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Post by Wade Dillon on Oct 1, 2008 16:15:26 GMT -5
Hey guys,
In the near future, I will be moving to Arlington, Texas from Florida to attend college and feel more at home.
My dad has shared a great interest in moving to San Antonio, but I have heard from many that the job market in San Antonio isn't too great. And the fact that you have to be a gym teacher in order to teach Texas History is ridiculous. What are your thoughts on this?
All the best, Wade
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Post by TRK on Oct 1, 2008 16:56:53 GMT -5
Are you planning on going to UT Arlington?
Special Collections Library there has probably THE best collection of books, maps, prints, and manuscripts on the Mexican-American War in the world. Plan on spending lots of time there!
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Post by Wade Dillon on Oct 1, 2008 17:58:46 GMT -5
Yes I do, trk. Thanks for letting me know! Sounds amazing!
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Post by bmoses on Oct 7, 2008 20:12:30 GMT -5
Hello Wade,
I moved to San Antonio in 1995 and have found the City to be a wonderful place to live, despite the fact that the economy isn't the greatest in the world. Generally speaking, the pay scales are relatively low and there are only a few high-profile companies in town. On the flipside, the cost of living is low and that makes up for it for me.
The school districts I’m familiar with here (mostly Northside, but also Northeast, Alamo Heights, San Antonio, Judson, Harlendale, Southwest, and Southside) are now starting teachers in the area of $45,000 per year. Not bad for having your summers off. I'm not really sure about the other requirements for Texas History in San Antonio, but I'd suggest you might set your sights a little higher and plan to teach at the collegiate level.
In the end, San Antonio, like anywhere, will be as good as you make it. Despite the sprawl of urban growth across the area, much of the history’s still right there below your feet…and that’s coming from someone who knows a thing or two about what lies just below San Antonio’s surface.
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Dec 24, 2008 10:35:53 GMT -5
Well, better late than never.
I lived in San Antonio from 1994 to 1997 (I'd still be there but moved back to New Hampshire to look after my terminally ill mom). I returned for a visit two years ago, and then returned three times this past year while on a work-related detail in Dallas. My cousin is retired Air Force and lives in San Antonio, so we have a pretty good freel for the town.
If you're fortunate enough to have a federal civil service job, where your basic pay is not subject to local cost of living, you will do well. There is a locality pay factor to the federal GS pay scales that varies by location. For example, I work in Boston which actually has a slightly higher locality pay than Washington, DC, and a lot less than San Antonio or even Dallas.
If you work in service-type industries, expect to be paid lower wages. I was earning $16.60 an hour as a full-time journalist with the Bangor Daily News in Maine when I moved in October 1994. The best I could do was about $8.50 with Jim Berg Publications (someone else owns it now), as a staff writer for the Lackland Talespinner (official base newspaper at Lackland Air Force Base) and no bennies.
I was offered a dispatching job at San Antonio Airport with the City of San Antonio. The job had benefits but the pay was around $9 an hour and no prospect of pay increases. I declined it and went to work with the Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice as a corrections officer (Dolph Briscoe Unit, Dilley, Texas). My wife worked as a housekeeper at Lackland Air Force base, with bennies, and earned around $7.50 or $8 an hour.
Toyota opened a new plant there about a year or two ago. It builds the Tundra trucks. Of course the economy went south and wll the car makers are hurting, so I'm sure how that's working out.
I still love San Antonio, and would live there in a heartbeat, but the city does have lots of issues. There is a huge gang presence there, and you can see signs of it most everywhere. In my cousin's neighborhood, about a half-mile from Lackland, you can't read the "stop" on "Stop" signs because of graffiti. Every sign, street bench, fence and many vacant homes are painted up. In my opinion the problem is worst now than 12 years ago when we lived there. Then as now, drive-by shootings are so common that they often go unreported in the San Antonio Express News, or get about two paragraphs brueid deep inside the paper. In all fairness, though, I had no issues with crime or gangs when I lived there, and my cousin has had no problems in the more than 30 years he's lived there. You just don't do stupid things like "flip" off another driver -- they will shoot back, especially of the car is filled with gang bangers.
The city is growing by leaps and bounds - the outer Loop (16-something) is almost as built up as Loop 410, the inner loop. There was very little out there 12 years ago (UTSA, Fiesta Texas/now Six Flags, Sea World San Antonio).
There are some nice areas to live and it can be a very affordable place to live, depending on your income. In summary, I still find San Antonio a super place to call "home", and the people I've encountered there or gotten to know there to be very down-to-earth and among the friendliest folks anywhere. The good far outweighs the bad, in my opinion. Great food, great music, culturally diverse and historically rich. It still has a small-town feel for a city that is something like the eighth largest in the U.S.
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