IT Jobs (Houston, Dallas, Waco: apartment, rent, how much)

[Cookiekaikai]

Count me in as another person who registered for an account just to respond to Robertsd247's comment.

Originally Posted by robertsd247

Ok...time for a dose of reality.

If you have a power bill less than $180/month, you are stealing electricity. Period. Deregulating Texas sent power bills up 350% on average. Houston Chronicle would be a good place to look that up.

I have a 3500sqf house in Katy(built in 2007). I work from home and the AC is set between 77-79 degree this past summer and my highest electricity bill was $163! Of course the new constructions are more energy efficient, but please do not make silly comment like this. This is reality..I pay my bill every month.

IT is leaving houston is droves. Do a monster.com comparison on Dallas vs. Houston...in fact Houston vs. any other major city, except in Florida. I do not know what you are hearing but every industry IT rag out there says insurance companies are jacking up rates or refusing to insure any new data center 100 miles of a south eastern coastline. Please tell me where you are getting YOUR information.

I don't disagree with you that Dallas has more IT job opportunities than Houston. However, it is not as dire as your original response portrayed. When I looked around this spring for a system admin job, I had no shortage of interest from employers. Again please watch your posting style, post your comment cautiously so it is more helpful to the OP.

[Mom2Feebs]

I agree with Mr. Krinkle 100%. Don't listen to detractors. We have good friends that got their start in IT for MW Kellogg as INTERNS, and holy crap are they making HUGE amounts of money now. As long as there are companies in this city using computers, there will always be IT departments looking for network admins. Believe me, you'll find plenty of work here. Try MD Anderson in the Med Center--they're always looking!

[robertsd247]

Originally Posted by Cookiekaikai

Count me in as another person who registered for an account just to respond to Robertsd247's comment.

Deleted the rest...

First off, most people need a "in your face" type of comment to really get a feel of an area. As a person who spent two years unemployed in Harris county and had to leave the state to find employment elsewhere (and I can assure you, I will never return to Houston and hope the terrorists nuke the dump), I think people need to understand how things can go wrong.

You got a 3500 sq ft house in Katy and pay $180 in power..good for you. You must have money. And unless you have an income of $125,000/year, Katy is off limits for most people. It is rich land, as well as Sugarland, West University Place, and Bellaire (where they are forcing out the older people and minorities to build million dollar homes by the way). Clear Lake and Kingwood are degrading in record speed since Houston annexed them.

Everything I said is 100% fact and so far, not one person has successfully challenged and proven me wrong. Instead, people who love Houston have attempted to candy coat my comments. That does not cover the fact that IT is drying up there.

Unless you are in ENERGY, HEALTH CARE, or an AMBULANCE CHASER, work in IT will be scarce. Period. Fact. Conversation over.

Insurance companies are not insuring new data centers within 100 miles of a southern coastline.

Now unless someone can come along, prove me wrong, let's stop wasting the bandwidth. Crap is still crap regardless if you coat it in a candy shell.

[Mom2Feebs]

Originally Posted by robertsd247

Deleted the rest...

First off, most people need a "in your face" type of comment to really get a feel of an area. As a person who spent two years unemployed in Harris county and had to leave the state to find employment elsewhere (and I can assure you, I will never return to Houston and hope the terrorists nuke the dump), I think people need to understand how things can go wrong.

You got a 3500 sq ft house in Katy and pay $180 in power..good for you. You must have money. And unless you have an income of $125,000/year, Katy is off limits for most people. It is rich land, as well as Sugarland, West University Place, and Bellaire (where they are forcing out the older people and minorities to build million dollar homes by the way). Clear Lake and Kingwood are degrading in record speed since Houston annexed them.

Everything I said is 100% fact and so far, not one person has successfully challenged and proven me wrong. Instead, people who love Houston have attempted to candy coat my comments. That does not cover the fact that IT is drying up there.

Unless you are in ENERGY, HEALTH CARE, or an AMBULANCE CHASER, work in IT will be scarce. Period. Fact. Conversation over.

Insurance companies are not insuring new data centers within 100 miles of a southern coastline.

Now unless someone can come along, prove me wrong, let's stop wasting the bandwidth. Crap is still crap regardless if you coat it in a candy shell.

ENERGY, HEALTH CARE, and AMBULANCE CHASERS all have IT departments and need Network Admins.

Period. Fact.

Conversation over. Now stop wasting bandwidth.

[kbutler30]

Thanks for the info guys!

Kyla

[tstone]

Originally Posted by robertsd247

If you have a power bill less than $180/month, you are stealing electricity. Period. Deregulating Texas sent power bills up 350% on average. Houston Chronicle would be a good place to look that up.

Not all of TX is deregulated yet, but it could be in theory.

And for whom did it go up this high? When they first started this it went up a bit for us, but has been going down every year since 2003 IF YOU KNOW HOW TO WORK THE FREE MARKET. If you're getting ripped off this bad, it's your own fault as a poor consumer.

My 2200 sq ft house, 1 story+10 ft ceilings throughout, is now running about $160 in the peak of the summer.

[texanborn]

I just want to know how you people are getting these low light bills? 1450 square feet bill runs around 275 a month set at 79 degrees , what am I doing wrong ? Daughters house 1950 square feet last months bill 375.....hers has been as high as 450...help us, please...

[Mom2Feebs]

I think the question is, what are people paying per kWh. We pay 11 cents right now, and we live in a 1600 square foot condo. Our electric bill has gone SKY HIGH in the past two years...but only due to our kWh usage. Does anyone else think using over 2000 kWh per month is a little odd for a wife, hubby, and baby? I think we're getting ripped off by our meter.

[tstone]

Maybe your AC unit and coils are kaput -- this happens around 10-12 years on the unit. We had this problem and we saw a $270 electric bill once. Now we have a high-efficiency AC unit with a cheapo digital thermostat that has an energy-saving program it follows throughout the day. Otherwise check the usual stuff like seals on doors & windows, insulation, etc. More advanced stuff like storm doors & windows and a radiant barrier will help you out even more. High efficiency appliances like clothes dryers help. High efficiency lightbulbs for certain areas of the house helps a tiny bit.

[Mom2Feebs]

Well, our unit was replaced in 2000. Hmm. I dunno, that seems kinda early? It's a 3-ton RUUD unit.