so i just got offered a research position by my professor personally via phone at 8:30pm lol. it's in San Jose California at a company called San Mina. he said i'll be doing mostly new product introduction and process improvements.

they are willing to ship my car over there so that's a huge plus. i was wondering if you San Jose dwellers could tell me more about the area. where to live, eat, play, etc. what's the cost of an average apartment, nothing fancy but nothing close to a crack neighborhood either.

i really want to go but i want to find out more info about the company and area first. i've been wanting to get out of the area for a while now and this is exactly the type of excuse i need to kick start me. also every student who's worked under that company while in school have been hired and most of them are managers and directors. i sound like i've made up my decision already haven't i?

 

Not exactly familiar with San Jose, but anywho, with my experience of California in general You either REALLY love it or REALLY hate it. I'm sure they will fly you out and give you the dog and pony show before they make you commit to going to work for them. Take some extra time to look around the area and see how you feel about it.

Living expenses are going to be a bit more than you are used to but as long as the compensation makes up for it...

I really loved research. Worked at IBM in research for a while and it was awesome. Production guys are always worried about throughput and not "messing with their machines". Research guys are always more laid back, "Hey man, lets go play some golf while this process finishes". And failures are still considered results.

 

I'm in SoCal but I have some friends up there. What exact questions do you have? I can forward those questions to them.

From what I know, living cost up there is a bit higher than in SoCal. San Jose is actually a nice area but the cost of housings are gonna be a bit higher than some other places. People tend to live on the outer part of San Jose for cheaper living costs.

As for things to do, San Jose has some nice family oriented restaurants but you can always head to San Francisco over the weekends as it's only an hour away.

 

well i live in an area where a good 1bd apt will cost about 550/month which includes everything and internet. how much would it be in San Jose? 800-900/month? is it a city like NYC or more like the inner city of Syracuse NY? cost of an average lunch and dinner. gas prices. parking spot availability and cost.

there are several students already living there from my school doing the same thing so i could probably live with them or something but i just want my own pad nameennnn

 

I'd say the apartments range from 1000 in the San Jose area. I'd consider the area to be more suburb like.

 

suburb is good. what's the auto theft rate like. how often does a resident go out and find their wheels missing or something? off course i'll be purchasing wheel locks but that doesn't seem to prevent wheel theft these days

 

krip: can you ask you friends about phone service? i have t-mobile. should i switch to a different company to get better service or is t-mobile good in cali?

 

I'm sure if you go to Oakland area your wheels will be missing eventually.

San Jose is a higher scale area (hence the living cost/cost of housings). I haven't heard anything major about theft or stolen wheels in that area so I'm sure you'll be fine. It's honestly a beautiful place to live in.

I also have T-Mobile and from my experience T-Mobile is pretty good in CA (either SoCal or NorCal). I've traveled to the Midwest and East with my phone and I couldn't get reception over there as good as I do here in Cali. I'll still ask them though.

So is this happening for real? You'll be about 5 hours away from us.

 

well this is only an offer. they have offered this to others as well but if they pick me, i am personally set on going.

i googled a few places in the area and they are all beautiful houses. a guy on zine replied to me and he used to live in west chester NY which is also a great area but expensive. he said housing is expensive but food is cheap. i can just shack up with a roommate or something and it should bring housing costs down by a few hundred. i don't care much about the house i live in, just the area so my car stays safe. i eat like nobody's business so cheaper food is a plus for me.

so all in all, if my professors think i'm a good to go, i'll be on my way.

 

Good luck on the offer! Hope you gettit!