Submitted by westmaxia t3_10bfhd5 in Washington
What is it like living in Port Orchad. I am AA from Georgia and landed a position in this town. What are the pros and cons of this town, and what is it like in WA state for those who have lived in Southeastern US?
Wsdot has an office in that area and they have posted me there
I'd consider that to be fortunate! Port orchard is charming.
I work for the state, they are pretty good employers! That area is nice, a bit rainy though.
Question , I am hoping to work with the state.. any idea how to start and find a job. It's been very hard lately. I finished computer science and have over ten years experience.
Check: careers.wa.gov
Do you know how long is the interview process?
Really depends on the job. I know there are a lot of entry positions open with a lot of departments right now and they are pretty eager to hire.
I only had one interview. Went pretty smoothly!
Thanks. I am looking for mid management but will go through the site now.
I would imagine it depends on the position and agency. For my current job I had only one interview and I think after the offer was made I had to send some paperwork and get a drug test. After that I asked for a couple weeks as I was moving from Texas to here. Not a bad process.
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The access drivers are always desperate for help. Probably because of their ridiculous on call schedule.
That’s awesome! Congrats! It might be useful to know that relative to other parts of the country, I guess we don’t have a super friendly culture. We’re pretty self contained, in general. If it’s hard to make friends, it’s probably not personal. It’s called the “cascade freeze.”
Port Orchard is pretty white. If you’d feel more comfortable with more diverse neighbors, Tacoma or many other parts of the Puget Sound region are the place to start. I’ll let others weigh in on the commute to Port Orchard.
However! WSDOT is super telework friendly, if you’re getting an office job. Plus there are lots of openings around the state as the boomers retire, so once you have your foot in the door you might be able to transfer to another position that’s in another part of Washington, if Port Orchard doesn’t turn out to be your jam.
Welcome! And good luck at WSDOT! I have several friends who work there, and they really like it.
Maybe try over in r/Kitsap .
If you’re working and living in Port Orchard, you’ll be great. If you live in Port Orchard and commute to Bremerton, you’re gonna have a hard time with the traffic. The Naval shipyard can cause quite the back ups and there’s only a two-lane hiway going from Bremerton to Port Orchard and Back.
Two lanes each direction.
Correct. Perhaps I should’ve clarified.
Start watching google maps to see if it is worth the commute or not. I'd highly suggest a home within about 1 hr of work to make it tolerable. WA state is strong in employment and you won't have problems finding jobs. You just have to be willing to do them. If you don't mind living in a nanny state you'll be fine. Most people are so use to it it doesn't even bother them. The ones that are rule fighters or don't like any government figure have a hard time with it. You could always try moving out here try it for a year or two and see if you want to stay or not.
I live in king county and it has a strong job market. Redfin is a good place to look at housing. WA state is a wee bit expensive but if you can find a place where you can live in your budget you're fine. Minimum wage in WA state is about $15/hr. If you can take in $35-50k annually you'll manage just fine.
Housing is a bit expensive but if you can room mate with someone you trust to cut the costs in half. I'm fortunate and own my own home so my finances are very different. I only work for health insurance now and use funds from my job to pay the bills instead of using my nest egg in investments. As we all know society crashes now and then and yes I've had to set up my investments to be income producing for a few years. I use bill pay through my bank to auto send off to my bills each month. All I need but do is make sure there's enough in checking and all is good. I only mail 2 checks a year because I don't do direct withdrawal as it's not safe and I've had bad experiences with it.
It's nice you're trying to be helpful but this comment is such a weird collection of strange opinions and non sequiturs.
Having lived in GA and WA, I can tell you they are vastly different in culture and climate. It really depends on what your personal preferences are. WA is temperate and rainy with a rather liberal culture. It is a great state to live in, but you won't find sweet tea, grits, or good BBQ.
Edit: One thing to consider is that the pay may be a little better at a WA job, but the cost of living is pretty high in WA state compared to GA. Make sure it actually pencils out to be a better financial move for you.
Regarding your comment about bbq, I hear where you are coming from as I lived in DFW and NC.
However there is one caveat. You are talking about traditional American bbq. Here in WA there is some excellent, as in world class, Asian bbq that compares to anything I found in the South. Apples and oranges for sure but really, really good bbq and pretty available.
Yeah, definitely not talking something like Korean BBQ, which Washington has plenty of good examples of.
That exists in WA, but definitely not in Port Orchard.
We have teriyaki everywhere, apparently it's a regional thing.
I think the cost of living depends on when you were in GA last and what area you lived in. Over the last few years like most places the cost here has gone up. I’m in Gainesville and have visited Washington a few times in the past two years. The only difference I could tell in cost was sales tax being a little higher, 2% difference. The cost of gas was about a dollar higher. However Washington has no state income tax while GA still does.
You can get Milo's sweet tea here, were not completely savages.
Pretty easy to make one's own good sweet tea, grits, and barbecue, at least. I was going through brisket withdrawals, and over the last year I taught myself how to do one up when the mood strikes.
Yeah, not the same as going to your favorite spot during a summer night while someone plays music on the patio and the fireflies flicker. The main thing I miss about the south is the food.
Truth.
Yea, you’ll pretty much have to make your own. You order an iced tea at a restaurant it’s going to come unsweetened most likely. You’ll have to use every pack of sugar on the table and stir for a LONG time to get it right. I grew up in GA. All my friends look at me funny when I dump 6 packs of sugar in the tea. What can I say, it ain’t good until sugar won’t dissolve anymore.
Not all of this state is temperate and rainy with a rather liberal culture. That’s mostly just the west side of the state
One thing I miss about the South. The sweet tea.
Port orchard is working class and more conservative than the rest of Kitsap co!
Man, I'm originally from Memphis. I could kill for a pulled pork sandwich. One thing I really miss living in Port Orchard is the food options. Its pretty limited here.
I would not say Port Orchard is liberal. Seattle might be, but I wouldn’t say PO is.
Port Orchard might lean conservative, but The State of Washington and its policies are very liberal compared to what someone from Georgia would be accustomed to. That could be seen as a good or a bad thing depending on a person's political leanings.
Get a nice boat and you will love it. Lots of hiking and fishing too. 6 months of rain gets old though.
When I moved here I braced for this 6 months of rain I would hear about. However, I have found over 3 years, there are always sunny days/part of days. I just learned to appreciate the breaks more and told myself you don't have to shovel rain! I did find it a little tough last year how long it took for spring/summer to show up, though.
Yep that’s the thing about Western Washington. There is rain most days but it doesn’t rain all day. You can always find breaks
We have had several years here where we really didn’t get summer at all, maybe a couple weeks of sunny weather. However, in the past 15 years, summer has been better and longer than ever, and hotter. Climate change is going to make Washington one of the better states to live in long term. As long as Rainier doesn’t blow!
Family lived in Silverdale, and they went to Seattle when they wanted some sunshine, lol.
No bad weather, only bad clothing. Gotta love gore-tex.
That really depends what you are looking for. We moved to PO from Georgia about 3 years ago and love it. But we hated the weather and politics in Georgia so if you love these things in Georgia, you won't like it in Washi gton.
What part of GA if you don't mind me asking?
We moved from the Alpharetta area. We lived there for almost 25 years
I really like how easy it is to get to anything from here: the airport, the.mountains, the ocean, Seattle. We looked around many different parts of WA before deciding on this area and we have never been sorry. Housing is more expensive than Georgia but we found this.area much cheaper than many other areas in WA. We love the cooler weather and have not found the rainy days too bad. Fyi: annual rainfall in Atlanta is higher than Seattle. Seattle just spreads it out more. PO is definitely a small town but there is pretty much everything you need on the peninsula.
For WA state in general: Vote by mail is one consistent thing I've heard transplants mention as a pleasant surprise. It's so convenient I would probably have a hard time relocating to another state if it wasn't available.
I’ve lived in South Carolina, Idaho, and Montana and visited many other states—Washington is by far my favorite! Of course, it all depends on what you enjoy. Port Orchard is a sweet little town, much more ‘real’ than Silverdale or Gig Harbor, but close enough to both if you want big box stores. The location couldn’t be better—an hour from Port Townsend, 2 hrs to get to the west side of the Olympic Peninsula, ferry ride from Bremerton and then another ferry to Seattle. The people aren’t outgoing but neither are southerners in my experience. Weather is WONDERFUL—rainy and cool in fall-spring, warm and sunny (too sunny!) in summer. No poisonous snakes, no water bugs, few mosquitoes, even! Growing zone is similar but things like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants struggle. Beautiful gardens, lots to do. Port Orchard is a great place! And property values are lower than other places nearby, though may still be higher than in GA. We absolutely love it here!!!
I grew up in a small town next to Augusta and moved to western WA about 20 years ago. The culture and surroundings really couldn't be more different. I hated the south and love living near the mountains though so it was a great move for me.
I moved from Phoenix to Port Orchard over a year ago. It is a great place to live ! I find it to be a nice mix of rural yet accessible since it is the county seat the infrastructure is good. The downtown is nice and people are generally nice overall, in the winter everyone doesn’t want to talk but summers is amazing. The parks and schools are good for the area and the outdoors is one of the best concentrations of everything you can find. We haven’t even left kitsap and haven’t seen every amazing outdoor nature trail and state park. DM for any questions but overall it’s a good little town that’s close to most things
I moved here from the phx area 17 yrs ago. Seems like yesterday. I still love it. Hope you continue to enjoy it as well.
Eyyy the peninsula is super nice port orchard is small but if you have a car you are pretty close to Olympic national park and maybe an hour and a half from Seattle
Kitsap is great, haven’t lived in PO but it is pretty cute, plenty of stuff to do between nature and the little downtown. Port orchard isn’t the most progressive area, if that’s important to you. But it is really nice on this side of the sound.
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When you say, “I am AA,” did you mean African American? If so, that will drastically change your experience in Port Orchard. While Seattle are has some black communities and culture, one of my black friends found it very sparse and was very lonely. They left after only a couple of years. Port Orchard will likely be even worse.
I moved to Washington State from NW Florida a long time ago. For the first few years, I couldn’t believe how cold and it was for so much of the year. It was also a huge cultural change. People keep to themselves a lot more.
(Also AA) Port orchard is lovely. Kitsap is whiter than Pierce (where Tacoma is ~30 mins away) but I still have a great time. If you’re used to slightly smaller town vibes you should find something to do, if not there’s stuff (ish) to do in Bremerton and Tacoma.
Does the job pay enough so you can potentially purchase property? If so… yeah, you should think about it. At least then you have a guaranteed spot to park your boat.
Port orchard has a cute little downtown on the water. I could see building a great life within walking distance of the downtown in a little place with water views. It’s easy to pop over to Seattle using the southworth ferry. Tacoma is about half an hour away.
I moved from Georgia, not to Kitsap, but to NW Washington and only wish I did it sooner. Get a good coat once you get here.
PO has a Hobbit House.
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Port Orchard is like, the last not-as-expensive city in Kitsap and it's less crowded than Silverdale or Poulsbo, and less gross than Bremerton proper. It's a good starting point. I get jealous of the weather further north though. PO is pretty gloomy while the sun likes to peak out more in Silverdale and Poulsbo. If you want to go out to eat though, lot more options elsewhere. Worth it if you don't like the crowds. A million percent better than living in Bremerton imo.
Consider living in Bremerton unless you like small towns. Lots of great Breweries in Kitsap County!
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I love that general area. My uncle lives nearby in the hidden gem of Olalla
I am from Port Orchard, I am now 30 and live in Tacoma. Pros of Port Orchard are it’s a bit more affordable compared to the Seattle metro, but that is quickly changing with the fast ferry access to Seattle and more people leaving the Seattle area for surrounding towns and cities. I think the vibe of the area is somewhat rural, and it is more conservative than many parts of Western Washington. Not very culturally diverse imo. But if you have kids I don’t think there’s much for them to do there and that’s my biggest issue with it. The one movie theatre closed recently, most things to do are either in gig harbor or Bremerton/Silverdale.
You might consider living in Gig Harbor.
You’ll be close to all the beautiful hikes of the Olympics so that’s pretty sweet.
Port Orchard is pretty quiet, not a lot going on but you can fairly reasonably (very easily, forgot about the ferry) get to Seattle on the weekends for more things to do city wise. There is a lot of accessible nature if that is your jam (head over the hood canal bridge and it is beautiful).
Port orchard is small but cool. If you want a nice area to explore you can go to gig harbor and walk around, shop, get some food. A little further is Tacoma which has everything you need. If you want to explore Seattle or have a little vacation on vashon island you’re close to the south worth ferry which is 30-60 min ride.
You will love Port Orchard. I envy you.
DM me if you want... I am a bit of a hermit, but live in the vicinity.
You're a ferry ride away from Seattle. Silverdale is nearby, as well. They have a ferry to the San Juan area.
If you're not bothered by driving a bit, it's a good location, although WA state is a more expensive state.
You should fit right in, coming from Georgia.
Don’t come here it’s ducked
Watch episodes of Twin Peaks and you’ll know all you need to know about living in Washington.
Despite the fact that most of the show was filmed in LA? Or that the show was originally supposed to take place in North Dakota? How about the story being based off an unsolved murder case in early 20th century New York?
The vibe is perfect. I wonder how many moved here due to Here Comes The Brides?
I think two scenes were filmed in North Bend WA. At a gas station and a cafe.
I think the cafe may still have been the Mar-T, now Tweeds.
ARe you talking about the famous cherry pie?
A fine cup of coffee.
Honestly you're not half wrong
Please don't! Washington is full! .
I will come in with a full force! Brace for the impact 😆
You people are so fucking annoying. If it's so full, all of you should move and give it back to the people it was stolen from.
I was born here raised here and was probably here before you. So you can F off
So that means it wasn't stolen? You don't own Washington. YOU fuck off.
Do some research
This IS research.
Depends. Do you own firearms and want to bring them with you? The weapons ban about to pass will make that impossible.
Believe it or not this isn’t the be all end all for everyone. I know it’s hard to take in, actually i don’t, but you’re going to be just fine.
No I'm fine I just made a true statement. The laws being proposed will make pistols with magazines illegal to bring into the state as well as any semiautomatic firearm of any style. I've read it, have you?
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Ma1eficent t1_j4a2b77 wrote
Port Orchard is tiny, I'm shocked there's a job looking out of state. Parts are super cute and nice, other parts you lose your catalytic converter a week after replacing it.