RE: How is life in these cities?

[bryan -dot- westbrook -at- amd -dot- com]

As far as the job market goes, I would say that Austin still hasn't recovered from the Dot-Bomb crash yet, but things are expected to pick up soon (or so everybody keeps saying).  I've been employed steadily since right before the crash so I haven't been out in the job market for about a year and a half.  Somewhere there is a Web page listing local companies with links to their Web sites (or at least there was when I was looking), but I don't have that link here at work.

I do know that the Austin STC chapter has a job bank <http://www.stcaustin.org/jobbank/jobbank.html>, but there are only four active postings from this month.  I also just checked AMD's job listings and saw a technical writing opening in the Technical Marketing department <http://www2.amd.com/us-en/Job_Opps/Display/1,,61,00.html>, but it's one of the four jobs listed in the STC job bank.

As for the quality of life, I like it.  Austin is a very diverse city.  There is the high-tech sector, the university crowd (there are actually several colleges here, not just UT), the state capital, the music industry, and at least some of the Texas oil millionaire crowd.

For a Southern city, it is rather socially progressive and pretty tolerant of diversity overall.  It's also pretty laid back (though in the workplace this probably varies company-by-company).

The winters are ridiculously mild.  Three snowflakes will send the locals running to the grocery store to stock up on doomsday supplies (always fun to watch <g>).  The summers, however, are pretty bad, but not even close to Houston or Laredo.  I think last year we set a new record for the longest stretch of consecutive days with highs in the 100's.

People complain a LOT about the traffic here, but it's not as bad as Houston.  Plus Austin is pretty small so the distances you have to travel are not very far.  I don't think my commute has ever taken longer than about a half hour, and I have co-workers who live across town from the office and can get here in about 45 minutes.

The local STC chapter <http://www.stcaustin.org> has over 300 members and is quite active, though meeting attendance varies greatly based upon who is speaking that month.  There are also two local STC SIGs that meet every month: Online Information and Independent Contractors.


-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Jacobs [mailto:kjacobs -at- tekwrite -dot- com]
Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2002 7:07 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: How is life in these cities?

How would you rate these cities in terms of jobs and quality of life? Do 
you have any employment agency contacts in any of them?

Austin, TX


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