Lots of reasons to relocate for work. How many designers do we know that started with Apple or Adobe on their resume and leveraged that into bigger better roles.
Sometimes you need exposure to a great company or to great projects to kick start a carrier. While great projects are available outside of SV and NY, they are fewer in between. I have often thought about taking what would amount to a pay cut to live in Manhattan for a couple of years. For a Kansas kid it would be quite an experience. Think about a young senior UI designer that finds herself worth $9 million after 14-15 months on the job. What are the odds? There are lots of currencies to work for. Salary is only one of them. Cost of living is another concern... but there are so many ingredients in the formula. I recommend that young designers stretch, see as much of the world as possible, and set habits early with great companies. Life will limit the options for you soon enough - get after it early. Mark On Feb 20, 2008, at 8:30 PM, Ari Feldman wrote: > The same goes for us in NYC! Rents in manhattan for a 250 sq ft > studio are > easily $1900 or more. > > A two bedroom apt in a good neighborhood (with good schools) easily > costs > $850K or more. My younger brother lives in Scottsdale, AZ. He owns > a nice, > two level house for what our 1 bdr apt costs! > > Food, clothes and other necessities aren't much different (unless > you dine > out a lot of have very expensive tastes) but the cost of housing > will kill > you. > > > On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 8:24 PM, Robert Hoekman, Jr. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > >>> Not to take away from the very real issue of what the cost of living >>> here is and how it puts a strain on people, but it certainly doesn't >>> require earning $150K to $200K a year. >> >> >> Depends on your lifestyle. For example, $100k can do significantly >> more >> for >> you in Arizona than $150k can in Silicon Valley or SFO. When I >> explored >> positions in SV, I realized very quickly that I would be paying >> twice as >> much money to live in an apartment half the size of my house—and >> that was >> just the beginning. In the end, it just wasn't worth it. >> >> The other factor, though, was the thought of becoming a sort of >> "cog in >> the >> machine" in SV. Working for a big company like Apple or Google, >> you can >> lose >> your whole identity. At Apple, for example, they wholly condemn >> the idea >> of >> going out and speaking at conferences unless your name is Steve, >> and I was >> told outright that my speaking schedule would have to come to an >> untimely >> end. I couldn't see sacrificing all the great things I get to do as a >> consultant to work at one of the bigs. Again, not worth it. >> >> And as far as opportunities go, well, let's just say I'm doing >> just dandy >> living outside of SV. Sure, I'd probably get some very sexy >> commercial >> projects working in SV, but sexy commercial projects aren't my >> focus, so >> it's a moot point. >> >> I'll leave the sexy commercial projects to the youth. :) >> >> -r- >> ________________________________________________________________ >> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! >> To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe >> List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines >> List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help >> > > > > -- > -------------------------------------------------- > www.flyingyogi.com > -------------------------------------------------- > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
