Relocation to Seattle

Posted by as3developer on February 28, 2012 at 1:19pm

Hi folks,
I will be relocating from New York area to Seattle in few months. I would like to know how drupal job market looks like in Seattle area in general, and in comparision to New York one, if someone is aware. I am interested in opportunities , rates ranges as a contractor or a full-timer . My background - I have 10+ years experience in PHP and several medium to complex projects done in drupal ( module development, theming , jquery, e-commerce, flash/flex integration). Lately I am into developing iOS apps with a drupal backend.
I will appreciate any information e.x ( good place to live in Seattle and raise a kid)
Thank you:)

Comments

Greetings

Posted by KoryFerbet on February 28, 2012 at 4:13pm

Hi Michael,

Right now in Seattle the PHP market is insane! I have five different clients that are looking to hire PHP developers and a few that specialize in Drupal. Most of my opportunities are full time permanent roles. I'd love a few minutes to talk with you and find out more about what you're looking for. I'd also be more than happy to offer any assistance in places to live and places to avoid. I can be reached at Kory@imatch.com I look forward to hearing back from you.

Cheers,
Kory

You will do fine

Posted by jkopel on February 28, 2012 at 4:39pm

The Drupal ecosystem is quite strong here. We have a very active local community that meets once a month, and we always welcome new people.
There are lots of opportunities for full time jobs or freelancing/contracting depending upon your preferences.
Expect lots of recruiters to be in touch...

Seattle is a city of neighborhoods, and I strongly suggest you spend some time visiting them before you decide on a permanent place to live.
When I moved out here 4 years ago I did not realize quite how different the neighborhoods could be.
Good luck, and make sure you come out to seadug when you get here!

Web developer @ tableau

Welcome

Posted by msteudel on February 28, 2012 at 5:04pm

I don't really know the Drupal job scene, but from a PHP side it seems like there's ton of work, freelance, full time

Seattle is a great place to raise a kid and work. Generally the work culture here is big on life balance.
*JKopel is right know your neighborhoods. (Where did you live in NY?)
*Understand the commute (ie avoid going across the water), do you want to bus, walk, or drive
* If your kid is school age then think about schools and that can affect where you live

If you have specific questions feel free to pm me off line.

Mark

Yeah Mark there is a bunch of

Posted by ehime on February 28, 2012 at 5:14pm

Yeah Mark there is a bunch of work out here for Drupal devs.
The "Outer" Seattle area is better imho, but I'm just kinda a
snob so hey, what are you gonna do?

West Seattle (where I live) is nice, its across the short part
of the water, about a 10-20m commute to Downtown where
most of the work is, and if you live around "The Junction" it's
pretty crime free (I have a 9yr old daughter, so always a worry)

Other great places we looked at was Magnolia (East Seattle?),
Fremont (North), and a few places OUTSIDE the city. Bellevue
has quite a few tech jobs, and the highest rated schools in WA
along with Issaquah (where we're planning to buy a house), but
watch out, the price point is very high, and most of the work is
still really in Seattle proper, not the East Side.

-Jd

No sudo for you.

I too will be relocating....

Posted by jeremyr on February 28, 2012 at 5:24pm

but not for about a year. We are considering the Kenmore area but haven't been up there yet to visit.

How is the commute relative to downtown Seattle? Of course I'll be looking for a Drupal job somewhere.

Don't be afraid to live on

Posted by mbinde on February 28, 2012 at 5:29pm

Don't be afraid to live on the east side (i.e. 'go across the water')! Especially if you're down near I90 rather than 520, the commute into Seattle is very reasonable (though I guess to be fair, I've been doing contract work exclusively since I left Amazon in 2006 and it might have gotten tons worse recently, but I commuted from Bellevue to Seattle for the nine years before that and never felt like it was that bad compared to other cities.)

Especially if you have kids, the schools across the water are good, and housing prices can be lower if you're willing to live a bit further out.

Seattle vs. the east side is an argument you will become very familiar with over the coming few months!

I can't offer tips on work as I'm not sure where to look myself -- I've been doing personal projects or contracting for ex-co-workers or their referrals and haven't tried to find work outside those circles yet.