Mandad3s

Hi SirEccles, we've been to Florida and California (not Seattle) so I know they are very different places but as yet we are undecided mostly because my husband hasn't thoroughly investigated his career options in ether place, but we know we like both, friends live in Seattle and love it there. Does anyone here have an idea of where is best at present for ASP.net programmers?

Pulaski

I'd recommend that you put job and career considerations ahead of whatever other preferences you have. Without jobs and income everything else is, at best, a painful struggle and there are many great, albeit less than perfect, places to live in the US that aren't in California, Florida, or greater New York, and IMHO all three of those are deeply flawed locations. To which point I would say you should try to take your new home more or less as you find it, because if you're for ever wishing things were different or "like they are back home", there's a good chance you'll never really settle.

Bluegrass Lass

Check out indeed.com or dice.com. I think you can search just by job title, and then start narrowing down by location. The other 2 typical jobsearch sites are careerbuilder.com and monster.com.

I wouldn't say there is a specific location that have a concentration for ASP programmers (except perhaps Silicon Valley area in California). You should be able to find jobs in that field pretty much everywhere.

Mandad3s

Thanks Pulaski and Bluegrass for your replies. Pulaski I'm sure that's good advice - comparisons aren't helpful and ultimately pointless. I have always admired many things American. My husband spent his formative years in the US and I think we could be happy there. I believe our children would have more opportunities than in the UK.I just hope we aren't too old to readjust where necessary....

Thanks for the IT tips Bluegrass!

kodokan

I was a bit worried before we moved here that my kids wouldn't be 'street' enough at ages almost 8 and almost 12 - they'd just spent 4 years living in Switzerland, which is very uncommercial and non-branded, and where even teen girls think it's perfectly ok to ride to school on a scooter in jeans and trainers.

I was astonished to find that in our area of Arizona at least, childhood seems to last several years longer than it does in the UK. Most people seem to be sensibly dressing their kids in clothes from supermarkets, and/ or handed down from older siblings or neighbours. There's no discernible interest in celebrities, or fashion, or having to be up to date with the latest music.

My son's 14 now and has just finished 8th grade/ middle school. His only interest in clothes is that they're comfortable and in dark colours; he's recently acquired an interest in wearing hats like mods used to wear, but that's as far as it goes (and that's just him, it's not a 'thing'). He couldn't name a fashion brand or a current musical artist if his life depended on it.

He is, nevertheless, apparently regarded as a demigod at school, because he's considered urbane and sophisticated simply by his background ('I LOVE your accent - say Harry Potter again - squeeeeeal!!!'; 'You've travelled to HOW many countries? And been on actual trains?' etc).

Dating appears to be another area here that's much slower than for UK kids. I have a few friends with same age sons in the UK, and they've all been having 'girlfriends' since they were around 12 (I know it's not real ones, just someone to say they're 'going out with' and maybe kiss, but still, it's a much more precocious interest in dating and sex than here).

I don't know a single boy in my son's friendship circle who's ever had a girlfriend (and they're mostly cool, attractive enough kids). He did go through his yearbook a few weeks ago pointing out the girls on whom he and his friends 'have crushes', but this is all very much from a distance, like fancying pop stars. My impression is that kids dating here before 15 or 16 would seem plain weird, and put that kid somewhat suspiciously outside the social norms.

I dunno - maybe they'll suddenly become all sophisticated in high school next year. I've seen high school kids though, and can't see it!

Bob

Sorry, that's a good giggle

The culture, CoL and QoL range massively from state to state, but also within the same state. Boston compared to Deerfield, both in the same state but are worlds apart in every respect and that's only going a couple hours across one state.

Can be so different from town to town as well. I know the school atmosphere in the schools in my town are a world away from those even in the neighbouring town if you go in one direction but is very similar if you go the other.

Mandad3s

Thanks kodokan that's an interesting insight - I do think kids here grow up too fast. Two yrs ago my then 7 yr old daughter cried to have her legs shaved!!

I suppose even within a small area in the uk schools can be very different, I was just trying to apply a general principle ...

MsElui

we just moved from Ohio to texas. we were temporarily living in dallas for about 3 months in a rental before we bought our house north of dallas. The dallas school we had to go to for that three months was NOT one i would have chosen (but we were dictated to by the location of the corporate rental). My kids were in the race minority and both were quickly nominated for the talented and gifted program. Both kids had stuff taken from their bags/desks etc and ended up giving half their supplies to kids who had none. Now we have moved to the new school district - they are not being considered T & G as the standard is MUCH higher. This school is much more nurturing though - even tho the standards are higher. They much prefer the atmosphere now and the 'niceness' of the teachers. This was just 30 mins drive away - so it really does vary enormously by location.

Condegirl

I live in Florida (10+ years) and have worked briefly in Seattle, WA and San Diego/La Jolla, CA.

Job: I agree with the idea that the job opportunity is usually the first consideration: money, advancement opportunities, educational opportunities; job security; job benefits (such as health care etc) and amount of expected travel (if any) will all factor in to impact the level lifestyle you can afford. Many USA companies can be looked up online to read employee reviews.

Schools: It sounds as though you will have the financial means to choose a rental or home in a good area wherever you go. Schools in the USA that are funded by taxpayers are known as public schools (which seems to somehow mean the opposite in the UK). Most schools in USA are grouped into districts, either a City School District or a County School District and goverend by a School Board. Usually these School Boards have web-sites with links to all their schools and a grade for each school and links to exam results. The web-sites ususally also provide a good idea of the signature programs offered by each of the schools in that district.

For example
1) In Seattle: http://seattleschools.org/
2) In Martin County FL: http://www.sbmc.org/

The dating does seem to be later than in the UK - many girls in middle class areas (in my experiences - which are narrow) in those locations are flat out not allowed to "officially start dating" by their parents until they are 16. However, they often get around that by going out in mixed 'groups.'

Clothing: it's really no big deal in any of those locations. The school has their dress codes and they can be loose (flip flops, tank tops okay) or more strict (close toed shoes, no collar bone showing, shorts and skirts must be lower than the tips of fingers when down at side of body) etc. Some kids are very lax - litterally falling out of bed and going to school in pajama bottoms and slippers. Hence, new rule 2 years ago - no fleece pajama pants or slippers.

School policies in bringing any kind of knife (even in a lunch box) or scissors or medication to school are STRICT. Read them up - drill them into your kids no matter how stupid they think those rules are.

Florida offers an Online School for free to Florida childrren up to 18 year old - most states have a online school if you prefer that option. In Florida, it's called Florida Virtual School. www.flvs.net


Weather: I prefer Florida or California as they both offer year round activity opportunities in the SUN. Seattle is a temperate Rainforest. London gets 25 inches of rain (approx per year) Seattle 35 inches (approx per year). The idea of moving to America and moving to a place rainier and cloudier than England just requires A LOT of consideration. I used to work there 3 days at a time (I lived in New York) and they offered me a job there - after 3 days in the rain - I was ready to hitch hike out of there in a serial killer's car

Travel to UK:
Obviously, Florida is closer to UK - by a LOT (half the time to Seattle & CA.)

Culture: Seattle is the groovy, warehouse brick and steel railings, 300 types of coffee; film noire; techy/innovative juxtaposed to a natural rawness from the location, seaport, fishing industry, fish markets etc that gives a great individual appeal to the town. It's hard to generalize about an entire city that wants to be a center of innovation. At one time I wsa offered 10K more than I was making back to move there and as fantastic and as nice as they were and so kind - it was an easy no for me -THE RAIN AND CONSTANT OVERCAST weather JUST GOT ME DOWN.

California is huge and there are many variables. Most of CA offers good weather for year round activities. I think Ca and Florida are a wash - equal but different pros and cons to both with similar outcome similar - I'd go with the best job offer - but if that comes from California you might want to adjust for significantly higher cost of living in California for housing etc.

Ash UK/US

You are asking a broad spectrum question and without more information it is not really possible to get an accurate answer. You really need to narrow it down to a specific area not 3 states. For example, I live in Grand Rapids, MI (within the city limits) there is a big variance even within my local school districts, I would not touch GR public, Northview is pretty good, Forest Hills and East Grand Rapids very good. Then there are charter schools, which have a good reputation but this too depends on the location.

My girls go to a well rated charter school, they do not have uniform but have a strict dress code. in the 5 years my kids have been there I have not seen or heard of any racial tensions. Now could the same be said for the local city school, I doubt it.

Like I said to get an accurate answer you need to pin point a location.

Rusty Chainsaw

That makes it an easy decision. Seattle - home of Microsoft.

(OK, I know, technically it's Redmond, but it's just over the river )

scrubbedexpat099

And you get at least $15 an hour.

kimilseung

Important in context, as it might be Issaquah School District, Snoqualmie Valley School District, Bellevue School District or a bunch of others.

https://www.k12.wa.us/maps/images/Sc...strictsBig.png

AmerLisa

Still probably not enough to live in Seattle.

SarahG

When I came over my kids were 4 and 6 and the 6 year old started in 1st grade but by Christmas was in Kindergarten. So he has effectively done all of his schooling in the US. (He started at school in the UK when he was 4 but he remembers very little of it. His sister did a whopping 6 weeks at school in the UK before we came over here and then she had to wait until she was 5 to start Kindergarten. They have both just finished school for the year and are starting the almost 11 week summer break. They have gone to schools in Indiana and now South Carolina. There has been no competitiveness and no bullying. The teachers have been nothing but encouraging and trying to get the best out of them. (When we left Indiana a couple of the teachers actually cried when my son left).
We may have been lucky with school districts in the towns we have lived in and there will be people who have not had a good time at schools here. However, until you know what city/town you are going to live in, you cannot really get an idea what the schools will be like. When you know where you are going to live then you need to research the schools and find a place to live within the school boundary of the one you want your kids to go to.