Advice for young couple considering a move to the DC area?

[Anonymous]

Um, DCUMers, who do you think works on your roads... drives the buses... fixes your car... serves your drinks... sells you your clothes... drives your Uber... walks your dog... takes care of your kids or your elderly parents.... mows your lawn... answers your phones?

Ordinary working people, that's who. There are several million of us around you.

Some of us don't even want to be lawyers!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think at the end of the day, he won't move to DC. Nobody in their rational mind would make a bold move by moving into another city without actually securing a job. He'd eventually find out that it'd be impossible. Best of luck to him!

...I've done it. When you are young and adventurous, it's a pretty normal thing to do.

Being an ESL teacher is a perfectly good profession. People in sales can make a lot of money. Y'all are way too conservative and sheltered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the negative advice is accurate. It depends what he wants. If he thinks he is going to move to DC and walk into a a high-paying, prestigious job at a lobbying firm or on the Hill, then yeah, he's unrealistic. But though DCUMers may tend to forget this, the DC metro area is also full of people who - gasp - work as waiters, roofers, retail sales people, check-in clerks at hotels, temps, administrative assistants in offices, etc.

If he is just looking at this stage of his life for a simple "job" - not a career, just something that will pay bills for a couple of years while he decides if he wants to go back to school - then this is a perfectly good place to move. Even if he and his wife both get minimum wage jobs, they would bring in, together, about $60k/year, which works if they don't mind living in a studio in a less fashionable neighborhood. Trust me, whole families in this city manage to get by on much less.

Maybe he should consider signing up with a temp agency to get his feet in the water?

Is it true that two minimum wage jobs would bring in about $60k/year? That sounds high to me.

It's high. DC minimum wage is $11.50. Virginia's is like $7 or something. I think MD's is somewhere in between. So if you live in DC, and work 40 hours a week 52 weeks a year (no vacation whatsoever), you make less than $25k. But you have to afford living in DC. More likely they live in one of the surrounding states, and therefore make more like $20k each a year.

Agree with PP that sure there are people who live in DC and wait tables and do other minimum wage things. I'd guess they were either born here or something in particular brought them here. You're way better off living elsewhere if you want to be a waitress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sure. 15$/hour x 40 hours/week x 50 weeks = 30k. Two times 30 = 60.

People move because... they don't want to live in Nowheresville.... they have family.... they like the area. Seriously, if you think finding jobs in DC is hard, try rural New England.

There is a reason much of rural America is turning into Methland.

DC's minimum wage isn't going to $15 for several years.

[Anonymous]

I don't think that people are saying not to move out of rural Connecticut. But lots of us are speaking from personal experience. We've come here and feel trapped with low paying jobs in a high COL area.

If given a choice, by all means move to a city with a lower COL. PP who suggested Richmond and Baltimore was spot on.

[Anonymous]

A friend of mind with a degree in foreign language and history from university of Seattle moved to DC around 2013. He moved there w/o job. He has a support structure comprised of acquaintances all of whom had a stronger educational background.

1. He spend about 8 months unemployed.
2. Got a job at a temp agency (eventually) as an office assistant.
3. Got let go when contract ended.
4. Got a full time job as office assistant. Wanted that to be is "foot-in-the-door."
5. Still working off-and-on as an office assistant.
6. Has been unsuccessful in the dating market because in DC he does not have any status/income so nothing but a string of casual dates. He only gets these because he dances and girls like to be taken out for Latin dancing.

As stated above. DC is not a place you move to w/o a job and w/o a strong educational background with a strong skill set in your specialization.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A friend of mind with a degree in foreign language and history from university of Seattle moved to DC around 2013. He moved there w/o job. He has a support structure comprised of acquaintances all of whom had a stronger educational background.

1. He spend about 8 months unemployed.
2. Got a job at a temp agency (eventually) as an office assistant.
3. Got let go when contract ended.
4. Got a full time job as office assistant. Wanted that to be is "foot-in-the-door."
5. Still working off-and-on as an office assistant.
6. Has been unsuccessful in the dating market because in DC he does not have any status/income so nothing but a string of casual dates. He only gets these because he dances and girls like to be taken out for Latin dancing.

As stated above. DC is not a place you move to w/o a job and w/o a strong educational background with a strong skill set in your specialization.

shh...apparently anybody who doled out this advice is an elitist who has no idea how the real world works.

[Anonymous]

Sure, like some posters said, there are all kinds of people living in DC on minimum wage jobs. They make the city go round. However, if that person making $8 an hour at Taco Bell could make the same $8 an hour at Taco Bell in Richmond VA, I'm not sure why the hell they would ever choose DC unless they had family or other ties here. It makes zero sense. Same thing with the type of entry level admin jobs OP is asking about for her brother.

[Anonymous]

As many other people have stated moving to D.C. does not seem like a good idea for your brother. Yes, there are a number of people who hold low paying jobs but to be comfortable in DC you need to make $83,104/year (google it). Additionally, since he is looking for entry level jobs as he is moving into an area he hasn't worked in before he will be competing with hordes of recent college graduates from decent local colleges. If he thinks he might go to grad school down the line why not move somewhere he could actually save some money for that endeavor? Or move to somewhere with a public university where he could at least get in-state tuition if he could get into school there? And, frankly I don't even know if this area has a particularly strong marketing/sales/etc industry.

By all means, he should move outside of rural CT. But why not look at a city like Portland or Chicago or Baltimore or Denver? Or literally any other city besides Boston, NYC, and the Bay Area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A friend of mind with a degree in foreign language and history from university of Seattle moved to DC around 2013. He moved there w/o job. He has a support structure comprised of acquaintances all of whom had a stronger educational background.

1. He spend about 8 months unemployed.
2. Got a job at a temp agency (eventually) as an office assistant.
3. Got let go when contract ended.
4. Got a full time job as office assistant. Wanted that to be is "foot-in-the-door."
5. Still working off-and-on as an office assistant.
6. Has been unsuccessful in the dating market because in DC he does not have any status/income so nothing but a string of casual dates. He only gets these because he dances and girls like to be taken out for Latin dancing.

As stated above. DC is not a place you move to w/o a job and w/o a strong educational background with a strong skill set in your specialization.

You know, I was sort of agreeing with this thread's consensus, but it's really gotten much too harsh. I was in the same position over twenty years ago, moved here and slept on the living room floor of the only person I knew in DC. I took any kind of work I could find, bartending, construction, catering and pretty quickly landed a foot-in-the-door job that paid butkiss (23K paid the $600 rent on my first apartment plus modest student loan debt). My salary quintupled over ten years and all kinds of opportunities materialized.

Now, the bolded part about dating is true. I remember young women at parties turning around and walking away from me when I told them I didn't have a job yet. Seriously, it happened. That is a suckful DC constant, but the young man in question is already married per OP.

DC can be a very competitive rat race for many whose job skills are not transferrable anywhere else. I suspect that's where the bitterness is coming from here. As the saying goes, DC is like a coffin, once you're in it, you can't get out. That would be my one caution to a young man.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A friend of mind with a degree in foreign language and history from university of Seattle moved to DC around 2013. He moved there w/o job. He has a support structure comprised of acquaintances all of whom had a stronger educational background.

1. He spend about 8 months unemployed.
2. Got a job at a temp agency (eventually) as an office assistant.
3. Got let go when contract ended.
4. Got a full time job as office assistant. Wanted that to be is "foot-in-the-door."
5. Still working off-and-on as an office assistant.
6. Has been unsuccessful in the dating market because in DC he does not have any status/income so nothing but a string of casual dates. He only gets these because he dances and girls like to be taken out for Latin dancing.

As stated above. DC is not a place you move to w/o a job and w/o a strong educational background with a strong skill set in your specialization.

...or maybe your friend just has no work ethic and no hustle...and no game w/the ladies to boot.

Seriously, if you have a good work ethic and hustle, you can get yourself a good job anywhere. Someone who is an asset to their company will do just fine. Someone who has a shitty work ethic/spend their time online vs working...that is someone who is going to hurt for work.

And re: the dating market--chicks in DC are desperate. I know because I was one. Unemployed dolts get plenty of ladies as long as they have game. Sad, but true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A friend of mind with a degree in foreign language and history from university of Seattle moved to DC around 2013. He moved there w/o job. He has a support structure comprised of acquaintances all of whom had a stronger educational background.

1. He spend about 8 months unemployed.
2. Got a job at a temp agency (eventually) as an office assistant.
3. Got let go when contract ended.
4. Got a full time job as office assistant. Wanted that to be is "foot-in-the-door."
5. Still working off-and-on as an office assistant.
6. Has been unsuccessful in the dating market because in DC he does not have any status/income so nothing but a string of casual dates. He only gets these because he dances and girls like to be taken out for Latin dancing.

As stated above. DC is not a place you move to w/o a job and w/o a strong educational background with a strong skill set in your specialization.

You know, I was sort of agreeing with this thread's consensus, but it's really gotten much too harsh. I was in the same position over twenty years ago, moved here and slept on the living room floor of the only person I knew in DC. I took any kind of work I could find, bartending, construction, catering and pretty quickly landed a foot-in-the-door job that paid butkiss (23K paid the $600 rent on my first apartment plus modest student loan debt). My salary quintupled over ten years and all kinds of opportunities materialized.

Now, the bolded part about dating is true. I remember young women at parties turning around and walking away from me when I told them I didn't have a job yet. Seriously, it happened. That is a suckful DC constant, but the young man in question is already married per OP.

DC can be a very competitive rat race for many whose job skills are not transferrable anywhere else. I suspect that's where the bitterness is coming from here. As the saying goes, DC is like a coffin, once you're in it, you can't get out. That would be my one caution to a young man.

This is *absolutely* true for the Hill crowd, or for the Georgetown/Late Night Shots types. Not so much for everyone else in the city. As mentioned above in this thread, more than once, there is more to DC than politics. And more than one social scene.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A friend of mind with a degree in foreign language and history from university of Seattle moved to DC around 2013. He moved there w/o job. He has a support structure comprised of acquaintances all of whom had a stronger educational background.

1. He spend about 8 months unemployed.
2. Got a job at a temp agency (eventually) as an office assistant.
3. Got let go when contract ended.
4. Got a full time job as office assistant. Wanted that to be is "foot-in-the-door."
5. Still working off-and-on as an office assistant.
6. Has been unsuccessful in the dating market because in DC he does not have any status/income so nothing but a string of casual dates. He only gets these because he dances and girls like to be taken out for Latin dancing.

As stated above. DC is not a place you move to w/o a job and w/o a strong educational background with a strong skill set in your specialization.

You know, I was sort of agreeing with this thread's consensus, but it's really gotten much too harsh. I was in the same position over twenty years ago, moved here and slept on the living room floor of the only person I knew in DC. I took any kind of work I could find, bartending, construction, catering and pretty quickly landed a foot-in-the-door job that paid butkiss (23K paid the $600 rent on my first apartment plus modest student loan debt). My salary quintupled over ten years and all kinds of opportunities materialized.

Now, the bolded part about dating is true. I remember young women at parties turning around and walking away from me when I told them I didn't have a job yet. Seriously, it happened. That is a suckful DC constant, but the young man in question is already married per OP.

DC can be a very competitive rat race for many whose job skills are not transferrable anywhere else. I suspect that's where the bitterness is coming from here. As the saying goes, DC is like a coffin, once you're in it, you can't get out. That would be my one caution to a young man.

This is *absolutely* true for the Hill crowd, or for the Georgetown/Late Night Shots types. Not so much for everyone else in the city. As mentioned above in this thread, more than once, there is more to DC than politics. And more than one social scene.

PP here - you're right I should have qualified it. I did just fine with young women who were not involved with and didn't care about "official Washington." It just took a little longer for me to find them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No OP. It doesn't sound like his work experience or education prepared him for DC. Try a smaller city as others have said

Please. D.C. is not the end all be all. Chances are that if you "made it" in D.C., especially in politics, your education and experience did not prepare you for any host of cities that you're frowning upon. Have fun explaining your "prestigious" Hill job to an interview panel at a Charlotte consulting firm. I agree with the above poster who called D.C. a coffin. It's true, and many people are stuck/bitter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. Some class bias showing here. I know plenty of young people working at mall stores and restaurants and the like, perfectly happy. They probably won't want to do it forever but there is nothing wrong with being an Uber driver or a temp or a waiter for a few years.

Then why can't OP's brother do these jobs elsewhere where cost of living is so much lower? As many have said, DC is a place where people move into for a specific purpose and highly doubt most of these "young people working at mall stores" moved from other places into DC just to work at mall stores.

Please don't do OP's brother a disservice and render this advice.

The people working retail and waiting tables likely grew up here, have family here, or moved here to be close to an immigrant community for companionship and support. Or, they are in school for something that will pay off in the future, or a combination of both.