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Any current or former Austin, TX residents?

The Green Monkey

The Green Monkey

Brap-brap
Joined
Apr 5, 2008
Messages
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My kid brother is a recent college graduate with no real idea about what he wants to do for the rest of his life or where he wants to do it.

Everyone in our family agrees that he ought to just move to a new place and wing it for a while. Even if he doesn't find his calling right away, he'll learn some of the life lessons that he needs to pick up through living on his own and paying his own bills, etc.

He's fortunate enough to have a bit of money in the bank (though I fear he's recklessly squandering it at a shocking pace as he stagnates in our hometown of Champaign, IL) so he'll have the luxury of being able to afford food and shelter wherever he winds up while he searches for a job and tries to figure things out.

Anyway, he's narrowed his list of possible destinations down to Austin, Dallas, Atlanta, and perhaps a few more, but he's planning on taking a scouting trip to Austin within the next week or two to check it out.

Are there any current or former Austin residents who could offer any advice, recommendations, local wisdom, suggestions/opinions/options on the job front, etc. that might be of use to a single, unemployed-and-professionally-adrift young man who doesn't know a soul in town?

Thanks in advance...
 
Austin is a great town with lots of culture and things to do.
Live music, great out door parks, close enough to drive to the beach, good golf, and the list goes on.

It is a very eclectic place, and almost everyone can find where they fit in.....

Tim
 
BigJake6904 said:
DFW is better for finding job opportunities. Cost of living in Austin is insane.
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The cost of living also makes it a less than ideal place to "figure out what you want to do."

On top of that, with the culture there, he may never figure it out.
 
Well, as you can see, Aggies and Houstinites aren't going to give you straight answers about a hippy-dippy burg like Austin. :laugh:

Everyone should have a chance to be young in a place like Austin at least once. DFW is a vast concrete nightmare, and Houston is . . . Houston. I don't think they consider Austin to actually be in Texas, over there. :rolleyes:

Housing is staggeringly expensive there. The rest of the cost of living is reasonable, except that there's so much to do it's pretty easy to overspend. Personally, I think the best place in Texas to live is San Antonio, which is where I'd be if my career wasn't where I'm at now.

Million or so people, good job market, close to both Austin and Houston by Texas standards, gateway to the Hill Country, fantastic food, great arts scene, good live music, housing WAY more reasonable than Austin. Relaxed atmosphere, lots of cool stuff to do.

~Boar
 
Austin ain't bad, and it certainly isn't too expensive, especially south Austin. Rents in decent apts from 500-600 and cheap houses to rent if he wants a room mate.

Night life here is, in a word weird.
 
Not A Nice Person said:
Well, as you can see, Aggies and Houstinites aren't going to give you straight answers about a hippy-dippy burg like Austin. :laugh:

Everyone should have a chance to be young in a place like Austin at least once. DFW is a vast concrete nightmare, and Houston is . . . Houston. I don't think they consider Austin to actually be in Texas, over there. :rolleyes:

Housing is staggeringly expensive there. The rest of the cost of living is reasonable, except that there's so much to do it's pretty easy to overspend. Personally, I think the best place in Texas to live is San Antonio, which is where I'd be if my career wasn't where I'm at now.

Million or so people, good job market, close to both Austin and Houston by Texas standards, gateway to the Hill Country, fantastic food, great arts scene, good live music, housing WAY more reasonable than Austin. Relaxed atmosphere, lots of cool stuff to do.

~Boar
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I think its funny how the different major cities in Texas have rivalries, haha.

They're all pretty nice places to live, its pretty much a matter of preference. Dallas and Houston have the strongest economies, but Austin and San Antonio aren't bad by any means. Dallas has a huge base of businesses residing there and Houston has Oil and Gas, the port, and Aerospace.
 
I'm not rolling in cash. I live out in an APT by Lake Travis.. Like 5 minutes away. $700 rent. Very quite out here, and very far away. I had a job paying sub $10/hr.. Course that was 10 years ago and rent was like $425. heh. Times have changed. I should really call that complex and see what the same apt rents for now.

With that being said. Nothing beats the scenery down at Barton Pool in the summer. :)

It's a nice town. Just remember.. In the summer...... It gets...... HOT.
 
No real experience in Austin, but my sister moved to DFW after college and she hated it. She moved back to Baton Rouge as soon as she could FWIW. I always thought Dallas was fun, but I was just visiting and never had to live there.

I know the cost-of-living in Texas is high, but of the three places listed, Austin would be #1 on my list. I live near Atlanta and have been a number of times. The suburbs of Atlanta are nice and there are a lot of different things to do between pro sports, concerts, etc., but it would not be a place I would want to live.
 
Thanks for all the input!

Yeah, I've never heard anything bad about Austin other than the fact that you're suffocated with UT athletics. I think it would be a great place for him to end up just based on reputation and what I've read.

I recognize the obvious difficulty in answering this question, but does anyone have any idea how easy it would be for him to find a decent job in Austin? Generally speaking, what are the differences between the job market and types of entry-level jobs likely to be found in each city?

He was interested in majoring in either business or marketing, but calculus kept tripping him up so he ended up with a degree in University Studies or some such thing. He's good with people, charismatic, friendly, approachable, etc., so I think he's best suited for some sort of job where he'd be interacting with people--probably something in sales or another similar environment where his personality would be his most useful and oft-relied-upon attribute.
 
swampcat18 said:
I know the cost-of-living in Texas is high, but of the three places listed, Austin would be #1 on my list. I live near Atlanta and have been a number of times. The suburbs of Atlanta are nice and there are a lot of different things to do between pro sports, concerts, etc., but it would not be a place I would want to live.
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I wouldn't say the cost of living is high in Texas, overall it is below average. Austin is probably the highest on average, but it varies depending on how nice the neighborhood is to downtown and how nice of a neighborhood it is, just like in any city.

I haven't looked at apartment prices in Houston lately, but it is very reasonable compared to other parts of the country.
 
tmoney2007 said:
swampcat18 said:
I know the cost-of-living in Texas is high, but of the three places listed, Austin would be #1 on my list. I live near Atlanta and have been a number of times. The suburbs of Atlanta are nice and there are a lot of different things to do between pro sports, concerts, etc., but it would not be a place I would want to live.
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I wouldn't say the cost of living is high in Texas, overall it is below average. Austin is probably the highest on average, but it varies depending on how nice the neighborhood is to downtown and how nice of a neighborhood it is, just like in any city.

I haven't looked at apartment prices in Houston lately, but it is very reasonable compared to other parts of the country.
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You are correct. I was referring more to property taxes than actual cost-of-living. My bad.
 
Plans in Texas,
Having lived all over the world, visited 44 countries, and been stationed in Texas several times. Will be there as soon as I can get the Hell out of this kitty litter sandbox! The first thing to say is "Let's keep Austin Wierd!"! So sure, send the young man on down! He'll figure out some path in life as all of us have whether he does it fast or slow. But, coming to Texas, he might want to stay on his snail's pace!! There's all kind of rivalries all over this great planet, north, south, east, west, this continent or that. We got differences of language, chow, groceries, dinner, supper, potatoe, potatoe, tomatoe, tomato! Austin ain't cheap and Austin ain't poor, all depends on where the young man wants to kick his boots off! Hell, he might not even decide to stay. We got it all in Texas, the only Capital taller than Washington (By a Foot), suceed and become our own Republic (Republic, I like the sound of that word!) at any time. Trees, desert, mud, sand, snakes, scorpions and a whole host of other critters that will get your blood pressure up! Just remember in the wonderful words of one of our Nations greatest
"You may all go to Hell, And I will go to TEXAS!" Davey Crockett
Comment not intended for anyone here.
Just remember whatever path he may choose, he needs to be allowed the freedom to succeed and/or fail on his own, with someone who gives a Big Ole Texas Shit about 'em, letting him fall flat on his busted ass and never get back up, Cause that ain't Texan!!!!
 
Nocturnus said:
I guess I did forget the best part about Austin...



HOOK 'EM!

:)
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That may be the best part of Austin, but the "best" in the country will be decided by tomorrow night. Hopefully tonight, but probably tomorrow.

GEAUX TIGERS!
 
Nocturnus said:
I guess I did forget the best part about Austin...



HOOK 'EM!

:)
Click to expand...

gig.jpg


This is why College Station is the best city in TX: LINKY
 
Most are right when it comes to the cost of living in Austin being high. I have a couple of friends that live in the northern part of San Antonio and commute to their job in Austin. It's not a fun drive, but they seem to have managed for the past 10 years, even with gas prices the way they are. I really don't have anything bad to comment about Austin except for the traffic on IH35, but then again, everyone has horror stories about traffic so I don't think it should make a difference. I will say this, it's a fun place to visit during the fall, football season, Halloween on sixth street.
 
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