Englishmum

Check out:

http://www.michaelpage.co.uk

HiddenPaw

Hi
Why don't you do a search on Jobserve for work in your field, and see what sort of locations come up.

Away from the SE, there is a fait bit up north! IT providers such as HP, EDS, IBM have sites all over the UK (and hence, clients). A number of blue-chip companies have their IT HQ up here too. Obviously tho, depends on your line of work.

House prices where we are (Cheshire) are not as steep as SE and there is a lot of countryside at close proximity. There are numerous areas where you could be living in a village/small town, whilst still close to cities (Manchester, Leeds, Chester, Sheffield, York, for example), with countryside in abundance (North Wales, Peak District, Yorkshire Dales, Lake District, etc etc)

Good luck

eurotramp

Hi,
thanks for the link.
Its not programming we after its more like system administrator with a degree in Information technology.
I had a look at the website and most jobs seem to in London....I'm not impressed with the pay so far

HiddenPaw

How long have you been away? The bottom fell out of the market a bit about 3-4 years ago. Contract rates dipped, outsourcing to big service providers hit quite hard, and of course, alongside the general trend of outsourcing, a lot of work has moved overseas. We have seen an upturn in our field in the last 12 months (my husband is a solutions architect..I'm now playing mummy!)

Which link did you check out? Jobserve.co.uk is a generic recruitment site. Michael Page, on the other hand, is quite a high-end recruiter with a lot of big-name, city clients.

eurotramp

Thanks for the links.....

Hubby has not lived in the uk since good 10 years..he is working for Nato and we live since 2 years in the french part of Belgium and I absolute hate it here.
Money is ok but that's it...before that we have lived 5 years in Holland and that was ok. I want a live and I'm not getting it here so we thinking of moving to the uk.

Roadhog

I guess we are in a similar boat. We have been out of the UK for 10 years, and I am in IT looking for a job in the UK. I have been comparing salaries between the Mountain States of the USA to London, and can see that I earn way more here than I would in the UK. So, based on that we feel that with house prices in London, that living there is prohibitive. Even though we could stay with family there until we got a house.

We have thought about renting, even though we don't really like that option, with 5 kids, we believe most landlords won't want to allow us to rent with them.

Have looked around at some other places. One person suggested Scotland, and I did hear that there were some companies offering relocation for Scotland, but haven't had that confirmed.

Also heard about a US Conglomerate in Surrey that was hiring IT professionals, but again, haven't been able to find out who that is.

Good luck in your search. Hope we find something too.
Take Care, Colin.

Bob

Don't know about relocations...but there are jobs in scotland, what with napier and all that...and surrey, lots of jobs there, especially slough....evil place...but there are loads of jobs there...but probably not the top pay you might hope...

Roadhog

Yes, about 15 years ago I used to live in Slough. It was evil then..... I remember it well. Used to work there too.

Not top pay, but house prices still high I bet. I remember that Lower Early near Reading was a popular place to live, it was just beginning to be built on. I bet now it is just part of Reading, and prices are high there too now.

Tiaribbon

Bracknell and Basingstoke are big IT areas in the south. House prices in that part of Hampshire are around the £300K - £400K price range for a half-decent house.

BAY

I come from Swindon and it is NOT a shit hole . I grant you the town centre isn't the best but it has some of the nicest surrounding countryside. And it has the greatest football team in the world ... well imho !!

With regard to the original question. London is probably tops for IT jobs but has the usual downsides of most major cities i.e. high housing costs, crime, litter etc etc.

The M4 corridor is an alternative fopr IT jobs ie. Cardiff, Bristol, Swindon and Reading. Edinburgh and Leeds are other alternatives. Look at www.jobserve.co.uk to get an idea of jobs and location.

Regards,

Bryan

Bob

Aye, getting pricey in slough and reading....still cheaper than windsor or staines though...oh, and there's some IT stuff in staines...but that's another depressing place.

Bob

Well, being from down the road, I'd have to say that, and also dissagree with ya team selection

Devlin

I get at least a couple of unsolicited calls a week now about jobs around the Thames Valley area - Berkshire/Oxforshire area mainly.

Roadhog

Devlin,
I assume that these were from Recruiters. Could you please give me some idea of which recruiters are good to work with? I am thinking that I will post on Monster.co.uk and anyone else that is looking for experienced IT staff.
Thanks
Colin.

Bob

There's Reed, Blue Arrow, Champion Recruitments, basically, there's loads out there in Oxfordshire area so do a google for recruitment agencies and Thames valley area....

And monster is utter pants.