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moving to town

topic posted Wed, February 13, 2008 - 8:31 PM by  niki
hi!

i'm considering moving to the bay area come august and am curious about the area and it's offerings.

i'm a BA psych graduate looking for related work, and have mid-length dreads.

Can you share some insight to the town you are from, lifestyles, political and eco affiliations, workforce and scholastic environment?

any info would be great really!
thank you <3

niki
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niki
offline niki
Los Angeles
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  • Chris
    Chris
    offline 7

    Re: moving to town

    Wed, February 13, 2008 - 9:41 PM
    "Can you share some insight to the town you are from, lifestyles, political and eco affiliations, workforce and scholastic environment? "
    I expect you'll find a fair number of like minded people. The bay area, especially Berkeley, tends to be politically more liberal than some cities, though of course there are all types. The workforce is overworked. Life is expensive here. The scholastic environment is top notch. There are plenty of excellent universities and the accompanying overeducated graduates. Eco affiliations? I don't know what that means. Sorry. :)
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    • Sama...
      Samantha
      offline 11

      Re: moving to town

      Fri, February 15, 2008 - 6:54 PM
      Niki, don't expect to get a paying (let alone decent paying) job in any kind of counseling-related field with a BA in psych. There are so many psych grad students and interns around here that without at least an MA you will not be able to get a paying job. CA requires at least a thousand and maybe more hours to get licensed which means that people working for the MFT-type licenses are worked like slaves, and people without them make $6/hour as residential counselors.

      Someone actually called me in response to my resume (which, while I did not have a psych degree did reflect five years of hands-on experience with increasing responsibilities in three different areas) to ask me if I really expected to get a job without at least a master's degree. That was several years ago and I still wonder why she had to go out of her way to be so nasty to me.

      OTOH, if you're not attached to doing community-social-service work with your psych degree, then please disregard my message of doom and gloom.

      I love it here. I grew up here, lived twelve years in Tacoma and Portland, and came back. Almost everyone I know came from somewhere else, and there's a reason why they are here and not in Texas, MN, KT, OR, WA, MA, NJ, HI. . . I live in Hayward and a lot of us are from the area or from the Pacific Islands (Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, Philippines) and Latin America.

      I bet if you surfed the tribes you would find out everything you want to know. I think Tribe is SFBA-heavy, but you can tell anyway by looking into what you're interested.

      Good luck!
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    • niki
      niki
      offline 20

      Re: moving to town

      Sat, February 23, 2008 - 10:01 AM
      eco affiliations....how green it is :) alternative energy, widespread recycling programs, decenetly priced prganic produce/markets.vendors etc etc.

      i hear rumors that the bay area/north west states are more progressive in this way...but is this fact?

      thanks!
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  • Unsu...
     

    Re: moving to town

    Tue, February 19, 2008 - 6:41 PM
    Niki,

    I would check out craigslist, sfbay.craigslist.org/ for an overview of what is here and what the cost of living is. Someone else who responded was right though, you pretty much can't swing a dog by the tail here without hitting someone with a BA in psych who is making $10 an hour or less. You really need to have a very specific area of specialization and serious work experience in that area or be licensed; and even with a license - out here it is work you do for love - not money; until you have at least a Masters degree.

    The cost of living is pretty high, in most areas you would actually want to live a studio rents for around $900. Often a share is a better way to go if you are a person who lives well with roommates.

    On the other hand, if you want to get further education or specialized training this is a good place to do it; and working at a barista at Peets or Starbucks is a good job choice while a student because they provide benefits to part time employees and do a good amount of tuition reimbursement. Additionally, they are very flexible with their scheduling. Not everyones dream job.. but a great job to have while you are preparing for the dream job.

    Also from the description you give of yourself, I would consider North Oakland/ Berkeley as the area to live in.

    Good luck!


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