Which state?

Yeah, biotechs, outside of Boston, are usually the only game in town (except Worcester), but when you commute 40 to 45 minutes, there's a lot in that range for biotech manufacturing. Actually my last day was Friday with one company and I'm starting up with a new company on Monday. Same length commute, just different route. There's a lot of biotech manufacturing outside of Boston. Easily 12+ within 45 minutes of my house (Boston is about 65 minutes).

The company I was at until Friday, was downsizing one R&D cancer group, but expanding another R&D process group. It's pretty chaotic. Luckily, I'm in manufacturing, which always seems to be in need and slowly expanding. Biotech manufacturing in MA has a very high turnover. People trade companies all the time like Major League Baseball (I'm not big on sports, so hopefully that's a good analogy). Before I left, I was working with 4 people, one from Lonza, another from Shire, another from Amgen, the last guy was fresh out of college. I looked through the resumes for the people being considered to fill my soon to be vacant position and a lot of them were from other companies in the area (including someone from the same company and department I am heading for on Monday... that'll be awkward).
 
I going for Maine. Not big on the south-- fire ants, bugs, snakes, heat, ehh. It is oppressive without A/C. Do you ever think of a cozy cabin in the southern heat? Snow brings to mind a warm cozy fire and a snug cabin.

Vermont is nice as well but lots of moonbats over there. Maine has cheap property inland. New Hampshire has higher property prices and way more touristy.

While I answered NH earlier, Maine would be my second choice. Indeed, you can you get some pretty good deals inland in Maine. I like western Maine, it is low priced, beautiful and almost no one knows it is there. Anywhere I go in NH, even the remote lesser-known areas, I see out of state plates everywhere... tons of CT (why is that anyway, does CT suck so badly they always are driving to better states just to get away?), lots of NY MA and VT. Maine, however, I almost never see out of state plates in the western section, not even NH. It's a bit odd and makes me feel a bit self conscious of my NH license plate (but I feel much better now than I did driving around Maine with MA plates!)

Basically, that area north of Auburn, west of Farmington, south of Rangeley... up to the NH border. I'm still waiting for the tourists to discover it someday and drive all the prices up, but I've seen no sign of it happening.
 
Let me preface this by saying I'm no expert in biotech. Undoubtedly MA, NC, and CA are the big hubs for biotech, but just based on areas I've been to and seen, biotech is alive in many other places.

Collegeville PA, 30 miles NW Philadelphia - Glaxo Smith Kline research facility, Pfizer / Dow Chemical facility (very large).
Princeton, NJ - Bristol Myers (big campus), Novo Nordisk, Ranbaxy
Orange, CT - Bayer Pharmaceuticals
Franklin Lakes, NJ - Becton Dickinson world headquarters
New London, CT - not sure if the Pfizer facility is still there.

And there's even a good size phama plant that manufactures Enbrel near me in rural RI.


New London, CT - not sure if the Pfizer facility is still there.
Google "Eminent Domain"...
Pfizer has since vacated the New London property, but they are still based in Groton;
I know a couple of people who work there, but I don't know much about the company.
 
I work with a bunch of ex-Pfizer people. They've been moved around, laid, and treated like crap. The money might be good but that place is a meat grinder that has little regard for it's employees (and apparently the community). Now we've got a bunch of upper-level ex-Pfizer supervisors who recently joined our company and have brought in their toxic management syle.

I like the West (New Mexico) for retirement but will stick to areas where fresh water isn't likely to be an issue.
 
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For us, after doing our initial due diligence, South Carolina.

We're making our first long weekend trip at the end of the month to start looking. Looking at the Greenville (south of) area first, next will be Rock Hill area (mid-north just south of Charlotte, NC).


Well?

We're looking at South Carolina and Georgia right now, so I'd really be interested in hearing about your trip...

Thanks.
 
Yeah, biotechs, outside of Boston, are usually the only game in town (except Worcester), but when you commute 40 to 45 minutes, there's a lot in that range for biotech manufacturing. Actually my last day was Friday with one company and I'm starting up with a new company on Monday. Same length commute, just different route. There's a lot of biotech manufacturing outside of Boston. Easily 12+ within 45 minutes of my house (Boston is about 65 minutes).

The company I was at until Friday, was downsizing one R&D cancer group, but expanding another R&D process group. It's pretty chaotic. Luckily, I'm in manufacturing, which always seems to be in need and slowly expanding. Biotech manufacturing in MA has a very high turnover. People trade companies all the time like Major League Baseball (I'm not big on sports, so hopefully that's a good analogy). Before I left, I was working with 4 people, one from Lonza, another from Shire, another from Amgen, the last guy was fresh out of college. I looked through the resumes for the people being considered to fill my soon to be vacant position and a lot of them were from other companies in the area (including someone from the same company and department I am heading for on Monday... that'll be awkward).

The last guy that was fresh out of college, what was his degree in? My son recently graduated from U Mass Amherst with a degree in biology. What kind of degree's are these biotech company's looking for?
 
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The last guy that was fresh out of collage, what was his degree in? My son recently graduated from U Mass Amherst with a degree in biology. What kind of degree's are these biotech company's looking for?

To work as a biologist at a biotech, you really want a PhD. Without one, you'll be stuck in the wet lab with little prospect for advancement.
 
The last guy that was fresh out of college, what was his degree in? My son recently graduated from U Mass Amherst with a degree in biology. What kind of degree's are these biotech company's looking for?
Depends what he wants to do. I only know manufacturing offhand. A bachelors in Biology is mainly what they want. Chemistry is sometimes ok. If he has a concentration in biotechnology, it'll help because he would have had more labs and classes tailored to the field.

For manufacturing:
Central Services (media, buffer, and equipment prep groups) are the entry level positions and require little education or experience. But sometimes new grads find themselves here because there's nothing better.

Cell Culture or GCB is where a lot of new grads end up. Cell Culture people are usually a fun group of people and it's a great experience to transition into the field with.

Purification. If he can get into a purification group due to the stars aligning perfectly, that's the manufacturing major leagues. Handling millions of dollars of product, all relying on your attention to detail and compliance with procedure.
 
Well?

We're looking at South Carolina and Georgia right now, so I'd really be interested in hearing about your trip...

Thanks.

We spent a 4 day weekend in the Greenville, SC area a few weeks back. I was blown away by the area. Absolutely loved it, I was ready to put a down payment down immediately on a place. Mrs. Mannydog loved it too but wants to keep looking for something closer to the coast. We’re heading back down to SC in a couple of weeks to look at the Fort Mill-Rock Hill, SC area, just south of Charlotte , N.C., not on the coast but closer to. (coast is way overrated IMO).

We had a real estate agent show us around for two of the days, she was excellent, got her referral from a Carolina shooters forum. If you are considering the greater Greenville area, I would highly recommend and provide contact info for her. She even made a bunch of calls to local gun clubs for me. She was outstanding.

We would be looking to potentially move to an area about 15 minutes south of Greenville, Simpsonville.
Area was very clean, people were real nice. BMW, Michelin tire, Lockheed, TD Bank, and a few other F500 companies have a strong presence there. Downtown Greenville has everything we would look for in a medium sized city. Greenville-Spartanburg airport is called an “international” airport but I would guess it’s a little smaller than TF Green in Rhode Island. People told me you get double the house for the money down there. From what we looked at, I wouldn’t say double but maybe a multiplier of .6 or .7.

Taxes are lower in SC than NC. Greenville has a great hospital system spread throughout the county. Schools-educational systems are highly regarded.

I could go on, pm me if you want.
 
Suggest you go to SC in the middle of summer.

It gets really, really hot.....the worst days here are just another summer day there.

And super humid as well.
 
Suggest you go to SC in the middle of summer.

It gets really, really hot.....the worst days here are just another summer day there.

And super humid as well.

I have good friends that moved to Houston. Their winter is like our summer. In the summer they mostly stay inside (and in the pool).
 
Suggest you go to SC in the middle of summer.

It gets really, really hot.....the worst days here are just another summer day there.

And super humid as well.

I get it about the heat an humidity and I'm good with that. I've spent time with family in Texas (grilling burgers outside with 105 degree temps) and with family in FL with similar heat plus humidity. All things considered, for me anyways, heat and humidity beats snow and cold. I used to hike in the Whites in winter, snowshoe, x-country ski, and work outdoors year round and loved it all but my wife and I have had enough snow and cold.
 
Went to college in NC, the 3-4 months of summer are brutal but worth it for the rest of the year's weather. Can't say which state i'd choose cause I've not spent much time in SC.
 
Originally Posted by knfmn said:
Tennessee, but I'm biased. :) Personal freedom is a lot better there. Job opportunities are pretty fair, depending on your profession. Weather is nice. Winters aren't bad and the summer is tolerable with central AC. The people are *much* nicer and friendlier than in the north east. You have to deal with some religious fruitloops, but they're well-intentioned.



So I previously agreed that if I could move TN would be where I go. Well I'm happy to say it is now a 100% reality and we WILL be moving to TN end of June [dance] [party]
 
So I previously agreed that if I could move TN would be where I go. Well I'm happy to say it is now a 100% reality and we WILL be moving to TN end of June [dance] [party]
So jealous that you're moving down to Tennessee. If I ever get back there, I'm going to nail my feet to the ground so I don't ever do anything stupid like leave again.

What part of Tennessee are you moving to?
 
So jealous that you're moving down to Tennessee. If I ever get back there, I'm going to nail my feet to the ground so I don't ever do anything stupid like leave again.

What part of Tennessee are you moving to?

We are looking at East Nashville or Franklin area, but will be checking out some other areas too before buying a home.
 
We spent a 4 day weekend in the Greenville, SC area a few weeks back. I was blown away by the area. Absolutely loved it, I was ready to put a down payment down immediately on a place. Mrs. Mannydog loved it too but wants to keep looking for something closer to the coast. We’re heading back down to SC in a couple of weeks to look at the Fort Mill-Rock Hill, SC area, just south of Charlotte , N.C., not on the coast but closer to. (coast is way overrated IMO).

We had a real estate agent show us around for two of the days, she was excellent, got her referral from a Carolina shooters forum. If you are considering the greater Greenville area, I would highly recommend and provide contact info for her. She even made a bunch of calls to local gun clubs for me. She was outstanding.

We would be looking to potentially move to an area about 15 minutes south of Greenville, Simpsonville.
Area was very clean, people were real nice. BMW, Michelin tire, Lockheed, TD Bank, and a few other F500 companies have a strong presence there. Downtown Greenville has everything we would look for in a medium sized city. Greenville-Spartanburg airport is called an “international” airport but I would guess it’s a little smaller than TF Green in Rhode Island. People told me you get double the house for the money down there. From what we looked at, I wouldn’t say double but maybe a multiplier of .6 or .7.

Taxes are lower in SC than NC. Greenville has a great hospital system spread throughout the county. Schools-educational systems are highly regarded.

I could go on, pm me if you want.

We're putting together our list of gotta-have, want-to-have features to narrow down the area. Some of these are easy for us. My wife loves the beach, so we want to be within a reasonable drive of it, but I hate crowds, so not too close. She's got serious medical issues, so we need to be close to a very good hospital, we need to be near a major airport, etc. These are all quantifiable, and I can work most of them out with a map. After that it gets tougher, there's a lot of information out there, and it's a bit over-whelming and contradictory in places.

How did you initially come up with Greenville?
 
We are looking at East Nashville or Franklin area, but will be checking out some other areas too before buying a home.

I've been lusting over that area. I need to be able to see mountains or better yet live in them.

Of course, I've never been but it has to be better than where I am now. Once I knock off some major projects on my house I'm going to take trip down. I'm sure the heat/humidity will be a problem but I do better with heat than cold. Years ago I made it a personal policy to complain about hot or cold, but not both. These days the summer doesn't get hot enough for me here.

Whoops, I meant Knoxville.
 
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We're putting together our list of gotta-have, want-to-have features to narrow down the area. Some of these are easy for us. My wife loves the beach, so we want to be within a reasonable drive of it, but I hate crowds, so not too close. She's got serious medical issues, so we need to be close to a very good hospital, we need to be near a major airport, etc. These are all quantifiable, and I can work most of them out with a map. After that it gets tougher, there's a lot of information out there, and it's a bit over-whelming and contradictory in places.

How did you initially come up with Greenville?

We did pretty much what you're doing. We did a lot of research and made a list of requirements. Ours includes: proximity to airport(s), favorable taxes, reputation for good quality of life, good education systems, affordable property values, proximity to good medical centers, pro-2A sentiment and laws, business friendly environment, relatively low local crime rate, out of the snow belt and some semblance of 4 seasons. And some others.

And then we went to take a look for ourselves. I feel real good about the Greenviile area, but my wife is not fully sold on it.
 
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Maine. Probably York County but maybe Knox County although I love Hancock County. Ocean, Mountains, Forests, food, gun freedom, fly-fishing, great economy (compared to CT, 100% better!) and extremely nice people. Within 24 months tops, maybe sooner after being born a Nutmeggar and living in CT for 55 of my 64 years. They just don't want us here anymore so I'm going to oblige them.
 
Anywhere that I can shoot from my back yard without getting my .... busted by a neighbor. Oh and wherever they have the least restrictions on guns. Yeah, that'll do it
 
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