Can't speak to startup space here much, but a few things about public sector work, of which there is a ton of tech stuff:
1. There's some element of "security clearance" for basically anything. It's still pretty minimal but worse than it used to be (e.g., last gig had them ask for my foreign-born father in law's birth cert). Lowest level stuff is often a "Public Trust" clearance that'd be required for almost anything involving access to a federal network. Feds still treat weed like it's 1950, which is a big hurdle for a lot of people, but does keep the competition down for roles.
2. There's a lot of cool public sector jobs and gigs, but the administrivia around even small gigs can be painful (e.g., a contract is contract), although on the other hand there's a lot of technical jobs (most?) that don't take more than an hour or so to interview for and don't involve any coding. If you build a reputation with the right people, you can get 6-figure, single person contracts which are easier to manage or setup a shop with friends.
3. Comp is very based on last level. If you want to live in Dupont / Logan Circle (do highly recommend) despite all the important stuff to be done in public sector agencies, you might struggle to afford to live unless you had a very high incoming income to report. Otherwise, recommend the financial regulators - SEC, CFTC, OCC, CFPB, to a lesser extent the Fed (Reserve). These guys always need tech help either directly or through contract. Every (non-"security") Fed salary you can lookup online, and I'd calculated the median at SEC was about $200k 5 years ago, which is proportional to their spending power generally.
Ask HN: Moving to DC in 2023?
21–30 of 82 posts
Re: Ask HN: Moving to DC in 2023?
#22The traffic is a non-starter for me. The federal workers clog the streets like a clockwork. It is job security and good schools what drives the growth and it shows in all ugly ways. I find Virginia more approachable than the Maryland side. More fun? There is a big tech presence in Columbia MD and Reston VA. I like Reston better. Downtown? No way $$$! Avoid the east side, PG County.
Come to think of it. When you enter a metro station in DC and approach one the machines that tries to sell you a metro pass, you have to stop and ponder: What kind of people find this machines usable or convenient? It really drives the point of the way-of-life of the inhabitants of the DC area..
Re: Ask HN: Moving to DC in 2023?
#23why are you considering moving there?
Re: Ask HN: Moving to DC in 2023?
#24I lived on capitol hill at the start of my career and did a DoD gig. This was actually a great way to break into the startup world afterwards because startup people have no idea what to do with someone with those credentials and it makes you stand out from the pack.
Re: Ask HN: Moving to DC in 2023?
#25I was born in Reston, VA. I started my career doing fed tech. If you can afford to live there and like the metro/walking/biking, do it. If you drive, don't. Northern Virginia, where I'm from, is plenty accessible to DC via the metro. It also has more open space. However, you say you already are working, so if you can afford it, do it! The history, the museums, the shops, it's great.
Re: Ask HN: Moving to DC in 2023?
#26I lived there 4 years in Dupont Circle. It's a weird city. I personally didn't vibe with it so take what I say with a huge grain of salt. It's clean, people are intelligent, and there's a lot of stuff that's free and the architecture is gorgeous. That said, it doesn't have much of a culture since it's very transient. They way I describe it is the culture is very 'safe'. It's not gonna push the boundaries of anything.…
What neighborhood did you move to in NYC? I'm in NYC now and considering signing a 1 bedroom lease here, but the avg price in Manhattan/Brooklyn seems to be $3500 a month which is pushing me toward living in DC instead.
Re: Ask HN: Moving to DC in 2023?
#27Amazon is still building HQ2 across the river, aren't they? If you're not in defense or government why would you want to live in DC?
Why wouldn't you? The DC area economy, especially the tech economy hasn't been wholly oriented around government & defense in decades. A lot of early Internet services grew up around network backbones built in Northern Virginia (for defense purposes originally, yes) and though it's less visible than in the days when AOL was hot shit, there's still a world of tech jobs around here that aren't directly connected to gov/mil.
And, while I admit I'm biased as a resident of the area, on a lot of objective measures it's a pretty nice place to be if you can swing the cost of living. Lots of well-educated high earners, world-class museums with free admission, relatively easy access to green spaces, and a range of transit options instead of being confined to a car like most of the US. It most certainly has its problems but it's got lots of upsides as well.
Re: Ask HN: Moving to DC in 2023?
#28I live in NW DC now and spent several years on the MD side about 500m from the DC border. I love it here. I am absolutely uninterested in politics and have no desire to work in defense and there is still so much to do around here, both recreation and career wise.
Another comment was suggesting not moving into DC proper an I highly disagree. being close proximity to the metro line is what enables alot of the fun parts of living in the city. also taxes are less than maryland, but higher than virginia.
job wise, there are a handful of startups as well as tons of local companies (cap 1, appian), as well as branches of larger companies (google, microsoft, amazon, every consulting company you can think of) with offices in and around DC. with the advent of remote work I think the case for moving to dc is even stronger because even if companies are located in northern virginia, you dont have to slog through some of the worst traffic in the country and can just go in occasionally - which is what i do and honestly love it.
I wish i knew more start ups but when i was job searching recently i was looking at remote roles and most of the startups i looked at were non local. also, because of the high concentration of tech jobs, there are a few local recruiting companies that know the area really well and have placed me in 2 of my last 3 jobs.
let me know if you have more questions!
Re: Ask HN: Moving to DC in 2023?
#29I live in NW DC now and spent several years on the MD side about 500m from the DC border. I love it here. I am absolutely uninterested in politics and have no desire to work in defense and there is still so much to do around here, both recreation and career wise. Another comment was suggesting not moving into DC proper an I highly disagree. being close proximity to the metro line is what enables alot of the fun parts…
> taxes are less than both virginia and maryland
Can you elaborate? "Taxes" can mean many different things and, for my situation, income taxes in Virginia are far lower than in the other two municipalities.
Re: Ask HN: Moving to DC in 2023?
#30I wouldn’t do it. I grew up in northern Virginia and work in DC and lived there for a time. DC was nice 10-15 years ago when it offered some of the amenities of a big city at a much lower price point. Today there’s not much to recommend. It’s almost New York prices now but the restaurant and entertainment scene is a shadow of those places. Your apartment building will probably be full of political staffers and lawyers and think tank wonks. And the tech scene, insofar as it exists, is mainly out in Northern Virginia.
Also, the pandemic hit DC really hard. DC is heavily reliant on commuters. It has one of the largest daytime-nighttime population changes in the country. But those government and knowledge workers are never coming back into the office at the same scale as before. Metro ridership has cratered, putting it in a budget crisis even when substantially reduced service levels. And lots of bars and restaurants that had built up over the last decade have closed down.
I will say, DC has some very charming and walkable neighborhoods. The area between DuPont Circle and Logan Circle is very cute, in a 1970s sort of way.