Dave's Headblog

The Next Step

Last night I worked on my resume for the first time in over six years. Updated it and then transfered it to Quark, so that I can lay it out better and then PDF it. I remember when a resume had to be nicely printed on good paper and mailed or delivered to prospective employers. Now very few companies want to see a paper version... or even a person until the interviews begin. Now it's all about the email or online application. Some companies won't even accept a paper version... my own company asked for an email version of Liz's resume when I tried to hand deliver a hardcopy.

So why am I working on a resume? I like my job. I enjoy working in publishing. I like the people I work with and the vibe in the office. I'm finally being recognized by management for my hard work and a for the creation of a really useful in-house website. So what's the problem? Why leave?

It's simple. Boston is just too expensive and it's draining all of our resources. The job market here sucks. Liz can't find a job that she isn't miserable in and even if she could, we can't even come close to affording a house anywhere near the city. We need a house of our own... we want to have kids in the next few years. We could move to New Hampshire and commute, but it would be a long and evil commute, especially in the winter. And it wouldn't help Liz's job situation.

I love Boston. I've live here for over 11 years now. Over the years, most of my old friends have moved away, but I've also met new ones. It's a great city and I'll always love it and everything that it's given to me. Unfortunately, it's starting to feel like my time here is drawing to an end. Not right away... but it's feeling like unless something changes drastically in the near future, we may be in a new city by this time next year. Probably sooner.

This fills me with a combination of excitement and dread. Excitement because it'll be fun to explore a new city and a new way of life. Dread because moves like this require money (which I don't have right now) and a gamble that we'll both be able to very quickly find decent jobs wherever we decide to go. It means that we're probably going to go through a period of being really poor again. Thats a hard adjustment to make after you've gotten used to a certain level of comfort. Maybe we'll be able to find jobs before we go, but realistically that may not happen for both of us. Scary.

So where might we go? Chicago is looking pretty good. Real estate is a little cheaper, publishing jobs exist, and we have friends there already. Some of whom have connections and might be able to help us find decent work. It's also closer to family, which is a bonus. I love my family, and I find that I miss them more and more as I get older. But who knows? Maybe Liz will find the dream job in Boston and real estate prices will drop, and we'll live happily ever after in our Victorian in Jamaica Plain. Posted by kromedome at December 4, 2003 11:41 AM