wiz,
I got your email but I will post here and leave the email for mostly questions…I am a late sleeper so I got your email too early in my day to respond, now I am somewhat awake.
Denver is primarily a telecomm area but there are computer types jobs to be had. Most of the good computer jobs are up north near Boulder, Longmont etc. It is a great place to live, I lived there for almost 3 years.
I suggest running through The Denver Post classifieds and see what types of jobs they are offering. There are also several head hunters in the area for management type jobs. Depending on what kind of income you are used to, it is higher there than it is in Colorado Springs but housing can be difficult.
Denver is a very spread out city, I lived in the south end of the area in Littleton, only I wasn’t in Littleton proper it was my address. I was three blocks from Greenwood Village which has a lot of high tech companies in.
Since I already had a job and knew where I would be working that’s when I contacted International Apartment Hunters and found a place. Back in 1998 when I moved back to C Springs, it was $845 for a two bedroom townhouse but that was through a private owner so it was cheaper.
Nice thing about Denver (except the damn traffic) is the amount of stuff to do. There are trails all over the city, once you get to know the area you live in, shopping is easy, and of course the Broadway plays, the musical headliners and the average stuff an average person can do is great. The cost of living though, is higher than that of C Springs and you’ll learn why in a sec.
Colorado Springs is nice little sleepy city, compared to Denver. We have a very conservative climate except on the west end of town near Old Colorado City and up towards Manitou Springs. Since it’s close to Denver (45-60 minute drive) it is a nice place to live though.
While the Denver Metro area has about 2 million people, about half the state’s population, here in Metro C Springs, we have about 500,000. But we still have minor league hockey, some Broadway shows come through and even Sting is coming through our city in December.
Our trail systems for hiking and walking are lacking but since we are smaller (people that live out in Aurora in the Denver area have to travel further to the mountains) we are close to the Rampart Range area, have the Garden of the Gods, Palmer Park and the falls up Cheyenne Canyon for hiking.
C Springs only has two major malls but we have tons of shopping centers. Traffic here is similar to Denver so there’s not a lot of comparison except that we have fewer people on smaller roads.
The defense contractors are big here. Now with the war going on, those contracts seem to be doing well. Intel and Compaq along with MCI (some of our major employers) are in cutbacks though. The smaller companies seem to be the ones doing the best here.
Part of the reason we have lower wages here is because we live in a huge military based town. I think it’s ranked third among military versus civilian. With that a lot of military people retire here because of the climate and our city. Since they retire here, they also can make lower wages with their retirement on the side. They still have access to the base for food and services so civilians have to “compete” with that in a job.
The housing here in C Springs is relative to the pay. Right now it’s a renter’s market. I rent a three bedroom house from a friend for only the cost of his mortgage so I am not the norm. He probably could squeeze another $50-75 out of me.
Over all, the Front Range of Colorado is a nice place to live. I would prefer to live back on the Western Slope but that’s not in the finances right now.
Hope this helps you, any questions? Shoot away.