A Little Advice for an Outsider?

[Shaun]

I'm new to TechHui but have found it an invaluable resource as I begin the daunting task of trying to move my wife and our new son back to her home to be near her family.

I have found many tips, good advice, and things to consider from the various conversations going on around the TechHui community, so I thought I'd ask for a little help (hopefully from those who have already gone down this road).

Does anyone have any thoughts, tips, or advice about finding a job and moving to Hawaii?

I've read various comments about salaries, talent, and how thriving (or not) the tech and start up communities are and they have all been really helpful.

One impression I have so far is that it is uncommon for a company to offer to fly a candidate out. I can see reason why that would be, but on the practical side, it would be very difficult for a candidate to do that themselves (very often). To me, it seems like a matter of commitment. Is the company committed enough to you as a candidate to pay the airfare? If not, that lack of commitment would make me second guess whether it would be worth my time and money to fly out for an interview with them. Is it a catch-22? Would it be out of place to ask them to pay half? It probably just depends on the job and demand.

If some people who have openings are wondering why I haven't applied to them yet, I'm sure I will soon. I am really trying to do my research and put the time in to make the most of the openings I see.

Thanks for your advice in advance.

[Laurence A. Lee]

Shaun,

Best of luck in finding a company to relocate to Honolulu with. To be honest, the local economy isn't thriving with challenging or interesting work, and I'm seriously considering moving my family away from Honolulu to be closer to family and friends in Seattle to ride out the storm.

Not that there aren't opportunities here - as a consultant, I still receive offers for .NET coding or Rails development from time to time; and there isn't a shortage of "Emergency Projects" in need of consultants who can hit the ground running. Since you seem to be heavy into Java, you might be able to get some contacts and job leads by attending a local Eclipse users' group.

It's very rare to have a company value prospective employees -- especially expatriates returning from the Mainland -- enough to cover Relocation expenses. As you've probably read in other threads, local companies offer lower rates, and there's no shortage of people willing to accept lowball offers just to have a steady job. For a skillset that could earn $85K or more in Seattle, you'd be lucky to get $70K unless you offer a very specialized skill that a Local company happens to have an immediate need for.

In a nutshell, be mentally prepared for a pay cut, higher cost of living, AND higher taxes. :-(

My suggestion, if you can swing it, is to hold off until the economy picks up a bit. Seattle's cost of living is way better, which means more money in your savings to apply toward a home when there's a good, challenging job waiting for you here.

Best of luck either way. :-)

[Mark Enomoto]

Hey Shaun, my advice to you is to also sit tight in Seattle till the economy gets better OR if you can afford the luxury, I'd suggest a year long test drive of living here. That's what we did after leaving Seattle in Summer of 07. My wife and I were both at Microsoft for several years but made the decision that family was more important than "stuff". After moving here for a year we decided to sell our house in Madison Park and make the commitment to Hawaii. Well this is before the market crashed and I'm now thinking of moving "back" to Seattle to go back to Microsoft. The lifestyle here is great but you need to have the means to get here on your own and "tether" yourself to some freelance/consultant gigs in Seattle.

Seattle is a great place financially but you face the dilemma we faced when we really took a look at what was important to us. In the end it was family and we figured we'd make it work here "somehow".

If you have the resources, my advice would be to move here for a year, see if you like it, and then pull the plug on Seattle. Believe me, it was gut wrenching to sell our house in Seattle and leave our friends and an awesome neighborhood. But... you can always replace those things but never family.

Good Luck!

[Shaun]

It sounds like you both are confirming what I already suspected. We may just have to take a long term approach and hold off until things pick up or until the right opportunity comes up. I think many of the challenges will always be there, though.

I don't know if I'm quite adventurous enough (or have enough groundwork laid out) to try freelance work. Although, if I could swing it, I think I would love it (at least the obvious fun parts of it).

I think that figuring out insurance is the most prohibitive thing about freelance and contract work right now.

If we could get something that we were confident would be stable for about a year and could work out the insurance thing, we would definitely do it. That would make it easier to find something more permanent and give us a better idea of whether we can do it or not (as Mark suggests).

Thanks again for the advice.