[colug-432] Looking for info on Columbus

[Richard Troth]

Hi, Chris, --

I played this game 5 years ago.  (Jim Wildman, when did you move to
Houston?)  Looks like Jim and I have now traded places, because he was
here when I arrived ... and I did not know he had left!

Cost of living in Columbus is higher for me than it was in Houston.
But I expect CoL to be substantially lower in Col than in DC.  I have
family near you and can see that their CoL is heavier than mine.  Yes,
Columbus should be comparable to Louisville.

$90k is probably reasonable for your experience, but be prepared to
push off the clerical parts of "system administration" onto the new
recruits.  You employer WILL expect more out of you in short order
than handling of accounts and software maint.  (Guessing you probably
WANT to do something more substantial anyway, but all of us have a
comfort zone we fall into.)  The point is, be clear about what you're
looking for and clear about what they're offering.  If you want to do
coding on the side, find out how your prospective employer(s) will
feel about that.

I found housing to be better (than the gulf coast) in terms of
construction.  If you don't have a basement there in DC, plan to have
one here.  It's not required, but (to me) it's kind of a no brainer.
Seems like a waste of money to NOT have one.  Housing tech for all
climates has improved a lot:  If you get an older home, be prepared to
do some upgrades.  If you get a newer home, consider the surroundings
(especially shopping and transit) and the builder.  Most of my
teammates (I have since changed jobs; no longer working down town)
lived North of city center.  I chose South for a lot of reasons and
got a pretty good deal ... a shorter commute and less shopping
traffic.  (Bluntly:  avoid putting yourself through the Polaris
corridor during rush hour.)  But the compass does not dictate good vs
bad.

Here's an idea:  Plan to rent for a few months while you get to know
the city.  Then buy when you have a better sense of where you want to
land.

I'm on TWC/RR cablemodem now, but have also used AT&T/SWBT DSL.
Biggest appeal of DSL for me was the option of having a static
address.  (Had that in Houston; never got it to work here.)
Otherwise, I don't detect a lot of difference, but my TWC relationship
started as biz class, which *is* better.  Some friends have tried
Uverse but were not satisfied.  I would love to get IPv6, but am not
aware of it in Columbus (other than via tunnel).

Columbus has a lot of tech, as you already know.  Plus, there are a
number of respectable big companies that need IT staff all the time.
You found COLUG ... great!  OSU has an open source club which has
interesting meetings.  There is also the Ohio Supercomputer Center.
(That's not a club, of course, but is interesting, and it's almost
entirely Linux.)  If you are on LinkedIn, find groups such as Tech
Columbus and IT Martini.  Oh!  And we have the Ohio Linuxfest annually
right here.

I hope this helps.

-- Rick;   <><





On Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 11:32, Chris Snyder <pub at 3wa.org> wrote:
> Hiya,
>
> My name is Chris, I'm currently located on the outskirts of D.C. and am
> looking to move to Columbus or the surrounding area in the next few
> months due to family reasons. I'm a linux SysAdmin by trade, over 15
> years in the industry with some dabbling in Solaris and other  OS's.
> I'm also a tools developer primarily focusing on Perl. I was hoping you
> folks might be able to pass on some general info on the city and
> surrounding areas and maybe some job leads. (Already found the
> colug-jobs ML, btw.) I doo know there's a nice tech industry in
> Columbus, so I'm hoping that somebody can use yet another linux grunt on
> their front lines.
>
> I had a long history (11+ years) with AOL and had the fortune of
> visiting the CompuServe campus a few times (I remember there was an
> awesome BBQ joint out behind it. Hopefully it's still there).  So I've
> seen some of the area, but only very little.  I grew up in Louisville,
> KY, and from what I've seen in person and from what I've read the
> lifestyle in Columbus appears very similar to that of Louisville and
> Cincinnati.  Other than I've read up the city in Wikipedia. But I'm
> hoping that you might be able to share some more 'geek-centric' type
> data my way.
>
> So here's what info I don't have at the moment:
>
> - Does anybody have any clue what the difference in salary ranges might
> be for Columbus vs the D.C. area?  From what fuzzy data I've been able
> to gather so far, it looks like I should be able to expect about a 30%
> less in general cost of living and salary maybe $10K-20K less than what
> I'm pulling now. I'm hoping asking for $80K-$95K wouldn't be too out of
> line for a 15 yr vet of the command line?
>
> - Is it possible to ask what a ball-park price for a 4-bedroom house
> might go for in the suburbs?  $300K-$400K? More? Less? (Yeah, I know,
> there's A LOT of variables that effect this.)
>
> - What's the scoop on local ISPs and DSL, FIOS, etc.?
>
> - What are the 'good' vs 'bad' areas of Columbus to live?  Does any
> place in particular warrant special attention one way vs the other or is
> it all one big happy community? Are there any areas overly susceptible
> to tornadoes, flooding, asteroid hits, flying monkeys, etc.? (Of course
> there will always specific needs based upon commute and assorted
> amenities but I don't have all my requirements for those are just yet.)
>
> - What are the current local hot-button political issues right now?
> (I've found that sometimes these are good indicators for what possible
> issues might be lying down the road in a few years and could influence
> where or where not to buy a house.)
>
> - Any other recommended sources for learning more about Columbus in
> general or it's tech industry?
>
> - Anything else you feel I should really know about the area?
>
> I appreciate your help.
>
> Thanks,
> Chris.
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