Job oppurtunity in Charlotte NC

yavanika · Sep 23, 2013

Hi All, It would be great if someone could give information abt Charlotte job market;we r planning to relocate to Charlotte, from boston, currently I am working as a QA in Boston so was just wondering how would the opputunaties be for QA is it easy to get a job like I have gone through dice n indeed I find a few openings, I was just wondering if someone could please share they personnel experience. Or else would tx be a better option, they would be more openings in TX buti understand we have to deal with hot summers. I am some what inclined towards charlotte but the only thing that keeps me thinking is the job market. And also how would the commute be towards downtown during rush hours I heard they would be lot of traffic. Please do share your experience. Thanks in advance. Regards,ys

lucky22 · Sep 23, 2013

Yavanika, I see three main topics/questions here:

Firstly, about Job Market: Charlotte's job market is good, i dont know specifically about QA jobs though as I am into Datawarehousing. But i am sure there are many QA jobs as well. Are you moving only for job purpose or anything else? If job purpose, i strongly suggest you to move after you get a job(if possible) No one can ever predict how the job market is going to be right. Also what is your visa status, reason I am asking is if you are H1B you need to find an employer who is willing to sponsor/transfer the visa. See if you can get ur resume to someone through reference(internally). All big Indian consulting companies(Infy, Cognizant, IBM, TCS, Cap Gemini) have a huge base in Charlotte and they have projects in all major employers in CLT. Pls do not depend dice and indeed solely(nothing against but u may not find job easily for one specific location) if you really need a job before moving there.

Coming to second topic, weather: CLT weather is definitely preferred over TX if you are not a hot weather person. TX summers are brutal and if you really dont like hot weather, you will definitely not like being there. But, pls do remember CLT also gets it shot of summer in July & August. It has humid climate from March through September and you get to see some snow from Dec through Feb(not heavy snow storms like boston) which only stays on ground a day or two. But overall, CLT is definitely better than TX if you are not a summer/hot weather person(I also hate hot summers which long 9-10 months a year). I am saying all these with my personal experience, I stayed in TX for 3 years and in CLT for 2 years. I loved my stay in CLT and would love to move back there if I had a chance.

Third topic, TRAFFIC: Yes, Charlotte does have heavy traffic during peak hours(8~9AM) and (5~6PM) but that is not the case everyday. Sometimes accidents do happen on interstate roads and that is when the traffic gets real bad. Otherwise, you can reach home in 30 mins depending on how far you stay away from downtown. If you choose to live in remote and far places from downtown(greater than 12-15 miles), please be prepared to spend 45~60 mins in traffic one way. I stayed 8 miles away from work and it never took more than 30 mins even when i used public transportation.

I hope most of your doubts are answered and pls dont hesitate to contact me if you need further details

yavanika · Sep 24, 2013

Hi lucky, thanks a lot for the. information. Firstly I have a GC do would not require for any employer. I do agree with u for not depending on dice and indeed. The reason I posted here is we are looking towards long term settlement. currently dh has an offer in CLT downtown so that is the reason was asking abt the traffic. And also at the same time we are having something in the pipeline for TX so was just checking which would be the better option. Thank u,regards,us

lucky22 · Sep 24, 2013

Do you have a linkedin account, you may benefit if you try to contact some recruiters and ask if they have any openings. I really dont think it will be an issue for you to find job in CLT, and i also believe CLT traffic is not that bad to deal with. If weather is the main criteria for your decision, i would suggest CLT over TX.

goldenEyr · Sep 29, 2013

my friend also there and she is interested with it, what should she do to get there?

marlboro · Oct 11, 2013

Job opportunities: There are quite a bit of QA openings which I have observed when I was looking but not too sure. The best companies for work-life balance which I have heard of are Times-Warner, Duke and Wellsfargo(depends on the team as well).
Weather is good except for 2-3 months between June-august when it might be 90-100.
Traffic is bad to downtown but I would suggest you look into public transportation CATS. You dont need to deal with the drive , get some good sleep and its very reliable.