Seattle?

So.. I have a phone interview (2nd one) for a large company based out of Seattle. Please impart your knowledge. I want to figure out if its a good place for me and my family.

The reason I am entertaining a move is that the North East is super expensive for a one income family and my wife would like to grow our family from 2-3 kiddos. I am against this from a cost standpoint, Crazy student loans come to mind.

I did a cost of living calculator and find that while housing in the Seattle area is more expensive, basically every other aspect of life is cheaper. Taxes are 1/3, Electricity 1/2 and food nearly 1/2. Yes, CT is expensive.

This knowledge combined with the fact that the company that is courting me(They went after me, not me after them) is known to pay high salaries, high sign on bonuses and give stock options like candy.

The negatives of the move would be that my wife would lose her base of friends and we would have to pay for private montessori to equal the public montessori we get here. Wife has two masters degrees in Montessori, I'm not getting away from it.

So aside from the weather, is it a good place for a family?

I live in the Seattle area. I was talking to an exec who came form CT and I asked him how his wife was doing with the weather. He said it is so much better than where they were that she loved it.

This area is a great place for a family. One thing to keep in mind is to the west of Seattle is the islands and east is the Cascades. Once over the Cascades you are in eastern Washington which is very dry and a great place for camping.

Good luck and if the company is in the Redmond area I can tell you it is a great place to work.

I lived out there from 1986-1999.

There's something to be said for a place that doesn't have mosquitos or chiggers, and doesn't do heat and humidity at the same time.

You do have to resolve yourself to the chance that if you see the sun in October, it might be the last time you see it until a really nice week in February.

Commute can be hell though... highly recommend selecting your residence with the drive to work in mind.

Seems like there have been a couple of other threads about Seattle recently... Apologies for not providing a link, but there were enough results on a quick search that it was going to take a little sifting to separate the "living there" from the "where are tracks/junkyards/etc" threads...

aww hell.

Made it to round three of phone interviews.. God they are persistent on finding out my current salary. No reason I should tell them.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: aww hell. Made it to round three of phone interviews.. God they are persistent on finding out my current salary. No reason I should tell them.

Congrats! Tell them that you'll spill on the current salary, if they'll agree to at least double it.

I'm in Bellingham, halfway between Seattle and Vancouver (BC), everyone's thoughts so far are pretty dead on.

Seattle Motorsports Thread
Related, slightly overlapping Bellvue Thread

Pot's legal.

Wow I didn't know there was a grmer in my home town of Bellyslam!

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: aww hell. Made it to round three of phone interviews.. God they are persistent on finding out my current salary. No reason I should tell them.

I ask "salary requirements" from my potential employees on the first interview. Sometimes I get surprised and get the "I am looking to make $125,000 the second year".

And we're looking for an entry level sales guy in the $45-50,000 range.

Datsun310Guy wrote:

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: aww hell. Made it to round three of phone interviews.. God they are persistent on finding out my current salary. No reason I should tell them.

I ask "salary requirements" from my potential employees on the first interview. Sometimes I get surprised and get the "I am looking to make $125,000 the second year". And we're looking for an entry level sales guy in the $45-50,000 range.

I know why they are doing it... the odd part is that they haven't really defined the role I am interviewing for.... So.... I'm kinda out in left field. They also know I'm moving from Fortune 50 company to Fortune 50 company. I dunno... I might tell them that based upon my research of this position we can come to an agreement once I determine that fit and roles and responsibilities are correct.

If you don't know the role they want you to fill how could you know what your salary requirements are? What you get paid now means all diddly squat if the job isn't the same. Good luck on the move!

chandlerGTi wrote: If you don't know the role they want you to fill how could you know what your salary requirements are? What you get paid now means all diddly squat if the job isn't the same. Good luck on the move!

Thanks. My position exactly.

There seem to be a bunch of companies in the Seattle are that are hiring. Are you talking to one of the big tech companies?

I started the following thread when I was interviewing up there:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/more-education-about-seattle-wa-please/63491/page1/

<---- Envious.

Sultan wrote: Wow I didn't know there was a grmer in my home town of Bellyslam!

I'd consider myself more of an aspiring GRMer than the real thing...
lemme accumulate some fab skills, then we'll see.

BoxheadTim wrote: There seem to be a bunch of companies in the Seattle are that are hiring. Are you talking to one of the big tech companies? I started the following thread when I was interviewing up there: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/more-education-about-seattle-wa-please/63491/page1/

I dunno if you'd call it a tech company. I guess it is at heart. It is a bit of an internet darling.

Fueled, my BIL's reply (from Faceplace):

"I read the forum. All answers seem to be on par. Seattle is an expensive place, and for the most part, career professional salaries will reflect that. Entry wages may be a struggle, yet manageable. Depends. Mortgage or rent drops dramatically outside of Seattle proper depending on the area. Many prefer this due to the benefits of having proximity of the city and having less traffic and hassle. Some of the suburbs around here aren't that bad, some are preferred actually."

Reply from my sis:

"Here's the thing about utilities. Electricity is very cheap, but most of us use gas to heat our houses, and that's a bit more expensive. Also, we run our heat about 9-10 months out of the year because its cold here much of the year. I think groceries are more expensive here than in other places, but maybe that's just me. As he says, housing is very expensive. This is a great place to live though."

Good luck! I have to admit, to a "librul" living in the Southeast, other things I've heard from my sister's family leads me to believe that except for the weather..the place is dang near a berkeleying paradise.

Didn't you just move? I hate moving.

I'm in Seattle right now. It seems pretty nice.

That's all i've got.

nicksta43 wrote: Didn't you just move? I hate moving.

4 years ago. Only been in the house two. I follow the dollar bills. It would have to be a full ride corp move to make this work. No more, here's some money you figure it out. I'd like them to figure it out for me.

Seems like a nice place to live. Funny, I've traveled to our offices in Seattle maybe 25 times in the last few years. There was only once that I didn't see sunshine. I live around Chicago, I'd move there.

Oldtin you must only come in during the few weeks of the summer

Thanks for your help guys. I appreciate it.

This is still moving along. We will see where it goes.

Ok, one more phone interview down. I hope it works.

If you have a wife get her to come up now as we have a week of sun. This area is amazing this time of year!

For others thinking about moving here I can tell you that this is an awful place to live