Maybe go to Connecticut

Your problem isn't Massachusetts (other than maybe the gun stuff), it's living in a shitty part of Mass. I've lived in central MA and it doesn't feel all that fundamentally different in NH after being here a few years. Almost all of the benefit of lower income taxes have been erased by ridiculous property taxes. If you are going to have kids, you'll still have worse schools unless you live in towns with truly insane property tax on top of extremely high priced real estate. Any place within striking distance to Boston will be as expensive, if not more, than similar commutes within MA. The job market doesn't even come close to comparing.

The trick is to actively seek out a role that has growth possibilities that are fully remote, assuming you can't find something fully remote that is available now. If you get your foot in the door in a place in Boston, or Newton, or Framingham, or the 10 other places within MA that all have viable tech sectors, then you can parlay that into a fully remote position and go wherever you want and not pay state income tax; you get the benefit of the MA job market with the eventual other benefits of NH down the road.

I guess you have no choice but to follow the jobs at this point if you can't find something in NH.

I grew up in SE MA and then lived in Boston for years before moving to central NH. I was lucky because I work remote so I got a place in NH first and then slowly moved here. It was the best thing I ever did. As a native of MA it was always annoying but you don’t realize just how awful it is until you leave. It’s not really the people but the state and town governments are just horrible, regardless of whether you lean left or right. It has nothing to do with politics really. The state is just mean and always warning you about something and presenting the penalty when you’d never do it anyway. There are definitely great people there, like anywhere, and beautiful towns, etc but I never knew you don’t have to just accept and live with all that misery until I moved out. I think if anyone is remotely unhappy with MA they shouldn’t hesitate to move, whether to NH or really anywhere else where you feel you’d be happier.

Apply to places like BAE in Nashua.

Don't just 'move north.' Make the break.

Don’t take it personally if you’re having a hard time landing a position, the market’s worse than we're lead to believe. A lot of blue chip companies are either in the process of thinning out their workforce or have plans to do so in the coming months.

As far as moving to NH, it’s a great idea, but will take a lot of work. Not sure what your family situation is like, but would definitely help if you had friends or family here already to help with the transition. Sacrifices will definitely have to be made, but will be worth it (think coming out on the other end in Shawshank). But, if you’re going to do it, you should just do it. Look for any and all employment opportunities available. Find a smaller place or share a place with roommates etc. Good luck and wish you the best!

As someone who works in tech and lives in New Hampshire, I can tell you that it's not worth it to work in tech and live in New Hampshire. My reasoning is because there aren't a lot of roles out there, and a lot of people want to do it. This being said, it's an employer's market up here so the salaries are low. If you choose to go this route I would suggest looking into Fidelity and BAE Systems—two of the larger companies that can justify having full time helpdesk roles. Other options might include hospitals (DH & Concord), and schools are always understaffed, although you'd only be making around $40k.

I work for a fortune 100 company as a hybrid role out of Massachusetts. I'm not help desk, and I'm in a principal-level position, so I think I'm awarded a little more flexibility than a lot of people would be given when it comes to working from home and thus avoiding the Massachusetts income tax. This being said, all studies I've seen on this show that you'll get further ahead by living in a HCoL or VHCoL area and making their respective salaries rather than living and getting a wage in a lower cost of living. So don't think they're going to get ahead unless you're in a fortune position of being able to work from home.

Good luck.

Get a NH/603 cell phone number. List that on the resume. Remove address. It should not matter.. but it does.. I'd also say consider a job change. Fidelity in Merrimack would probably hire you and train you. Technical background and ability to talk to people on phone will align well with their needs.

I grew up in the Bay Area CA and then moved to northern mass and then southern NH and I can absolutely relate to your love of the state. The winters are tough but worth it. I think with every season change I feel refreshed and full of life. It took me a long time to adjust to the culture as I was used to a lot of diversity and I would say the only downfall of the area is the racism and homophobia. Other than that I love living here and have a hard time with the idea of ever leaving. As far as work goes I have no idea about the job availability in tech. I work in a trade and am in high demand. Might be worth it to spend a couples years in trade school as those are some of our highest paying jobs.

Can I ask, what makes NH attractive to you?

My mother's family is from NH so I moved there 10 years ago from Everett. I was spooked when a neighbor was murdered with a screw driver. NH is pretty nice people leave you alone. The country is very quiet. You have to watch out for property taxes especially in small towns they can go up drastically when they run out of money. It has been great being back in NH. Got to 2 wood stoves blaring and trying not to use too much power or heating fuel.

OP, I have friends at Fidelity in Merrimack and they’re still hiring quite a bit in “core tech” and then some IT support and systems analyst roles.

Not sure if you’ve applied but might be worth a go

"I work in IT as a help desk tech."

Any chance you can work online? I thought there were, like, a zillion online jobs for techies. If you can, your dream of renting and eventually buying near the lakes and mountains you desire would be much easier and more affordable.

Good luck, OP.

Robert Half has a ton of remote work. I have been able to get some temp positions while living in southern NH and having limited hour availability to commute outside of the home.

I left NH 30 years ago due to lack of jobs with decent pay. My brother, still in NH feels stuck at a job he absolutely hates because there is nothing else with comparable pay. If pay is a big concern for you, stay in MA. Even with the taxes here, chances are you'll be better off financially. That said, the suggestion to try to get into Fidelity in Merrimack might be worth a shot. Great pay, great benefits, great bonuses. Only thing is, there is ALWAYS the threat of layoffs there. They know that you know that someone in India can do your job for much less and that can be stressful. The mantra really was, "Do more with less" when I left Fidelity in Boston. Once you hit the 10 year mark, it seems they do everything they can to make you leave, including moving your office to a different state. But it was hard to leave because... bonuses. You can build up your 401k very easily.

If it were me, I would not want to have to move twice and don’t see a benefit in moving to Northern MA if that’s not where you want to be.

In the bigger towns/cities, housing availability will probably be more of a constraint than employment. In more rural areas the opposite may be true. You need to narrow down where in NH you want to be and then see what housing and job availability looks like.

From your other posts, I'm assuming you live in the Attleboro area.

I personally would not do this in stages within MA. I would find a job in southern NH, and suck up the long commute until you find a place in NH to rent. The below mention of BAE was a great one. There are other large companies in southern NH that will also provide good benefit packages.

It is "easy" to rent a place from a distance, so grab one quickly and use that as a staging point to find either a house or another apartment. I rented the house I'm sitting in sight unseen from 1700 miles away.

In the meantime, you can start preparing for your move now by getting rid of unused stuff.

Good luck.

Apply for a remote position in Boston or mass and live in nh

I sent you a dm!

I know this is 7 days old, but don’t move here.

I have an Indeed jobs for IT in Southern NH along Route 3 and there are two help-desk jobs from last night on it. There's one data job (requires SQL) on it. There are lots of IT jobs but they require specific experience and expertise and the demand is really lower than the number of jobs indicate. Jobs generally prefer a college degree and, in a downturn, "prefer" turns into required.

I think that it's difficult to look for jobs with a remote address and phone because employers know how difficult it is to move here.

I would guess that things are easier for work in MA but I don't know for sure. I'm contemplating a move to MA from NH as that would open up Boston but I'm in an oddball housing situation.

It would also help if you already knew someone on the inside that would give you a recommendation.

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