I work in Riata, so I'm familiar with the area.

If you want an apartment, the Riata apartments are pretty nice. Definitely good for singles. It would also be perfectly suitable for a temporary (3-6 months) dwelling while you do a home search and get to know the city.

I live central (around 45th Street). My commute is thus away from town in the mornings and towards town in the evenings. I come in later and stay later to avoid any traffic I may encounter, but it's minimized anyway just by the direction I go to and from work.

You mentioned you want a "newer" place. Keep in mind that most everything central is older houses, and central is the cooler area to live in. However, the older houses you'll find in central neighborhoods aren't dingy. Most have been restored and are quite nice.

If you really don't go for older houses though, consider Northwest Hills and the 2222/Mount Bonnell/Cat Mountain areas. These are nice neighborhoods and would be well situated for both commuting to work and accessing downtown. I used to live in Northwest Hills. My commute was about 10 minutes from my front door to my desk. There are a lot of older residents there (from when the neighborhoods were originally developed in the 60's and 70's), but there are plenty of young people also, particularly as you go towards the newer parts around Cat mountain and 2222. The downside to this area is that you can't really walk to restaurants or shops, and even biking around wouldn't be too convenient (though anywhere in Austin is reasonably bike friendly).

If you're looking for something with the potential to appreciate in value, go east or east central (but not northeast). This will not be as convenient to work, but in my opinion this is the only area of town not tapped out yet. As others have said, there are a ton of people who live around Riata, and home values are pretty good, but the downside is there are a lot of people around. It's congested, the homes are all tract style homes, the stores are restaurants are all chains, etc. Not really much flavor. And for that you get to deal with roads that will always be behind in accommodating the masses who travel on them. I wouldn't go too much farther north than Riata. The traffic congestion is too much. Anyway, back to values... I think everything Central, North and West are also at the peak for pricing. The central places closer in to town aren't likely to lose too much value when the real estate bubble bursts, but the suburbs north and west (and many south) will feel it. In addition, the trender dwellings, such as all the new lofts, will probably also lose their caché over time. Right now they're going for absurd prices.

Good luck with your interviews!