Where shall I go? What shall I do?Here is the link to the NYT column on where to find jobs (North Dakota):
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/06/where-the-jobs-for-the-young-are-and-arent/?_r=0I moved to what the NYT calls the "upper Midwest" (though not actually North Dakota) myself for a job. North Dakota has a huge shortage of people for the jobs that they have available.
Williston has skipped the recession entirely. Unemployment there is less than 2 percent. The population, the mayor estimates, has grown from 12,000 to 20,000 in the last four years.
"We actually have probably between 2,000 and 3,000 job openings in Williston right now," Koeser says.
From NPR:
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/25/140784004/new-boom-reshapes-oil-world-rocks-north-dakotaAnecdotal evidence: My roommate's cousins live in Fargo, ND and when they decided to look for a job as 14-year-olds, they had 2-3 offers each. That was before fracking happened and ND exploded with oil money. If I honestly needed a job, that's where I would go.
ElsewhereIt might be nice to look into job opportunities in NH, considering how close that is to your current location. If you'd be open to it, it looks like NH is a hotspot for jobs for people in our age bracket.
I work at a software company that is extremely happy to hire philosophy majors. There's a lot of rigorous testing that goes on (something like 5 rounds) before the software company hires, but it's a fantastic gig once you are in (at least in my few months of being here). A lot of the logic stuff that you've done translates really well into software stuff. As many other people have said,
coding is a fantastic skill that might be a good fit for you. The employment prospects, as they say, are very good.
However, coding bores me to tears, and I'm not at the level in any language (Javascript, Ruby on Rails, HTML) that I've picked up that I would be paid to be a dev. I work in Android development (though not in coding anything, thank goodness) and it's a hopping field.
I read that link on Minneapolis and it
is the coldest place in America, but I think that it's good for quality of life, with the extremely low prices and pretty good salaries. I will say that quite a lot of my coworkers have moved from Minnesota to
Madison, WI, where I work at a software company that is a medium-sized fish in a ~560k person small pond.
By virtue of being the biggest game in town, it has a lot of sway in the area. The CEO is one of the 10 richest women in America and one of only 7 self-made women in the Forbes 400.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/09/19/the-richest-women-in-america/ I have a pretty great quality of life, in terms of working 40-50 hours a week for slightly more than the OP is making as a religion teacher. I have subsidized food for half or less the price you'd pay in a restaurant and a 10-15 minute commute. It's 7 minutes on a totally clear day aka when driving at 6 AM and 15 minutes on a OH NO SUCH HORRIBLE TRAFFIC!! day. :)
I will say that the OP should definitely consider
selling the 2009 Cobalt. It's insanely expensive with the loan.