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Computer Science Jobs in ski towns?

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iLLbiLLy
Posts: 2865 - Karma: 2,631
I'm graduating from college in december and I NEED to live somewhere I can ski powder. The problem is I also feel I need to have a job that will continue to give me experience in my field of study (if you don't use it you lose it). I've been looking for possible Computer Science jobs around ski town with marginal success. Is anyone aware of CS jobs in their town that I might want to look into (web developer, software engineer, etc).

Heres what I've looked into so far.


  • Boulder/Denver: Has a great computing industry and its not too far from skiing(would like to be closer tho)

  • Portland: same deal as Boulder and Denver, Good industry kinda far away tho.

  • SLC: decent industry, really close to skiing if I get a job on the right side of town.

  • Bozeman: Found a potential job with as a SE with a large software company.



So does anyone know of any CS related companies in their town that I might want to look into? I really would like to find a job in a ski town as opposed to one in a city.
Oct 10 2011 10:38AM
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beowulf
Posts: 893 - Karma: 164
Are you just comp sci or comp engineering? Because if your on the engineering spectrum I know GE is looking for people in the tahoe area
Oct 10 2011 10:46AM
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Justo8484
Posts: 3905 - Karma: 205
check out the seattle area. snoqualmie is 45 minutes away, stevens and crystal are under 2 hours, depending on what part of the city you live in, baker is about 2.5-3, and whistler is an easy 4.5-5ish hour drive for a weekend trip. you may have heard of them, but there's this company called microsoft that's headquartered right outside seattle. also, amazon is based there, among other companies. lots of ad/design agencies that if you're on the dev side of things, you could probably get into for app/backend dev work.
Oct 10 2011 12:21PM
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Sklar
Posts: 8864 - Karma: 31,612
Where are you graduating from, and what's your major?
Oct 10 2011 12:45PM
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iLLbiLLy
Posts: 2865 - Karma: 2,631
Appalachian State with bachelors in Computer Science.

To answer the first reply: I could probably get a job as a entry level Software Engineer but not Hardware Engineer
Oct 10 2011 12:55PM
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monkeysteez
Posts: 2655 - Karma: 99
Boulder/Denver

I am getting a CS degree from CU (second Degree) and I have already been offered jobs. I probably will skip on them and move to teh Bay Area because its the best place to start a software engineering career. But if you want a place that has a large Software Engineer population Boulder is also a great place. Denver too, but there Boulder startup scene is a bit denser in Boulder for sure. Its a bit of a drive, but if you can put up with studying for a CS degree I think you can manage the 1:30 drive to Breck ;)
Oct 10 2011 4:06PM
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aint.no.thang
Posts: 56 - Karma: 20
go with bozeman. i live there and it's awesome
Oct 10 2011 4:17PM
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howlongcanausern
Posts: 4982 - Karma: 1,737
this, washington is full of oppourtunity for the IT/CS field.

i'm a systems admin, so i see jobs out there alllll the time. good skiing here, too.
Oct 10 2011 4:24PM
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Rachy
Posts: 4355 - Karma: 2,761
I made the push to start my own web development company. Set up shop on Elance and now I am getting A LOT of work. I've actually turned down work. I'm loving it cause working freelance is as absolutely flexible as it gets. I live in Mammoth and it appears I'm the only web developer in town.

Maybe something to look into.

Aside from that, I've noticed there are A LOT of people in ski towns that think they can do general computer repair and stuff like that. I know 5 in Mammoth, they are all competing against each other and all get about the same amount of work. If it was 1 person, it would be ok, but 5 people = fail. So I wouldn't really recommend that. I felt it was the same scenario in Summit County.

Check classifieds in ski towns and see if there are web developers in the area. Move to a place where there arent. Get a ski job in the mean time and then swoop up the web devel jobs in town.
Oct 10 2011 4:24PM
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maxwell666
Posts: 554 - Karma: 20
When I was getting my seasons pass this year I had a chat with the head techie from our local mountain, he said they are always busy being employed directly from the mountain, making and refining programs for the mountain. sounds like he didn't make a whole wack of money, saying the jobs were way better in cali, but I assume he does alright.

 check with all the mountains that you actually want to ski at, ours apparently has three servers and a few hundred computers to upkeep.
Oct 10 2011 4:50PM
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panojibber
Posts: 3382 - Karma: 216
You could always consider Vancouver: huge video game industry, tons of business, and whistler isn't (too) far away.
Oct 10 2011 5:06PM
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howlongcanausern
Posts: 4982 - Karma: 1,737
yeah, we have ~200 computers and 6 servers (well more like 19 servers but they're virtualized over 6 physical servers)...enough for two full-time IT people and a seasonal IT guy.

tech jobs in the ski industry are killer, i loves it.
Oct 10 2011 5:16PM
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special_k10101
Posts: 1498 - Karma: 72
i cant think of a better place than seattle. i worked at hp downtown this year and my coworker was talking about he skied an average of three days a week. plus im from seattle and its the best.
Oct 10 2011 8:24PM
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special_k10101
Posts: 1498 - Karma: 72
talking about*
Oct 10 2011 8:25PM
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special_k10101
Posts: 1498 - Karma: 72
how... wow mobile fail
Oct 10 2011 8:26PM
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Snowcase
Posts: 11456 - Karma: 634
I'm trying to make a similar decision right now. I've networked real hard in SF through the group I work with trying to get a job there but at the same time my step brother lives in Boulder and has offered me a place to stay for the winter. I figure I'm from NY, CO is 3/4 of the way to SF, would make it a lot easier to get there if I needed to. I've also applied to a few jobs in the Boulder area in my field so we'll see what happens.
Oct 10 2011 9:52PM
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