Looking to move - where to go?

[Mastrogiacomo]

The long and short - I'm a federal employee in the wrong field and making $27,000 a year. There's no real chance of advancement or pay increase. I have a M.Ed., and a certificate in Homeland Defense - which is the field I'd like to work. I'd love it to be in counter terrorism but here's the situation. I'm past the cut off age for special agents so that's out (and probably any job requiring a firearm because of this stupid policy). I'd love it not to be a desk job doing admin since I didn't go to school for that. My parents said they'd move with me if I go to help each other out financially. Question is where to move? My mother is Sicilian and would love to be in a place near other Italians, close to the city but not in it (I love cities myself). She doesn't like Florida or really hot states. I'm thinking D.C. but not to live there because of the gun laws - I'd probably live in Virginia and commute. Which is better for gun rights - North or West Virginia? Also, what are some other areas I could look at for good quality of life: taxes, medical, gun rights? I'm open to possibilities as Massachusetts has zero opportunities in Homeland Security or damn near anything else. There's no point wasting any more years for jobs that aren't opening up. Thanks.

 

[Preacherman]

Mastro, you have PM.

 

[Live Free Or Die]

If you're looking for an easy move, how 'bout New Hampshire? It's very close to where you live now, the gun laws are far better than Mass, it ranks near the top of most quality-of-living indexes, no income tax, etc. I can't offer any suggestions about your career though. Maybe find a job working at Sig in Exeter. At least you'd be working with guns.

 

[Mastrogiacomo]

I'd like to stay federal - like to - but not written in stone given the lovely opportunities I've got here. I do look in NH - not against that, or New York, or Maryland, etc. I simply don't have hope for advancement in my current job. I can't spend the next five or six years with such little pay because I worked too hard in school (and out) to better myself. They say the government is always hiring the handicapped. Not true - they give us the lowest paying jobs when they do hire and believe it or not, I was once given a rejection letter saying I wasn't qualified for a part-time position involving scanning and faxing. You can't be serious....

With all this talk of Homeland Defense looking for women to join the ranks, you'd think they'd at least be sincere. It's a wasteland in my state. BTW, I did look into Beretta to see if they were hiring....

 

[Bob F.]

WV's eastern panhandle. Beautiful country and close enough (for some, too close for others) to DC. Gun friendly. I'm in southern WV, Princeton right on I-77/US460. Job ops not great but you have some qualifications.

Good luck, and stay safe.
Bob

 

[hillbilly]

Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Georgia all come to mind for me.

But then again, I'm a native southerner (or Southron, as some prefer) and my thin blood is used to hot, humid summers.

hillbilly

 

[Aguila Blanca]

With all this talk of Homeland Defense looking for women to join the ranks, you'd think they'd at least be sincere. It's a wasteland in my state. BTW, I did look into Beretta to see if they were hiring....

What about forming your own security/homeland defense consulting business?

 

[MICHAEL T]

What about forming your own security/homeland defense consulting business?

Now their is a man with a plan. In todays troubled times you would have a market.

 

[geekWithA.45]

Say, what skills/abilities does a cert in Homeland Security actually certify? Kinda hard to suggest ideas without knowing that.

That being said, offhand I'm thinking private sector, lots of corporations have the need to come up with some sort of plan/liason, and you could probably triple your salary in the process. There's lots of really big buildings out there sans clue.

27k/yr with a masters? Yeesh. I mean no offense, but you're _massively_ underpaid.

 

[garyk/nm]

Hmmm...gun nut with teaching skills AND homeland defense credentials?
Check this out: http://respond.emrtc.nmt.edu/
Go west, young lady!
Not exactly big city, but close enough to one that it is not a major pain to get there. Oh, and we have cowboys too!

 

[Oldtimer]

HMM! Good question! What DOES a Homeland Security certification consist of? How would a person acquire such a certificate? Does your certificate show a field of "expertise" you are qualified in, or is it a "general" document of some sort of certification?

With an M.ED, you should be able to qualify for most teaching positions, and would surely make more than 27K for starters, WITH advancement opportunities.

I'm sure that you would LIKE to stay within federal employment, probably for retirement benefits, BUT don't overlook the private sector.

One of my good friends was recently hired by Northrup/Grumman, as a "junior" engineer, and only had an AA degree, at age 40! He started off at an "hourly" rate of $52! (The only "drawback", per se, is that Northrup/Grumman is based in So Cal, where the "median" price of homes is well above $500K).

Lot's of Italians here in sunny So Cal! Capice?

 

[TooTaxed]

Suggest you check out the foriegn officers' training school at Fort Benning, just outside Columbus, GA...and also the Infantry Training school. I'm sure you can locate them on the internet.

Columbus is a great place to live...small enough to be comfortable, inexpensive living, large enough to have rather excellent cultural facilities, including Columbus State University, excellent Jazz Society ($35/year), fully restored Springer Opera House, and a modern Convention and Cultural Arts Center, both with schedules of traveling performances from major players...have tickers to Riverdance this Thursday. Excellent fishing in adjacent lakes, nearby deer and boar hunting. Truly one of the US's great undiscovered places to live. You can check out the annual weather statistics on the Internet.

Georgia has among the most lenient gun laws in the nation...one does not even have to take and pass a course to get a carry permit. And, you can shoot on the Fort Benning Rifle and Pistol Club's English Range, open to the public...where you can set targets to 400-yd and hit 360 and 500-yd gongs. Membership is only $60/year.

 

[tegemu]

I see that you have ruled out Fla because of the heat. Please consider this, Northern Florida is cooler than South Florida and most importantly - everything here is air conditioned and unless your Mom plans to spend a lot of time outdoors, the heat won't matter that much. Another consideration, the cost of living here is MUCH less than it is in the Northeast. As you can see I am a Floridian and hence somewhat biased. Orange Park is on the border of Jacksonville. In any case I wish you success in your search. Wherever you land, "May you and your Mom's worst days there be no worse than my best here." Slainte

 

[rick_reno]

Have you considered starting an oil company? I've read they're doing really well right now, and you could be a tycoon almost instantly.

As for your move, you'd be hard pressed to find a place worse than where you are.

 

[HankB]

. . . a certificate in Homeland Defense . . .

I've never heard of such a thing, so like a few others, I'm curious . . . exactly WHAT does such a certificate signify? Classes completed? Skills acquired? Enquiring minds want to know . . .

With a M.Ed you should be able to get a job above $27k annually.

 

[Wedge]

I would look into Upstate New York (not to be confused with other parts of NY). Monroe county is pretty much shall issue (got my permit in under 49 days), hunting is good, cost of living is reasonable, Italian-American's are abundant (while I am not, I think everyone in my family except my two parents married an Italian and is from Western NY).

The downside is subsidizing NYC (high state income taxes) and putting up with two crappy senators...though if you are living in MA there won't be much difference.

I moved to Texas due to work, but if I had been able to get a job in the Rochester area I would not have moved. Although that is because I had some roots in the area. There are some great things about Upstate, but they have to be weighed against other things that are important to you. I don't know what the federal jobs are like, but they are probably in Buffalo and that means you have to commute so you don't have to live in Erie county...

Oh yeah, Rochester is the snowiest city in the country (Buffalo is second and city is defined as over 200,000) so that might sway your decision.

If you want a handgun I would recommend against living in Erie county (where Buffalo is). They are very bad about issuing permits and they almost always come with restrictions. Same thing for Genesee county - target and hunting. Wayne county is good but you will forever be labeled a 315'er. The only downside for Monroe county is Rochester itself is a very violent city, and not recommended that you travel it unarmed, alone or lost.

 

[Smurfslayer]

At 27k / year, West-by-Gawd-VA is viable. If you're not raking in more household income, you'll have difficulty finding a cardboard shanty in Northern Virginia for that. :banghead: :banghead: If you don't mind roommates, you might be able to swing renting a house with some people, but that can get old pretty fast.

www.washingtonpost.com - consistently has one of the best employment sections of any paper I've seen, (sunday edition). Northern Virginia has a cr@pload of jobs in the tech field, but the .gov stuff is typically close to DC.

Good luck...

 

[Working Man]

My mother's family is Sicilian as well, I think some on my fathers too come to
Texas. We need more Italians around.

 

[Otherguy Overby]

I have a M.Ed., and a certificate in Homeland Defense - which is the field I'd like to work.

Much of flyover country is in search of good teachers. I could suggest several quite good schools to talk with in the No Central Ozarks of Arkansas. PM me for info.

http://www.acc.k12.ar.us/ADE/recruitment_efforts.htm

Also there are incentive programs in more than a few states to encourage teachers to move there.

Another source:

http://teachers-teachers.com/

 

[LS]

At 27k / year, West-by-Gawd-VA is viable. If you're not raking in more household income, you'll have difficulty finding a cardboard shanty in Northern Virginia for that. :banghead: :banghead: If you don't mind roommates, you might be able to swing renting a house with some people, but that can get old pretty fast.

www.washingtonpost.com - consistently has one of the best employment sections of any paper I've seen, (sunday edition). Northern Virginia has a cr@pload of jobs in the tech field, but the .gov stuff is typically close to DC.

Good luck...

Pretty much the same thing applies to Maryland, at least Mongomery County.

 

[Oleg Volk]

Tennessee...just ask Tamara or Kaylee.

 

[Mastrogiacomo]

All things to think of, thanks for the feedback. My mother is flat out against Florida - just doesn't like it so there's no moving her on that subject. As far as the other areas like Texas, Vermot, Virgina - I'm open. I had thought about upstate New York but the property tax is high and I'd need a really good job. Unlikely...

A certificate in Homeland Defense is basicially an over view on the study of Terrorism. It's a boost if you can find work in Homeland Security, some colleges offer a B.A. in this area but it's still new so it's anyone's guess where it'll lead.

 

[NHBB]

come on up to NH, most of your mass brethren already live here anyways and bring their anti gun and lefty politics with them yet reap all that this state has to offer as opposed to MA. the more pro 2nd types here the better to offset the southern horde who would like nothing more to turn this state into north mass.

 

[Old Dog]

Have you thought about the Pacific NorthWest? If you're already in the federal civil service ... tons of those jobs up here -- every agency in the country has at least one Seattle office, not to mention the many (large) military bases here (Army, Air Force, Navy), government hospitals ... With an master's in education, there are a number of training jobs available up here as well as many legal, administrative, clerical, human resources, information systems, security and other occupational fields that you might qualify for based on your credentials and years of service. You might try a quick check by state of USAJobs ... (By the way, with a masters, you could qualify at least to GS-9, which is considerably more -- especially given the cost of living difference and no state income tax in WA -- than 27 gs a year.)

Our climate is generally mild, unless you live near/in, or east of, the mountains ... Great gun laws, beautiful scenery ...

 

[Wedge]

All things to think of, thanks for the feedback. My mother is flat out against Florida - just doesn't like it so there's no moving her on that subject. As far as the other areas like Texas, Vermot, Virgina - I'm open. I had thought about upstate New York but the property tax is high and I'd need a really good job. Unlikely...

A certificate in Homeland Defense is basicially an over view on the study of Terrorism. It's a boost if you can find work in Homeland Security, some colleges offer a B.A. in this area but it's still new so it's anyone's guess where it'll lead.

I don't think you would need that good of a job. We had a friend...she was a teacher in a more rural district. Bought a house. She makes about $35k which is on the low side for teachers in NY. She is able to afford it on her own. Property taxes aren't that high. Her house was about $100,000 and she sits on around an acre. Her property taxes can't be that high, I bet her monthly mortgage (P&I, taxes) is under $1000. My wife is a teacher and she supported the both of us while I finished up my job when we lived in NY. I am talking UPSTATE. I am talking I would drive for 40 minutes and be in the middle of nowhere to go hunting and shooting. If you are worried about property taxes you just have to make sure you aren't living in a fancy community with good schools and you have to be well away from NYC. You would have the same problems in Texas.

Districts are hiring in NY, and you need to have a Masters to get a job so you have that requiremnt down. Just need permanent certification and you have 3-5 years to get it.

All that said...Texas is way better than NY, and after living here I won't ever move back. Partly due to no jobs in my field and partly due to my absolute hatred of the cold. But if you need to stay more in the northeast I think it is a real option and shouldn't be discounted right away. I am sure that cost of living is cheaper than Boston. I remember when I lived in Lynn, MA how expensive my apartment was to rent and I was in a very unsafe area.