How do I get a job in Maryland within the next few months?

[moshywilly]

Originally Posted by Threestep2

If I recall some of your earlier posts correctly you have a degree in IT but never worked in IT and have an administrative role at a small law firm. 60k in semi rural Maryland sound like a lofty goal. Of course you can apply for .gov jobs while you are still in Cali.

Right now, it would be tough to just live in my dream town and also I am not buying a house yet anyways. I am looking to rent, but I have been looking for jobs even in areas that are "too close to a city" but still has the regular suburban look based on Google Maps. Examples would be Lanham-Seabrook area. Even small cities like Bethesda or Hanover, MD are fine. I am okay with living in a traditional suburb than the semi-rural dream for now. I am trying to focus on gaining the experience first.

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by RayHammer

That's an interesting way to look at it. I live 7 minutes from work. Honestly, can people afford the commute? I look at commuting as lost wages. Why go to work for 8 hours but be forced out of the house for 10 or more in order to get it?


Rough Calculation:
Worker makes $20/hr.
20x8=160
But then 160/10 because you have a 1 hour commute each way = $16/hr. That's assuming gas is free and you pay no taxes. People are struggling.

If you read through the threads on this page, and the D.C. subpage, and you will get some examples of why people commute. Housing costs are high, if you want a SFH, the easiest way to do it is drive 30-40 miles "down the road" to where wages are higher. School systems are in play too, people will commute in order to buy property, or rent, in better school districts. Of course some of the best school districts are close in, but the buy in price for property there would be too much for most people.

It's not the way people live out in Western Maryland, but we're cut off from this commuter web by the geography and topography. The spill over (as it were) from Hagerstown and Washington County goes north/south up the Shenandoah Valley, not west over the Appalachian ridges.

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by moshywilly

Right now, it would be tough to just live in my dream town and also I am not buying a house yet anyways. I am looking to rent, but I have been looking for jobs even in areas that are "too close to a city" but still has the regular suburban look based on Google Maps. Examples would be Lanham-Seabrook area. Even small cities like Bethesda or Hanover, MD are fine. I am okay with living in a traditional suburb than the semi-rural dream for now. I am trying to focus on gaining the experience first.

You may be throwing darts at a map here a bit. Hanover and Bethesda are radically different places. Hanover is a suburb of Baltimore and Annapolis, Bethesda adjoins NW DC and is a high end suburb, pricey, not semi-rural more like new urbanism.

All these places look close together on a map, but really they aren't when you are trying to get from one or the other. Based on what you posted I would pick some of the edge cities and look for jobs there. Frederick and Columbia would be some places to start. Probably add in Gaithersburg too. This will give you the best chance of finding something semi-rural or at least you can start renting closer to wear you work, and are a shorter drive from more open areas.

[RayHammer]

Originally Posted by moshywilly

Right now, it would be tough to just live in my dream town and also I am not buying a house yet anyways. I am looking to rent, but I have been looking for jobs even in areas that are "too close to a city" but still has the regular suburban look based on Google Maps. Examples would be Lanham-Seabrook area. Even small cities like Bethesda or Hanover, MD are fine. I am okay with living in a traditional suburb than the semi-rural dream for now. I am trying to focus on gaining the experience first.

"Small city like Bethesda" does not mean inexpensive. Median income in Bethesda is over 100k.

Hanover is not what I'd call a "small town" as there is nothing approximating a downtown....it's also right next to one of the largest airports in the USA. And while there's a couple horse farms left near Ridge Road, Hanover is getting filled up with large distribution centers. Hanover lacks housing options at any price level let alone "affordable" ones.

I'm joking here, but it also seems like living in New Jersey and California have screwed up your understanding of what urban, suburban, semi-rural, and rural actually look like. For something approximating a small town surrounded by rural landscapes you might try places like Boonesboro or Tanneytown.

Also, just for your reference: "city" and "town" largely don't apply in Maryland. Almost nothing is actually incorporated as a municipality (which is in stark contrast to, say, New Jersey or Pennsylvania). Local government here is almost exclusively conducted at the County level and the majority of counties have fully zero incorporated municipalities within them.

Baltimore City is also what is called a "County Level Equivalent" and unlike most cities throughout the US does not simply overlap the county and adjacent counties where it's located. It is completely separate with its own borders. Maryland has comparatively few towns, just urbanized "Census Designated Places" that meld together into the larger metro areas which in turn meld into the Eastern Megalopolis.

[RayHammer]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

You may be throwing darts at a map here a bit. Hanover and Bethesda are radically different places. Hanover is a suburb of Baltimore and Annapolis, Bethesda adjoins NW DC and is a high end suburb, pricey, not semi-rural more like new urbanism.

I get that sense from him too. Maryland may look small, but it's a 7 hour drive from Garret County in the west to Ocean City in the east with relatively light traffic. Baltimore and D.C. are actually somewhat difficult to travel between. When you're in Anne Arundel County like I am, there are no easy ways to get west to places like Gaithersburg or Rockville.

I can't blame him for being young and trying to "escape" where he currently is, because I was there once too, but I eventually realized that my problems at the time had nothing to do with geography.

The reality of living here is that he's looking for a lifestyle that largely doesn't exist for the vast majority of people. Rural-ish, but with that "small town" vibe (again, lots of variation here), and yet close enough to commute? Well the reality is that everyone else over the decades wanted that too and those places melded into the larger urban/suburban mesh that you see today.

Anywhere that is truly a "small town" or ruralesque is pretty dang far out on the boondocks. All the corners have options: The Eastern Shore has plenty, the NE corner with Harford and Cecil counties might, Western Maryland has a few, as does Southern Maryland with St. Mary's and the lower parts of Calvert and Charles counties. The only problem is that anyone who has to commute has to really commute, long and far. It is not easy, quite expensive, drains a lot of time and.....commuting drains the OP's soul, as he said (and it would mine too).

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by RayHammer

That's an interesting way to look at it. I live 7 minutes from work. Honestly, can people afford the commute? I look at commuting as lost wages. Why go to work for 8 hours but be forced out of the house for 10 or more in order to get it?


Rough Calculation:
Worker makes $20/hr.
20x8=160
But then 160/10 because you have a 1 hour commute each way = $16/hr. That's assuming gas is free and you pay no taxes. People are struggling.

You forgot to factor in the difference of costs (housing, gas, food, etc) where you live vs work. Take my situation in California as an example...

Median home price in the town where I work = $4M (yes you read that right!)
Median home price in the county where I work = $1.2M give or take
Cost of my house 45min away in the next county over = $640K

My hourly wage in that ridiculously expensive town = $45/hr
Hourly wage for the same job in the town where I work = maybe $30/hr? Hard to say, since there's only one library and they're never hiring.

Okay, now do the math again! lol