Originally posted by: rhatsaruck
I contributed to the pros/cons of living in AZ but I am really interested in the pros/cons of living in Nevada.
Some pros that come to mind:
no state income tax
booming economy in the Las Vegas area
one day's drive to the Pacific
half-day drive to skiing
Cons:
desert, desert, desert
Any NV residents here on ATOT?
I lived through my HS years in Reno, NV and now I've been in Tucson, AZ for close to 7 years. I will only be able to comment on that comparison.
Reno girls are ugly. You can tell from any Vegas or LA airport hub becasue the peeps coming from or going to Reno are usually more-so unattractive when compared to other cities. If you live in Reno you'll soon discover that a lot of people tend to be 2-5th generation Nevadans and have not left the Reno/Tahoe area. I always joked about the water or imbreeding as the cause but who knows...they are uglier though.
Back in the day, 1997, or so, driving around in Reno was terrific...there was very little traffic even during rush hour but now when I've gone back to visit it has gotten pretty crazy. There are cars everywhere and the roads were not built or designed for the influx of people into the area. Around the time of the .com crash a ton of peeps from Cali flooded the Reno area becasue of the lack of income tax.
Reno tried to build a technology park but it currently still sits pretty empty becasue no major companies have moved into the area. If you are in IT BEWARE I sh!t you not. The only major company there is IGT, which makes slot machines. They usually hire only engineers though. Other companies exist there or at least are in the area like Microsoft Licensing and Amazon but Microsoft's operation is pretty small, only one small building, and Amazon has a distribution center in a nearby town to the east. I believe Dell also has a distribution center near town. All in all, there are no "real" IT jobs. Reno loves the cheap labor to go into the casinos and these packaging/distribution centers and usually don't have a lot of IT jobs available. If you went there you would pretty much be stuck with Utility companies, the local University, or getting lucky with a small company. Back in 2002 I moved back to Reno to try to find an IT job after graduating the first time and there was a baren landscape. If you have a choice between Vegas and Reno pick Vegas just becasue of the job situation. Oh yeah, and there are an illusions of Oceans 11 type of IT infastructure, let me just kill that. I worked in an Casino in their MIS dept and I would not even call it IT...they had old AS/400 mainframes that batch reports were processed on, and all of their casino equipment were all housed onsite but were supported remotely. The most technology you get to touch is a cash register machine. It was, again...very low level. $10/hour.
The good thing about Reno is that it is close to Tahoe so if you like snowboarding, biking, or the outdoors, there is plenty to do and all very close. Personally I think the town is growing too fast and the city is not handling the transition all too well. Also, as mentioned earier in these postings, the house prices skyrocketed up a year or so ago, so housing is super expensive. Getting a descent place in Reno proper and not Sparks or some outlying town is pricy....of course "a good place" is in the eye of the beholder.
So yeah for jobs and girls I would pick Vegas although us Reno people think that the town is a cestpool of crap. Vegas is kinda crappy...reminds me a lot of Phoenix...busy, nasty, and busy.
I can't say much for Tucson in compaison. If you like hot, rock climbing, hiking, and crappy live bands then this place might be for you...but if you don't, like me, then it's not a good location either. I'm currently pondering where to move too also but I can't make up my mind. Good luck though.
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