Monday, February 09, 2009

When do I cave about relocating for work?

The 41 acre Beargrass Creek State Nature Prese...Image via Wikipedia

So this "worst economy for three generations" is finally starting to creep into my family's fiscal standing, and thus I have to ask myself--am I willing to leave my hometown to find work? None of my many pursuits are really bound to Louisville, KY, not even my consulting business (which is slow right now--very slow). It is certainly easier to work on GameJabs when I'm in the same city as my fellow founders, but it's not required. It's also a great deal easier to be in the same place with all my family, most of friends, and even my writers group.

But this is not an economy that accommodates easy.

My family is far from destitute, but I've been without a day job since early December, and all my immediate moves to shore up income until GameJabs becomes a paying gig have stalled or fallen through. My wife has a job that she loves here, but she could likely get a commensurate position elsewhere, though if we change states she'll likely have to recertify as a therapist.

I've got eight years of experience writing and developing features for the Web. I'm pretty good at it. But for all that I love Louisville, it is not a hotbed of online enterprise. To get a job in my chosen field--especially in a reasonable amount of time--may require my relocating to a new area code. The question is, when do I finally give up on my hometown, and at what cost?

If anybody has some guidance on the subject (or knows of a kickass telecommute position), I'd love to hear it. Thanks in advance.

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3 comments:

  1. Opportunities for those of our ilk are indeed limited - ok, virutally non-existent - here in Louisville. Louisville may struggle to fill slots when highlighting it's "hot dozen" entrepreneurial [tech / scalable] companies. Austin, however, offers this: http://www.austinemerging100.com

    The contrasts are stark, life is short, so therefore I too am considering more opportunities outside of my beloved hometown than I am within it. Let's hope neither of us find ourselves moving, but it seems inevitable in order to have our talents and opportunities well matched.

    I may leave for a while, but I know I'll be back to my old Kentucky home. As Mark Twain said, "When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Kentucky, because everything there happens 20 years after it happens anywhere else."

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  2. Do you have a resume posted somewhere, Jay?

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  3. Well, yes, I have a Monster.com resume: http://my.monster.com/Resume/EmployerView.aspx?resumevalue=mzr8jef9gcsscz96

    And a LinkedIn profile:
    http://www.linkedin.com/in/jaygarmon

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