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Where to live

Pegun

Pegun

Golden Member
I come to ATOT for advice on job offers and living arrangements. I have job offers in Boston, Portsmouth, NH and Raleigh, NC. Does anyone have any opinions of which of these three might be better for a entry level, 24 year old, in a relationship, Masters holding techie such as myself?
Assume the offers are relatively the same and I'm moving from a relatively small town with very few night clubs or selections of bars.

Edit: Made the decision tonight to head down there. I'll have to hunt down anand to see if he really exists or is just an integral part of the matrix.
 
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Raleigh North Carolina has the headquarters of IBM, Cisco and the triangle of tech research colleges (Duke, NC State, UNC). I like your reasoning it just has minor flaws.
 
I thought Penguins liked Antarctica 🙂

Personally, I'd go with Portsmouth, NH.
Weather should be a bit cooler than Raleigh, and the cost of living a bit less than Boston. Also, I think it wouldn't feel as cramped/crowded as Boston.

Dunno if this helps, but here's city data for the 3
http://www.city-data.com/city/Raleigh-North-Carolina.html
http://www.city-data.com/city/Portsmouth-New-Hampshire.html
http://www.city-data.com/city/Boston-Massachusetts.html

Boston may be advantageous simply because it's a bigger city, so there's liable to be more future job opportunities there...
 
Pegun said:
Raleigh North Carolina has the headquarters of IBM, Cisco and the triangle of tech research colleges (Duke, NC State, UNC). I like your reasoning it just has minor flaws.
Click to expand...

IBM is headquartered in Armonk, New York; Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, CA.
 
Poulsonator said:
IBM is headquartered in Armonk, New York; Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, CA.
Click to expand...

I stand corrected. Mark that as "Major offices in". Cisco has a huge training center in NC so I mistook that as "headquartered". Thanks for the advice so far!
 
I'm from Raleigh. ...you should probably move there.

yeah, those aren't headquarters, just major offices. Glaxo is headquartered there (at least it used to be, I think)

The major headquarter is S.A.S.

Oh, and Redhat has been headquartered at Centennial Campus (NC State) for 7 years or so.
 
oh, and Anand lives in Raleigh. ...should be a safe bet for techies, no?

😉

great school system, neighborhoods, all sorts of shit. Usually one of the top 5 places to raise a family. Made it to number 1 once.

Hot as fucking insane balls in the summer, though. If you don't like humidity--at all--then you may not survive those 4-5 months of hell.
 
If the money is the same/similar at all jobs, the cost of living in Raleigh should be significantly lower and give you more disposable fun time mahnies...oh, and much better weather down south... however, summers can get a tad warm/humid but just man up and deal with it. 🙂
 
Leros said:
What does your girlfriend want to do? What is best for her?
Click to expand...

She's heading home for at least 3 months no matter my decision (Have I mentioned her lately?). Otherwise, she is very supportive of me going wherever the best place for my future is. Cost of living in NC sounds better than Boston and Portsmouth, I have a few friends who have found decent apartments for not very much.

Edit: Made the decision tonight to head down there. I'll have to hunt down anand to see if he really exists or is just an integral part of the matrix.
 
Of that list i would choose NH followed by Raleigh and Boston last. Ive never been to any of those places though. But Boston will be expensive. Raleigh probably the cheapest but as others have said hot and humid in summers but not as cold as NH in winter.
 
I used to live in Boston and am now in Portsmouth NH. The towns are entirely different, and where you should live will depend on a number of factors. Here are some pluses and minuses for both towns.

Boston pluses:
-everything a large city has to offer
-so many bars/restaurants you will never see them all
-job market is quite good, relative to surrounding areas
-Lots oftouristy and non-touristy attractions
-MIT, Harvard and BU are within 5 miles of the city, meaning that there will be a lot of young men/women (whatever you are into) to chase if you are single.
-Easy egress from the city via train or plane. NYC only a 4 hour train ride away.

Boston Negatives:
-property values are sky high. Condos in the city go for ~$500/sq ft
-Traffic sucks.
-The people are fairly isolationist. Don't expect random niceties or people to engage you in conversation in a store.
-Just about everything is expensive. Food, gas, parking, etc.
-Oddly, it was fairly hard to find a general practitioner that was accpeting new patients when I was theere. There is an undersupply of GP's in Boston.
-income tax
-State government is run by a bunch of idiots.

Portsmouth positives:
-just about everything you need (with limited exceptions) is only a 5 minute walk or drive away
-Property values are ~45% of what you will see in Boston, provided that you are not looking within .5 miles of downtown Portsmouth. Once you enter downtown, all bets are off.
-0 traffic
-Beaches are ~10 minute drive away
-Skiing is ~1 hour drive away
-downtown area is reminiscent of old town alexandria (a very good thing)
-plenty of good restaurants
-people are very nice. Within 2 weeks of being here I knew most everyone at the local coffee shop and grocery store I go to by name.
-5-10 bars available (quite a bit for a small town), and the music hall provides some culture
-no income tax

Portsmouth negatives:
-Job market is quite small (might have to move if you lose your job)
-Town is small enough that one could get bored easily
-Parking is a pain in the winter if you live in town
-Rents can be high
-the average age of the housing in the area is ~100-150 years. Everything is old, and a lot of propoerties show their age.
-Sprin/Summer/Fall are even shorter than they are in Boston.
-high meal tax
-schools are funded largely by individual towns, as opposed to by the state. Not really an issue in Portsmouth, but cold be a concern if you want to move to one of the surrounding towns (Stratham, Rey, Greenland, etc.).

Personally, my vote is for Portsmouth if you can swing it. But as you can see from the above, Boston and Portsmouth are entirely different towns.
 
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