Looking to change location, need advice
Looking to change location, need advice
(OP)
Hi,
I live in Minneapolis, MN. I just graduated from college with an Degree in Engineering Drafting and Design. I was looking to move in the upcoming months but am unaware of where there are good markets for young designers. I am open to any suggestions, I would love to hear about what type of market is out there. I know it is good around Minneapolis here, but like I said, I'd like to go out and start my life away from my hometown.
Any advice helps,
Thanks!
I live in Minneapolis, MN. I just graduated from college with an Degree in Engineering Drafting and Design. I was looking to move in the upcoming months but am unaware of where there are good markets for young designers. I am open to any suggestions, I would love to hear about what type of market is out there. I know it is good around Minneapolis here, but like I said, I'd like to go out and start my life away from my hometown.
Any advice helps,
Thanks!





RE: Looking to change location, need advice
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."
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RE: Looking to change location, need advice
MadMango had a great idea.
I'll add, don't even start looking at internet job boards and such. Cannot trust them at all these days.
You might look into the US Bureau of Labor Statistics -- http://www.bls.gov -- they keep data and publish trends based on geographic areas on just about every profession imaginable. You can find monthly historical data up to about 30 days ago, so you can spot your own growth areas with a little regression. If you pick the top five or ten MSMAs, you'll have a head start in your hunt.
Good luck!
Best to you,
Goober Dave
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RE: Looking to change location, need advice
Good luck,
Latexman
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
Your college should have a careers office of some sort. Most of their contacts are probably local, but see what they have out of town. Even for those local opportunties, note the indusrties that are hiring and search out more companies in the same industry.
Understand how recruiters work before you use one. They are an added cost to the employer. If you have the time and motivation, do your own search. The lack of a headhunter's fee will make you a more attractive candidate.
Some internet job boards are great for a discerning user. It helps to know what you want though and where you want it. Most of the results will be recruiters trying to make a buck, but you will get some results which are from employers. Indeed.com is my recommendation.
If you want to give piping design a go, you could move to Houston and be reasonably sure that you'll find work there right now.
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
-Seattle
-Portland
-San Francisco
-San Antonio
-Dallas
-Austin
All of these have seemed to appeal to us in terms of going somewhere new. Our goal is to have a place picked out in the next couple weeks so we can start this job search. Texas kind of has a one up on the rest, seeing as she has family there. But we are keeping an open mind to any advice we are given about those cities.
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
Consider life style. It will be very different in San Francisco than in San Antonio. Even if you find jobs that cover the different costs of living, will you be as happy shooting game, drinking beer, and cursing the government as you would be sipping fair trade, 100% organic, carbon neutral coffee while pondering the meaning of life and ways to raise taxes on the rich? Stereotypes? Yes. Grain of truth? I bet there is.
Your situation is not unlike mine when I got started. I followed my wife to a new city with great job markets for both of our lines of work. It worked out wonderfully and the lifestyle perfectly fits us.
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
This site might help, if you'd be interested in machine design http://www.caterpillar.com/careers
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
The best jobs are probably going to be in places you don't want to move to, or never considered.
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
I do get a few emails from recruiters trying to pull me out of WI to do design work in sunnier places.
San Francisco and Silicon Gulch are E X P E N S I V E ! A lot of money goes a little way there. Also a shortage of available women (if you swing that way), so best to import your own.
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
If you move toward a big metro area the cost of important things in your life can vary drastically more than the typical salary adjustments. So if you highly value owning a home with a yard and don't want to commute more than 30 minutes, you may have eliminated a lot of places on your list. For example if you like to play ice hockey (or cello) and you move to a place where you'll need public transit to travel more than a mile, that could be a mistake.
I spent my first year working in the neighboring state to where I grew up. It was generally very similar, but some of my favorite things to do were much less enjoyable there. Plus there were no singles in that town. So I spent many weekends going somewhere else. The job was terrific but I eventually had to move. A good job interview (and plenty of homework on your part) will help you understand whether you as an individual will be happy there.
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
Why not check around in town to see if there are any openings? I'd first see what the general demand might be for "draftsman jobs". I suspect they mainly need someone who is proficient in putting on screen the ideas of some other person, a real engineer. Then look at what the pay is.
It may inspire you to go on to more education, in the engineering field.
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
“Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.”
-Dalai Lama XIV
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
There are a LOT of O&G jobs in Texas right now - but they are geographically concentrated. Houston, Midland/Odessa, and the rural area SE of San Antonio (Centered around Karnes City, going in a band mostly NE/SW from there in the oil-rich ("wet") end of the Eagle Ford shale.)
Housing in Midland/Odessa and Eagle Ford areas sucks. Hard. Bring your own if you can, unless you like hot-bunking.
Pipelines and LNG export terminals are going gangbusters - West Texas oil is getting stuck in the Cushing, OK hub for the most part, and gas is stuck pretty much... everywhere. They have given up on any new production the "dry" end of the Eagle Ford and any other pure-gas or mostly-gas plays.
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
On the other hand the unemployment rate in Odessa is 3.2% and 3.1% in Midland as of last week.
B.E.
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
“Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.”
-Dalai Lama XIV
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
“Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.”
-Dalai Lama XIV
RE: Looking to change location, need advice
Hypothesis disproven, but the effects kinda suck.