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How did you go about coordinating the move to New York? I'm strongly considering moving to Brooklyn when I graduate in December, but the logistics of getting th

How did you go about coordinating the move to New York? I'm strongly considering moving to Brooklyn when I graduate in December, but the logistics of getting there and finding an apartment seems pretty difficult. I don't know if I should field offers first or just have 10 grand in the bank and head there unemployed to look for a job.

mwsherman 14y ago
Coming here unemployed is not without risk. How good a programmer do you think you are? If you feel like you can demonstrate skills, then once you get here you can go to tech meetups and let people know you are looking. You'll get interest.
- prophetjohn 14y ago
  I'm confident that I'm good enough to land a job in this market. Beyond that, it's hard to say. As the least experienced developer on my team, I feel like I'm able to consistently contribute at a level beyond what's expected of me. I coast through most programming-intensive courses at my university. My goal over the summer is to make significant contributions to open source, which I just don't have time for now with my schedule. Going to meetups is a very good idea. Is there a good way to find out about these other than just Googling "ruby meetup nyc"?
  - eshvk 14y ago
    meetup.com has a good mix of tech meetups happening in NYC and the bay area.
  - mwsherman 14y ago
    Yes, meetup.com is good. Etsy also has "Code as Craft" nights, those are fun. There are co-working spaces like General Assembly, New Work City and Projective Space which are, naturally, techie-dense. Startup Digest is a mailing list for the week's events: http://startupdigest.com/ http://startupdigest.com/
  - mnutt 14y ago
    If you're looking for ruby meetups, come to NYC.rb. (http://www.meetup.com/NYC-rb/ http://www.meetup.com/NYC-rb/) The talks are usually very good and it's a great group of people.
memset 14y ago
Lots of people decide to just pick up and move to NY, but I myself wanted to have a job in hand first. Maybe it isn't true in tech, but I know lots of folks who "just moved to NY," worked at a restaurant for a couple of years, and ended up moving back home. All depends on your risk tolerance and confidence in being able to find gainful employment! I was so eager to leave my previous gig that I stayed at a youth hostel for the first two weeks while working and finding an apartment. It was hard, but not completely unmanageable. The biggest blocker for me were price expectations; I had a 600 ft^2 1br for $650/month in NC, whereas I'm paying $850/month for a 4br share in Harlem. If you decide to live in Williamsburg (or a 'nice' part of Brooklyn) then you'll pay a lot more; $1500-$2000 per month in rent is fairly common for a newly-minted young professional who's decided that they want to live in a shoebox in midtown.
- prophetjohn 14y ago
  Yeah, the rent is definitely (too damn) high. I've also considered western Queens (LIC, Astoria, Sunnyside). But I don't think I could share an apartment several people I don't know, so I'm preparing myself to pay something in the $1500 range. I think my best idea so far is to just find a 1-month arrangement on AirBnB where I can get settled to find a job and apartment.
  - gigawatt 14y ago
    Sunnyside is beautiful and green and convenient (my in-laws live there), but it is more family-oriented. LIC is very pricey these days, but is much more hip. Astoria is right between the other two in terms of price and atmosphere.
- Michiel 14y ago
  I live in Europe and I pay €250 in rent. So I can't relate to this at all. How much of your salary goes into rent if you pay $1500 and you're a senior web developer in NYC?
  - _delirium 14y ago
    I'm going to guess you don't live in Paris/London/Copenhagen/Rome then! I live in Europe and there aren't any €250 rents that I know of near me. About 35% of my after-tax salary goes to rent.
cletus 14y ago
Let me help you with this. New York can be a very expensive place to live. It can also be a cheap place to live. 10 grand, done right, will last you a long time in New York. My advice would be: - If you have a car, get rid of it. Do not, under any circumstances, bring it to the city. This alone will save you a ton of grief (parking, tickets, rules about which side of the street you can park on and when and so on) and money (insurance in the city I believe is higher) and you simply don't need it; - Get rid of your stuff. You need a suitcase of clothes, a computer and, well, that's about it. The more of the rest you can get rid of the better; - There are decent parks of Brooklyn and Queens you can find a room for $1000/month or less. Ideally you want to find a room and not sign a lease right away. It's more flexible; - You can live out of the city and commute in for job interviews. This will save even more money. I live in New York and love it. New York is the kind of place where attitude matters. You have to decide to like it. If you do you'll love all the great things: the energy, the proximity, things going on, etc. If you decide to hate it you'll notice the bad things. Good luck.
- prophetjohn 14y ago
  If you have a car, get rid of it. Do not, under any circumstances, bring it to the city. Ah, I have a small truck and wanted to drive it there, so I could bring my bed, and then sell it when I get there. I guess I need to decide if I can sell a small truck in the Austin area for enough more than in New York to cover the cost of a new bed.
  - gigawatt 14y ago
    Another New Yorker here. Just sell the car in Austin. You can get a bed & mattress at the Ikea in Brooklyn for $500 or less and they'll deliver it. You're not going to want the added hassle of trying to sell a car in a new and huge city while you're trying to get settled. Plus, you will get parking tickets. It's almost unavoidable.
    - mkopinsky 14y ago
      You can also get a bed from somewhere cheaper - all these places deliver. I don't remember how much I paid, but I'm pretty confident it was <$200.
mjibson 14y ago
I stayed with friends in Princeton for the first week (~1.5 hour commute into the city), and hired a broker to find me a place. Stack Exchange has a nice relocation package that made this quite affordable. Also, I only took clothes, a computer, and my desk chair with me. I was able to fit all of my stuff into my car and just go. Now that car is parked at my friend's place, and I'm considering selling it.
FuzzyDunlop 14y ago
You're definitely piling on extra risk by moving before finding a job. But after someone else mentioned that relocation might count against you to a potential employer, maybe the added risk isn't that significant. I'm also planning to relocate - to London, ASAP - and I'm looking for the job before I make the move. I've been lucky enough to find one or two very exciting opportunities that offer relocation, but with that aside, it's not an easy thing to co-ordinate.

mwsherman 14y ago

Coming here unemployed is not without risk. How good a programmer do you think you are? If you feel like you can demonstrate skills, then once you get here you can go to tech meetups and let people know you are looking. You'll get interest.

prophetjohn 14y ago
I'm confident that I'm good enough to land a job in this market. Beyond that, it's hard to say. As the least experienced developer on my team, I feel like I'm able to consistently contribute at a level beyond what's expected of me. I coast through most programming-intensive courses at my university. My goal over the summer is to make significant contributions to open source, which I just don't have time for now with my schedule. Going to meetups is a very good idea. Is there a good way to find out about these other than just Googling "ruby meetup nyc"?
- eshvk 14y ago
  meetup.com has a good mix of tech meetups happening in NYC and the bay area.
- mwsherman 14y ago
  Yes, meetup.com is good. Etsy also has "Code as Craft" nights, those are fun. There are co-working spaces like General Assembly, New Work City and Projective Space which are, naturally, techie-dense. Startup Digest is a mailing list for the week's events: http://startupdigest.com/ http://startupdigest.com/
- mnutt 14y ago
  If you're looking for ruby meetups, come to NYC.rb. (http://www.meetup.com/NYC-rb/ http://www.meetup.com/NYC-rb/) The talks are usually very good and it's a great group of people.

memset 14y ago

Lots of people decide to just pick up and move to NY, but I myself wanted to have a job in hand first. Maybe it isn't true in tech, but I know lots of folks who "just moved to NY," worked at a restaurant for a couple of years, and ended up moving back home. All depends on your risk tolerance and confidence in being able to find gainful employment! I was so eager to leave my previous gig that I stayed at a youth hostel for the first two weeks while working and finding an apartment. It was hard, but not completely unmanageable. The biggest blocker for me were price expectations; I had a 600 ft^2 1br for $650/month in NC, whereas I'm paying $850/month for a 4br share in Harlem. If you decide to live in Williamsburg (or a 'nice' part of Brooklyn) then you'll pay a lot more; $1500-$2000 per month in rent is fairly common for a newly-minted young professional who's decided that they want to live in a shoebox in midtown.

prophetjohn 14y ago
Yeah, the rent is definitely (too damn) high. I've also considered western Queens (LIC, Astoria, Sunnyside). But I don't think I could share an apartment several people I don't know, so I'm preparing myself to pay something in the $1500 range. I think my best idea so far is to just find a 1-month arrangement on AirBnB where I can get settled to find a job and apartment.
- gigawatt 14y ago
  Sunnyside is beautiful and green and convenient (my in-laws live there), but it is more family-oriented. LIC is very pricey these days, but is much more hip. Astoria is right between the other two in terms of price and atmosphere.
Michiel 14y ago
I live in Europe and I pay €250 in rent. So I can't relate to this at all. How much of your salary goes into rent if you pay $1500 and you're a senior web developer in NYC?
- _delirium 14y ago
  I'm going to guess you don't live in Paris/London/Copenhagen/Rome then! I live in Europe and there aren't any €250 rents that I know of near me. About 35% of my after-tax salary goes to rent.

cletus 14y ago

Let me help you with this. New York can be a very expensive place to live. It can also be a cheap place to live. 10 grand, done right, will last you a long time in New York. My advice would be: - If you have a car, get rid of it. Do not, under any circumstances, bring it to the city. This alone will save you a ton of grief (parking, tickets, rules about which side of the street you can park on and when and so on) and money (insurance in the city I believe is higher) and you simply don't need it; - Get rid of your stuff. You need a suitcase of clothes, a computer and, well, that's about it. The more of the rest you can get rid of the better; - There are decent parks of Brooklyn and Queens you can find a room for $1000/month or less. Ideally you want to find a room and not sign a lease right away. It's more flexible; - You can live out of the city and commute in for job interviews. This will save even more money. I live in New York and love it. New York is the kind of place where attitude matters. You have to decide to like it. If you do you'll love all the great things: the energy, the proximity, things going on, etc. If you decide to hate it you'll notice the bad things. Good luck.

prophetjohn 14y ago
If you have a car, get rid of it. Do not, under any circumstances, bring it to the city. Ah, I have a small truck and wanted to drive it there, so I could bring my bed, and then sell it when I get there. I guess I need to decide if I can sell a small truck in the Austin area for enough more than in New York to cover the cost of a new bed.
- gigawatt 14y ago
  Another New Yorker here. Just sell the car in Austin. You can get a bed & mattress at the Ikea in Brooklyn for $500 or less and they'll deliver it. You're not going to want the added hassle of trying to sell a car in a new and huge city while you're trying to get settled. Plus, you will get parking tickets. It's almost unavoidable.
  - mkopinsky 14y ago
    You can also get a bed from somewhere cheaper - all these places deliver. I don't remember how much I paid, but I'm pretty confident it was <$200.

mjibson 14y ago

I stayed with friends in Princeton for the first week (~1.5 hour commute into the city), and hired a broker to find me a place. Stack Exchange has a nice relocation package that made this quite affordable. Also, I only took clothes, a computer, and my desk chair with me. I was able to fit all of my stuff into my car and just go. Now that car is parked at my friend's place, and I'm considering selling it.

FuzzyDunlop 14y ago

You're definitely piling on extra risk by moving before finding a job. But after someone else mentioned that relocation might count against you to a potential employer, maybe the added risk isn't that significant. I'm also planning to relocate - to London, ASAP - and I'm looking for the job before I make the move. I've been lucky enough to find one or two very exciting opportunities that offer relocation, but with that aside, it's not an easy thing to co-ordinate.