Up and moving to Los Angeles...

Up and moving to Los Angeles...

Postby cafefille » Wed Apr 05, 2017 5:28 am

I just got licensed in March in Ohio, where I live. I am ready for a change. My firm gave me a very measly, disappointing $2000 raise. Granted, I'm young (27) and could use more experience, but I work in healthcare, and I'm itching to get out. I love LA (been there once...) and have a boyfriend who'd be thrilled to move with me.

I know I'd have to take the CSE to get licensed there, though I think our move would be temporary (maybe 3 years til family, then we move back). I am sure all of this sounds insane, but can anyone give insight? How's the job market looking in Cali? I note tons of positions on Linkedin there, and few I'd want in Ohio.

Thanks!
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Re: Up and moving to Los Angeles...

Postby macjacket » Wed Apr 05, 2017 5:47 am

I've only visited LA when my brother and his family lived out there for a year and I thought it was awesome. They loved living out there, but it is crazy expensive (they rented in an area about 10 minutes from Hermosa Beach). A quick search on Archinect or AIA jobs will tell you there are a lot of architect jobs out there. Good luck with the move.
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Re: Up and moving to Los Angeles...

Postby lavenam » Wed Apr 05, 2017 10:47 am

Recently moved away from LA to Oakland to live in the same city as my girlfriend, but the LA architecture job market was booming ~6 months ago. There's a lot of new construction happening in LA and its a great place to work in architecture. Maybe get in touch with a recruiting firm that can help you with finding positions in a new city where you don't have much in the way of professional connections? Healthcare experience seems pretty desirable among larger, corporate firms.
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Re: Up and moving to Los Angeles...

Postby chrisschumm » Wed Apr 05, 2017 4:51 pm

I moved down to northern San Diego from Washington state about 4 years ago without a job lined up and had one within 1 week... There's a ton of work going on in CA. I think the best resource for jobs is the local AIA job boards.
http://www.aialosangeles.org/content/job-openings.html#.WOWCijvyuUk

Cost of living is higher with the sunshine tax, but you also generally get paid better so it works itself out if your willing to trade some of your earnings for epic weather all the time.. I had a few interviews up in LA and orange county... but i cant handle the traffic up there...

best of luck!
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Re: Up and moving to Los Angeles...

Postby standard » Wed Apr 05, 2017 10:25 pm

Congrats on getting your license!

I used to work in the healthcare niche here in SoCal. As mentioned it seems like there is good demand for talent - and hospitals are always upgrading because of technology and because of seismic upgrade requirements.

Did you mean that you're itching to get out of healthcare or Ohio or both? I got tired of healthcare pretty quickly.

There are a lot of different areas to consider in the LA area. I personally like the Santa Monica area.
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Re: Up and moving to Los Angeles...

Postby Coach » Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:53 pm

cafefille wrote:I love LA (been there once...)

Once huh? Which parts?

I know I'd have to take the CSE to get licensed there, though I think our move would be temporary (maybe 3 years til family, then we move back).

California is a hard place to move away from.

I grew up in LA. But saying that only means I'm familiar with much of LA. LA is huge and life varies significantly from one part to another.

And LA is more than the actual city limits. I also lived in Long Beach for some time, which is in LA county.

Basically, I consider LA to to cover the entire county plus Orange county down to Irvine and the southern chunk of Ventura county (Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks).

There's a lot to consider and much of it depends on the lifestyle you want.

Traffic is horrid almost everywhere and at nearly all hours. I can't stand commuting. The moment you get on a freeway to go to work it's 30 minutes minimum and 60+ is not uncommon at all. To mitigate that, living close to work is obviously best.

So back to lifestyle. If you want glitz and glamour and perpetual nightlife, you're going to pay for it. And if you're not one to want to be totally immersed in it all the time, if you don't tivo TMZ, the kardashians, etc, then you'll probabably want to avoid the allure... even if that's your thing sometimes. It's much nicer to visit that stuff than live it 24/7.

Now maybe it's because I'm more familiar with it, but I think the Long Beach area offers a good mix of everything with relatively minimal congestion. Ocean, nightlife (Belmont Shore), relatively centrally located (even though it's on the coast), and lots of architects in the area. I will say that after living there 10 years, I was more than ready to leave.

Another more "normal" area is the San Fernando Valley. The Valley is also relative large with a variety of ecosystems. The southern end -- Sheman Oaks to Burbank, Studio City to North Hollywood -- offers more of the "LA lifestyle" than the rest. The southern valley is also close to Hollywood, Downtown LA, and a nice canyon road drive to the beach.

After you decide on a general area, the toughest thing will be a place to live. Neighborhoods can change radically in a matter of blocks. It's important to cruise potential areas at night before committing. And, until you know your surroundings better, I would avoid a long term lease unless you're absolutely certain it's in a nice spot.

You'll want to spend a lot of time with google.
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Re: Up and moving to Los Angeles...

Postby cafefille » Fri Apr 21, 2017 6:26 am

Just wanted to thank all you guys for your input. Especially Coach, thanks for taking the time out to give me all that insight.

I want to get out of healthcare, period. It's draining me and I want to do "fun" stuff.

I'm interviewing with a couple of firms in LA. Also looking in San Diego now. I'm going to let mine and my boyfriend's job locations determine where we live. We have a set date that we're going to move there, job or no, and we will get an extended stay hotel until we are ready to commit to an area.

Santa Monica is my favorite, though I see it's expensive, & the firms in that area seem to be mostly boutique firms. I'm used to working for corporate places so I don't know how I'll fare if I get a boutique type job, though that's a topic for another thread.
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