paying me to live in NZ) before I return to Colorado.

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Originally Posted by nfpgasmask

I like 40s/50s/60s/70s. Outside of that is too cold or too hot.

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Originally Posted by HeckaTrebeka

We just had an end to this year's 80 day drought which, IMHO, I can't wait to bring on the rain!

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X2 on both:yesb:

If you're not living in California you're in denial. :yeso: :yeso: :yeso: :yeso: :yeso: :yeso: :yeso: :yeso:

Another vote for CO here. There is absolutely every outdoor activity possible, plus the general public is the friendliest i've ever met. Our general cost of living is pretty reasonable, definately much cheaper than any of the coasts.

Plus it never hurts to live in a state where there is a big following of 'car buffs'. Like Jon said, more sunshine than any other state.
Sure, there are about 3-4 months of the year where its chilly and snows, but its nothing compared to where you are now, much drier and it melts by the next day, and the weather is back up to mid 60's.
some of the cheapest gas in the nation, which doesnt hurt when you drive a VX ;-)

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Originally Posted by pbkid

Another vote for CO here. There is absolutely every outdoor activity possible, plus the general public is the friendliest i've ever met. Our general cost of living is pretty reasonable, definately much cheaper than any of the coasts.

Plus it never hurts to live in a state where there is a big following of 'car buffs'. Like Jon said, more sunshine than any other state.
Sure, there are about 3-4 months of the year where its chilly and snows, but its nothing compared to where you are now, much drier and it melts by the next day, and the weather is back up to mid 60's.
some of the cheapest gas in the nation, which doesnt hurt when you drive a VX ;-)

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Aaaand with legalization just around the corner... :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

You know.

Going off topic ... but not too far:

Does it really matter where you live? Engin-nerds are globally type classified. :)

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Originally Posted by pbkid

...Our general cost of living is pretty reasonable, definately much cheaper than any of the coasts...

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This might be true of the West Coast (especially California) but it isn't true of the entire East Coast by a long shot. Boston, New York, DC, Miami for sure, but there are a lot of cheap places to live between.

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Originally Posted by HeckaTrebeka

Aaaand with legalization just around the corner... :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

You know.

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around the corner? you mean on every corner, right? Its legal here now, if thats your thing.

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Originally Posted by vt_maverick

This might be true of the West Coast (especially California) but it isn't true of the entire East Coast by a long shot. Boston, New York, DC, Miami for sure, but there are a lot of cheap places to live between.

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didnt know that, ive only lived in Cali, never been to the east, but i hear its expensive.

There is only one answer: Austin, Texas. It's like Texas, without all those idiot redneck Texans. In brief:
1) Excellent weather. Maybe a bit hot in August, but we have cold beer for that.
2) Tons of outdoor activities: 4 wheelin', fishin', campin', hills, beaches, Big Bend, Piney Woods, Corpus Christie, kayaking, bicycling, dog parks... um... food... rodeos... the Alamo, with Pee Wee's bike in the basement...
3) Low cost of living, relative to so many other "popular" areas.
4) VIBRANT economy, with tons of jobs for engineers and such.
5) Strong housing market: low enough prices to buy what you want, with good year-to-year appreciation.
6) All of the benefits of being both a capitol city and a university city. Lots of money for schools and other infrastructure.
7) South By South West and Austin City Limits music festivals!!! We're the self-proclaimed "Live Music Capitol of the World!"
8) Breakfast tacos.

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Originally Posted by pbkid

around the corner? you mean on every corner, right? Its legal here now, if thats your thing.

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Decriminalization is there. Not Legalization. HUGE difference when it comes to this, class 1 felony, drug.

Ditto on PHO2GR4's recommendation, my wife just visited there a few months ago and loved it.

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Originally Posted by vt_maverick

Ditto on PHO2GR4's recommendation, my wife just visited there a few months ago and loved it.

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The city motto is: "Keep Austin Wierd".

Who wouldn't want to live there???

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Originally Posted by tom4bren

The city motto is: "Keep Austin Wierd".

Who wouldn't want to live there???

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I think you have that wrong "Keep Boulder Wierd". If is was going to move any where in Texas it would be Austin. I visited the city and it was very nice. I like Colorado much better but there is a lot to be said about Austin.

I've thought about Austin. It probably would be a "smart" choice since its cheap and there's tons of jobs from what I understand, and I know people love it there.... but I don't do heat.... Even this summer in IL made me lazy and not want to go outside much. My wife and I do much better in cooler weather. Plus we love snowboarding :bwgy:

Then I think CO or UT really are your best options...