I actually do know plenty of people who did this in their 20s. moved here, lived in studio apartment in Arlington (or in one case, Navy Yard) and had a blast for a few years. DC is expensive, and I wouldn't do this if I was about to have kids or otherwise planned on working lowpaying jobs for a long time, but it offers an incredible diversity of people, jobs, arts, entertainment, parks, etc. both of my close friends who did this moved on and went back to school after a few years of it (one at nonprofits, another waitressing, etc). Others have stuck around and worked their way up in their organizations. Anyway, if your brother is just interested in living in an interesting city for a few years, this place is great. but if he wants to stay longer than that, he may want to try somewhere cheaper or come up with a more concrete career plan.

I don't know much about sales and marketing, but presumably his background might also be desirable at some nonprofits or services organizations. an ESL teacher can find work anywhere, albeit not wellpaid work.

Ha OP. I know people with law degrees who can't get free internships on Capitol Hill because they are so competitive to get. Tell him to move to someplace like OH or NC where you don't have to be super smart or driven to be able to survive.

Anonymous wrote:To give a sense of one trajectory: I made the DC move at 26 because I was unhappy at my financial job in another city, my college friends had a room in their group house, and my boyfriend (now husband) was in a graduate program at UMD.

Prior to D.C. my post-college experience was a year as a babysitter/ nanny (really well paid where I grew up) followed by a year doing administrative work at a financial company. I lived with my parents during those years and saved money so I gave myself 6 months in DC to find a job. I took an unpaid internship (3 months) at a well-regarded think tank while looking for work. By the end of 3 months I had a job at a non-profit doing fund-raising and public affairs. That was about 15 years ago but at the time I was paid just over $30k a year.

After two years I was pretty unhappy and realized the types of jobs that interested me all required an advanced degree. I received an academic scholarship to one of the area's schools, got a part-time job as a research assistant but mostly lived off savings and got a master's degree in public policy. I got a job straight out of that program that I'm in still in 9 years later. I'm no longer sure it's the right fit and I'm trying to figure out my next move. I love D.C. (Beautiful city, good friends) but don't love the jobs I've held here.

Fund-raising for non-profit sounds like sales without a product or equivalently begging for money. I did a very temporary stent at University working at an organization where my job was to call people and get them to commit to make contributions. I hated it! It feels as though these sorts of jobs are easy to get because the organizations figure if you don't bring the cash they will fire you and hire someone else.

Anonymous wrote:If not from NY or LA or SF, he should not move here. Actually scrub that, nobody but NY city people or people born here like it here. He should not move here chasing dreams. He should find a job in a low COLA town and move there.

Nice sweeping generalization, pp. I like it here and I was not born in DC or NY.

To give a sense of one trajectory: I made the DC move at 26 because I was unhappy at my financial job in another city, my college friends had a room in their group house, and my boyfriend (now husband) was in a graduate program at UMD.

Prior to D.C. my post-college experience was a year as a babysitter/ nanny (really well paid where I grew up) followed by a year doing administrative work at a financial company. I lived with my parents during those years and saved money so I gave myself 6 months in DC to find a job. I took an unpaid internship (3 months) at a well-regarded think tank while looking for work. By the end of 3 months I had a job at a non-profit doing fund-raising and public affairs. That was about 15 years ago but at the time I was paid just over $30k a year.

After two years I was pretty unhappy and realized the types of jobs that interested me all required an advanced degree. I received an academic scholarship to one of the area's schools, got a part-time job as a research assistant but mostly lived off savings and got a master's degree in public policy. I got a job straight out of that program that I'm in still in 9 years later. I'm no longer sure it's the right fit and I'm trying to figure out my next move. I love D.C. (Beautiful city, good friends) but don't love the jobs I've held here.

Anonymous wrote:If they can afford it (i.e. you parents will subsidize their expenses) he could apply to work for a senator/congressman on the hill at a low level and work his way up.

Clearly, this post would sarcastic. But it sure reminded me of the advice my baby boomer parent gave me while I was job hunting after college graduation--why don't you walk up to some baby company's office and hand them in-person your resume? Lol...

Anonymous wrote:If they can afford it (i.e. you parents will subsidize their expenses) he could apply to work for a senator/congressman on the hill at a low level and work his way up.

Great idea! Or maybe apply for a job at a Fortune 500 and become CEO over time!

Anonymous wrote:If they can afford it (i.e. you parents will subsidize their expenses) he could apply to work for a senator/congressman on the hill at a low level and work his way up.

Not as easy as it sounds.

If they can afford it (i.e. you parents will subsidize their expenses) he could apply to work for a senator/congressman on the hill at a low level and work his way up.

Why doesn't he move to New Haven/Hartford/Stanford/Springfield Ma... all of those are cities and have manageable cost of living, marketing jobs and ESOL jobs. If his degree isn't from UCONN it won't really carry well in DC. No one has heard of ECU etc.

I haven't read all of the replies but I bet he could do just fine living in a DC suburb and doing sales for a home improvement company. I have a friend who does sales for a roofing company and makes great money. That said, he should find a job first.

Anonymous wrote: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.

This.

My husband and I make a combined > $250k (+trust fund). We also bought our first place here 9 years ago. We feel pinched.

If your brother doesn't mind doing the crappy group house thing for 5 years, which might lead to meeting a girl and/or getting a halfway decent job, but then moving an hour and a half way to get an affordable house, then by all means come to DC.

Have they tried looking for a job in DC? That's the first key and then if one of them finds something full time that pays a decent salary then they can consider what to do. I wouldn't have them move without an actual job lined up. This applies to wherever they move not just to DC area.

The wife may be able to find a job and he may have to scrape by with a series of part time jobs but I think they could make it. Would not want to be a teacher in Baltimore City at all.

I'd suggest they use this next year to really pay down any debt and save as much as possible and then start looking around, maybe to coincide with the 2018/2019 school year. And if they can (without going into debt), maybe come down this summer and just look around to see what life here would be like. Maybe he could see a recruiter or a placement agency, just to see what he could get and she could focus in on the different school systems. Then make a plan and set a goal as to where they want to be in a year.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

My experience in Charlotte is the consulting firms just love my Hill and think tank background. I rather enjoyed fielding competing job offers from them. Charlotte's not the most sophisticated of cities; despite all the transplants, it's still rather provincial.

FWIW, I'm happily moving back to DC next month.

I don't know about D.C. But safe and good for families, check out Frederick near downtown.