Variant- you and I seem to be in the same boat! I moved from the east coast to Portland, OR for a job last year and was laid off during a period of restaffing. I like the culture in Portland but I’d prefer to live somewhere with more sun. The gloomy winters and chilly summers here aren’t where I want to lay down roots.
I’d love to work at a design agency making consumer products. My background is largely retail displays with some consumer products and electronics. From what I’ve seen and heard, there’s a huge need for UX designers at design agencies but ID positions aren’t in demand now.
Is there much of an ID market in Austin? That’s one of the cities I’m seriously considering but it doesn’t look like there are many design agencies down there, and my ID friend who lives there went into web design.