Want to move to Texas

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eatont9999

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The Lone Star State
I have been applying for jobs in Texas since the spring. I have had no real luck yet. I live in The People's Republik of Massachusetts right now. I was born in Houston and spent a lot of time in the Sealy, TX area. Keep in mind this was over a decade ago. I like living in a small town with few people to bother me. My problem is I have IT qualifications and that is what I do for work. I would love to find a job in a small town and own a house on a bunch of land, but I do not see any IT jobs available in small towns. It looks like I am going to have to commute into a city for work. Does anyone here know of a nice city in TX that I can commute to while living in the country? I don't want to sit in 3 hours of traffic to get to work either.

Any ideas?

P.S. It would also be nice to be able to shoot guns on my property. Any info on this, TX people?
 
What is an "IT" job?
Click to expand...

Information Technology (computers)

-------------------------------------------------------------

I go to Texas several times a year. Mainly the panhandle. Amarillo is nice, and I'd guess approx 250,000 population. You can buy some flat, no frills, farm land for $100-$200/acre FWIH.

You'd better enjoy desert heat.
 
You'll have a 45-70 mile commute from any city of substance to any land suitable for hunting and shooting. I live in the DFW area, and it's growing very rapidly - so much so that land that was huntable 10 years ago is all suburbs today. I'd suggest that west of Ft Worth is probably a decent place to start looking for a homestead suitable for shootin' sports and still within range of a job market.

The ranch that I hunt on is north/west of DFW, up past Bridgeport. You could make that work, if you were willing to drive an hour and work in Denton. Land up that way will not be cheap - $3k-$5K per acre last I looked, and more if it has a natural source of water on it. If not, make sure that you can put in stock ponds....

South of DFW thins out rapidly in terms of development, and land between DFW and Waco/Austin might work for you and open up multiple job markets for you.
 
Try Arkansas. The Rogers Fayetteville area isn't all that bad a place to live. BTW we also know what IT jobs are. ;)
 
Well, I live right down on the southern edge. There are IT jobs to be had in McAllen, Mission, Harlingen, Brownsville (if you're desperate), and all along the lower valley. Land is cheap, hunting's good, and it's a good reason to learn Spanish.

Hotter than the hinges of Hades during the summer, but an easy drive to South Padre Island.

It all balances out.
 
Well, it depends on two things, what sort of IT you do, and/or ar certified for. It also depends on your ability to handle "sticker shock" of sorts.

here's one in my town: https://tamujobs.tamu.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1251152186703

You should check in Austin, and also Fredricksburg. Note that the area between San Antonio and Austin has a number of places with varying levels of "urban" going on, and all still under a hour to 'rural.' So, a person could live in the outskirts of, say Pfleugerville or Dripping Springs or Driftwood, and commute equally to Austin, San Marcos or the like. Job in San Antonio, you can live out in hellotes, or Banderra or Sabinal or the like and be right out of town and still near enough to get to work.

There's likely some work going in the Waco/Temple/Killeen area; probably plenty arounf the big hospitals in Temple and arounf the VA in Waco--but, that's flatland, too, almost more rural than urban.

I'd stay away from DFW, it's gone urban even in the country around there. You have to make enough to have a weekend place 2, maybe 3, counties away. pay is good, plenty of work advertised; but very, very urban, evein FW and Mid Cities.

My area is still full of IT jobs, but, they will all be paying in the bottom quarter if not the bottom tenth of national wage averages. (We have an artificial wage suppression from all of the students, and spouses-of-students, who can be hired cheaply.) But, you can get a nice starter house very reasonably (14-1500 sf, $125K new/$95K used). Ag-use land on the edges of the county are going for $5-6000 per acre.

PM me if you'd like a few more details.
 
I have actually applied for jobs in many of the towns mentioned in the above posts. Bryan is a college town, so a lot of the Tech jobs are taken by graduates more "qualified" than I. That is on paper of course. Temple is a place I have looked. I know some Spanish, but I generally refuse to speak it to people based on the principle of it. I have more experience than I do certifications. I have an Associate's degree in CIS (computer science) and about 3 1/2 years of work experience. I have a lot of experience with many different things. I currently have to do things from change toner to configure services on Linux servers. I know my stuff and what I don't know, I find out. Very little can stop me.

I have a resume if anyone has a lead.

How much land do I need to be able to target shoot or maybe hunt without getting into trouble. I was thinking maybe 10 acres at least, but I don't know.

Thanks.
 
Look these up,

Frost, Emhouse, Rice, Barry, Blooming Grove. They're all small towns(less than 5k) and within an hour of D/FW

You can shoot on an acre or two really, as long as you've got a good backstop and you're not in the county.
 
Land near Seguin is going at decent prices right now. That's about 10min from new braunfels, which itself is between san antonio and austin. Seguin, being a college town, might not be what you're looking for though. It is nice, however. I plan on getting land out that direction asap.
 
Having lived in the DFW area as a kid/teen, I'd much rather reside in the hill country than that megaplex concrete jungle. I went back there a couple years ago to visit Dad in Grand Prairie and was shocked how they just paved over every little patch of green I remember as a kid.

Might look at San Antonio/Austin area if you like to look at anything besides buildings.
 
I live in Lubbock and commute to Seagrave, Tx 9exactly 62 miles). It takes me exactly one hour to make the drive. There's lots of good hunting in the Seagraves area - between Loop, Lamesa, Seagraves, etc. The hog problem is getting serious enough that the landowners are paying people to shoot 'em (also the coyote problem)
 
Not entirely on topic, but I'm in Austin, unemployed, with a similar background (Software Engineering/Development), and I'm having a REALLY tough time finding job openings.

There are areas around Austin that you can commute from the country to the city, but expect to pay A LOT of money as land in the Hill Country can be quite expensive. If you want to go semi-rural, you could probably live south of Austin and commute in to the technology corridor without too much trouble, but you probably won't be able to get enough land to do much, if any shooting on.

Good luck on your job search, I hope you find something soon (but not before I find something :D).
 
I too have Texas dreams..............
The company I work for has no openings anywhere in TX, I want San Antonio.
P.s. even the wife is willing. :)
 
Jobs are fairly tough to come by right now, even here in Texas where the recession has been far less severe than in other places.

One thing to consider, that has not been mentioned, is that the cost of living in Texas will be substantially less than in Mass. The large cities are, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston area, Austin and San Antonio. Most of the population (and jobs) will be around those areas. San Antonio has the lowest cost of living among the large cities. It is very affordable.

You can get land as little as a 45 minute commute from downtown SA... price per acre will vary quite a bit depending on where the land is located. North of SA (hillcountry) will be much more expensive than South of SA (brush country).

Good luck on your job search!
 
Look at the mid size towns, the same jobs are there too and a much more enjoyable way of life.......stay out of the huge metropolitan and border areas.

Look at Amarillo, Lubbock, Tyler/Longview, Abilene, Waco, Midland/Odessa, Corpus Christi, Texarkana, Beaumont, etc,.......

All in the 100,000 population range. Traffic jams are a rarity or non existent in these areas.

This should help.
 
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I have been focusing most of my efforts in the Austin, San Antonio and some DFW. I decided Houston is too big for me. I remember when Katy was a small town on the outskirts of Houston. It is sad to see the country way of life being extinguished at such a fast pace. Next thing we know, TX will be as liberal as MA. I hope that never happens, but that seems to be the way this country wants to go. No guns, no religion, no standards, no morals; just video games, "reality" TV, political correctness, pop culture, "love" and "peace."

Austin Community College wanted to interview me, but they had set dates and refused to do a phone interview. I could not drive down there with out quitting my job without notice and being unemployed if I don't get the job. If a company calls me and is genuinely interested in me, I would make the drive for a serious interview. I can't go down there for a job 500 other people are applying for who have BS and MS degrees.

I feel I would do well as an entry level Systems Administrator in a large company, or a full Sys Admin in a small company. I am thinking of just moving down and renting an apartment, then keep looking for jobs. Maybe I would get more calls back if I were closer for an interview.

Thanks for the replies, keep 'em coming!
 
Next thing we know, TX will be as liberal as MA. I hope that never happens, but that seems to be the way this country wants to go. No guns, no religion, no standards, no morals; just video games, "reality" TV, political correctness, pop culture, "love" and "peace."
Click to expand...

eatont9999 - the problem with the south, is that the north is invading. From what I see (which may not be much) a lot of the housing in the south is being filled from Mass,NJ, NY, Chicago, Etc. My brother lives in Keller Tx which is now 1 big housing development and not a single Texan lives anywhere in his neighborhood. I visited my companies office in
Alpharetta, GA, and not a single Georgian worked for the company. Everyone was a transplant.

I'm from NJ and I'd like to move south to, but I promise I won't bring the North with me.

For those of you who live in the North East, no offense. I'm just not sure how much more liberalness I can take here in NJ. NYC is no better (I work in Manhatten). I actually love my neighborhood, and NYC is great to eat and have fun. Boston is awesome and Rhode Island can be a lot of fun. Philly does in fact have the best cheese steaks and if you're not in the mood for cheese steak you have to visit Di Bruno Bros. They have over 30 varieties of Pepperoni. I'll be at the NY state fair in Sept and look foward to the speedies and chocolate milk. Eventually I'll move to TN or Tx, but I'll come back to visit.
 
Also consider applying with school districts. Most school districts of any size need at least one or two IT guys, and it's a good way to get a job in a smaller town (that may be too small to have much in the way of private industry/business).

DFW and Houston are areas to be avoided. Do yourself a favor and go for small towns or small cities in the 100k-200k population range.
 
I have applied for a few school districts, but getting people to even acknowledge you exist is a problem.

Lovesbeer99,
You have not tasted good food until you get some TX BBQ. TN has some really great BBQ as well. Either would be a welcome meal at my table. Visit LA for some great Cajun food and crawfish. FL has the best orange I have ever eaten and GA has the best peach I have tasted. ME has the best Lobster I know of and MA has the best fisherman's platter I could imagine. TX also has some amazing sweet blue crab. I used to catch them in the tide pools, put them in the cooler and enjoy a tasty snack at the beach house.
I miss the south!
 
We used to live in Corpus Christi, a slow pace and pretty good cost of living. Crime is a bit iffy, as it's closer to the border, but all in all, not to bad. If you get the chance to leave the People's Rep. of Mass, take it!!
 
I agree rim, if I get a job offer anywhere in TX, I will take it. anywhere, TX is better than here, MA! If I got a job in Houston, I could work there for a few years, save my pennies, and eventually move out to a smaller place if the opportunity presents itself.

I have applied for literally hundreds of jobs all around the TX area. I have only had one call back that was not a recruiter. I don't know what I am doing wrong other than living 2000+ miles away.
 
You might check the Texas prison system. There are a bunch of prisons around. There is a prison hospital going in at The old VA hospital in Marlin.
 
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