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Okay, I'm facing up to the realization that I'm kind of out of my depth and in need of some advice. A bunch of this will probably be Old News to friends who've been hearing about it awhile, but I'm summing it up in one post for signal-boostability (which would be much appreciated).
I currently live in Vancouver, BC. I moved out here for university, and liked it enough to stay afterwards, with the intention of hopefully becoming a Real Canadian some day. Unfortunately, after university, due to a pile of things (some my fault, some not), I've had trouble finding steady skilled work, and am now facing down my open-ended work permit running out in about four months. This leaves me with the following options: move back to the US, go back to school, or find a place eager enough to hire me and get me another work permit. The last one is looking pretty unlikely with the combo of my current resume and the job market, though I'm still pursuing it. But where I need advice is the other two options.
My first choice for moving back to the US is heading a bit south to the Seattle area. While I've visited there many times, I know basically fuck and all about the housing and job market.
I've been applying to some stuff through the U of Washington job boards, but without any luck so far. Skills-wise, my educational background is biology lab tech, I do HTML/CSS work for fun for Dreamwidth (and have been trying to expand my skillset to Perl and JS, though that's going slowly), and my last several jobs have been a bunch of entry level warehouse work, and then database and Photoshop monkeying for a small furniture store. So basically - eclectic. I'm comfortable with doing temp work in data entry or manual labor/warehousing stuff, but I have no idea if there's enough of that in the area to support myself until something better comes along. Recs of temp agencies would also be most welcome.
Housing is a little simpler, having apartment-hunted here in Vancouver, though tips on neighborhoods/suburbs to look at specifically or to avoid would be helpful! I own a car and drive, would prefer to live alone, and currently pay $750 a month for rent/utilities/internet.
Going back to school is an entirely different beast, and while the biggest hurdle will be getting local university of choice to accept me despite decidedly mediocre-to-subpar undergrad grades, the second biggest is money. I was very, very lucky, and my parents paid for my undergrad education without taking out any loans - which means I have absolutely no idea where to begin for student loans for a Masters program. Which is no doubt complicated by being an American citizen going to a Canadian school. Advice on either subject is much appreciated.
I currently live in Vancouver, BC. I moved out here for university, and liked it enough to stay afterwards, with the intention of hopefully becoming a Real Canadian some day. Unfortunately, after university, due to a pile of things (some my fault, some not), I've had trouble finding steady skilled work, and am now facing down my open-ended work permit running out in about four months. This leaves me with the following options: move back to the US, go back to school, or find a place eager enough to hire me and get me another work permit. The last one is looking pretty unlikely with the combo of my current resume and the job market, though I'm still pursuing it. But where I need advice is the other two options.
My first choice for moving back to the US is heading a bit south to the Seattle area. While I've visited there many times, I know basically fuck and all about the housing and job market.
I've been applying to some stuff through the U of Washington job boards, but without any luck so far. Skills-wise, my educational background is biology lab tech, I do HTML/CSS work for fun for Dreamwidth (and have been trying to expand my skillset to Perl and JS, though that's going slowly), and my last several jobs have been a bunch of entry level warehouse work, and then database and Photoshop monkeying for a small furniture store. So basically - eclectic. I'm comfortable with doing temp work in data entry or manual labor/warehousing stuff, but I have no idea if there's enough of that in the area to support myself until something better comes along. Recs of temp agencies would also be most welcome.
Housing is a little simpler, having apartment-hunted here in Vancouver, though tips on neighborhoods/suburbs to look at specifically or to avoid would be helpful! I own a car and drive, would prefer to live alone, and currently pay $750 a month for rent/utilities/internet.
Going back to school is an entirely different beast, and while the biggest hurdle will be getting local university of choice to accept me despite decidedly mediocre-to-subpar undergrad grades, the second biggest is money. I was very, very lucky, and my parents paid for my undergrad education without taking out any loans - which means I have absolutely no idea where to begin for student loans for a Masters program. Which is no doubt complicated by being an American citizen going to a Canadian school. Advice on either subject is much appreciated.
