[Towle_]

Call it America's brainiest place to live.

I will do no such thing, CNN.

I grew up in the DC metro area. It's a horrible place, don't ever move there. Where SF has an entrepreneurship draw and LA has a fame draw and NY has a money draw, DC has a power draw. People literally move there so they can take their shot at being the best Machiavellian sonofabitch they can be. There aren't any brainiacs around there. Some very smart people, sure, but no brainiacs.

[elblanco]

It seems to be one of those few places where people will be content to be absolutely miserable in their jobs for 20 years. There's a certain feeling to doing business in the area (even if it's not with the government), a certain soul-sucking tired grind, that doesn't seem replicated exactly the same way elsewhere.

*edit: the high prevalence of degrees also means that B.S./B.A. degrees have almost no weight. You'll commonly see the phenomenon of multiple degrees, multiple masters, very young PhDs...just so you can get noticed in the crowd. People seem to go to school forever out here.

[hga]

Concur, I spent a '91-04 there after spending '79-91 in Boston. The whole zeitgeist including the attitudes of (most) managers is unhealthy. Heck, just compare subway passengers in both areas, the differences are stark.

The only reason for one of us to go there is if we're worried about age discrimination and want to solve it by getting a serious clearance and the work that goes with them. There's also a fair amount of space work in the area, but telecom in the area died pretty hard when that sector crashed early last decade.