[zoeyzoo]

I am thinking of moving to Portland. I searched through some of the previous threads about moving but I couldn't find much about the traffic or job market.

What is the traffic like in Portland? How difficult is it to go from east to west during rush hour? What is the best freeway to live off of (job will prbably be in Downtown Portland, Beaverton, or Hillsboro)?

What is the general feeling in the job market? I heard there was a lot of unemployment several years ago. Is this still the case?

 

[MamieCole]

Hi there!

I can't help you with the traffic questions, as we live in the Beaverton/Hillsboro area and I have zero experience with commuting here.

As far as the job market goes, I think it depends on which field you are in, so I can only share our experience.

We moved up here a little over a year ago. My DH is in the non-profit, sports and fitness, youth sports type field. He originally took a job in the development field in order for us to move up here. Once here, he started looking for a new job, as fundraising turned out to be something he absolutely hated.

Anyway, he put in his notice in January and started actively looking for a new job. Big mistake. It is now August and he has had exactly ONE interview. We've had no income since mid-March. I cannot count the number of jobs he has applied for...has been PERFECTLY qualified for, and yet does not even get so much as an interview. Not even a phone interview. The jobs he does hear back about are all pretty much the same thing: "Thanks for your interest, however we have chosen to hire an internal candidate for this position."

I've applied for a dozen or so jobs in the early childhood/elementary teaching field and have gotten no bites.

We both have college degrees, over ten years of experience each in our respective fields and have great references, but none of that matters if you can't even get your foot in the door.

From our experience, there is a lot of "Not what you know but WHO you know" mentality around here. And we don't know anyone. So that sucks for us.

But not all fields are like that. Our neighbor is an OT and she was able to quit one job and find a new one with no trouble.

I'm sure other people who have been here longer can offer you more insight. Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[aolinsmama]

i can't imagine going east to west during rush hour in a car, the max is your best bet, lots of times we are on there and going much faster than the cars on the highway. i live off division & 52nd and work by the airport (so does dh) and when in my car, it is pretty quick *going* to work, just going back home, sometimes, there is a huge line of (washington state) cars waiting to get on the interstate to go back home to wa, and that clogs up a bit, but it still isn't horrible.
i don't know a lot about the whole employment thing, but our company (environmental-hazmat) has not hired anyone for a long while and lots of cutbacks all around, i think many companies are tightening everything, all around. our economy (in the US) just isn't great right now.

 

[gottaknit]

1. Find a job before you move.
2. Find a home close to your job.
3. Take MAX (train), bike, or walk to work.

I cannot imagine commuting from one side of the city to another. Traffic isn't that bad compared to LA maybe, but it is bad enough. Commuting by bike or foot is perfectly doable year-round, as the weather is so mild.

 

[zoeyzoo]

Thank you for the input so far. I've lived southern CA and Seattle so I'm used to traffic! I'm in the IT field so it appears that I will most likely find work in Downtown, Beaverton or Hillsboro. Unfortunately most of the houses I've found online have been east of of the river.

Is it possible to do this drive in 30 minutes or so? Also I thought the Max was a pain to take into Beaverton (and be in Beaverton without a car)?

 

[philomom]

We live in Sw Portland. The first job my husband ( he's a programmer) got here was in Hillsboro. The commute was 45-55 minutes or so both ways. Now he has a job downtown, takes the bus and get there within 20 minutes or so.

Is school an issue? I live where I do because the schools for kids in the Sw corner are great. If I didn't have to worry about schools, I'd live in Sellwood. But you do not want to be crossing the river on your daily commute.

 

[shanna-cat]

we live on the east side of the river and my husband is a carpenter for a remodeling company so he has to drive (cannot use public transportation with all his tools!) and most of the time is heading across the river to SW, Lake Oswego, or the west hills. We definitely took his commute into consideration when looking for a location to live and ended up finding a place very close in- about 5 blocks away from the ross island bridge, and he says it takes him about 15-25 min to get to work usually-depending on how far out he has to go. We used to live further up on SE 72 and it would take him upwards of 45 min to get to work from there! We prefer the east side of town but were both raised in this neighborhood so we might be a little biased

 

[Victorian]

Zoey...I am trying to PM you...your PM is full.