[bane]

One mistake almost everybody in tech makes when they move to DC from somewhere else in the country is that they move to DC proper. DC, despite being a fairly walkable city with a decent subway by US standards and a lot of diverse food choices, is not where action outside of government or government related is.

Nearly all of the tech scene is outside of the city in two areas. Either in the stretch of MD north of DC and fading away the further North it gets until you're around Ft. Meade. It's a mix of biotech (NIH) and defense (NSA) but Bethesda Softworks is famously in southern MD. Or, in the stretch between DC and Dulles airport which is heavily defense and intelligence (part of that stretch is between the Pentagon and CIA HQ).

There are pockets of non-gov, non-defense tech around. I don't know much about southern MD tbh, but I know there's some regular 'ol startups in Crystal City, Tysons, and Reston areas, or tech companies with solid East Coast offices at least (but usually geared towards selling to the government). Amazon HQ2 is not in the city for example.

You'll find a fair number of fintech, electric car support companies, commtech, cybersec sort of firms. There's a large class of nonprofit tech companies in the area too, they don't offer stock, but the pay is decent and the jobs are highly stable.

Despite having the country's second largest subway, getting into and out of DC is an expensive chore.

The DC-Baltimore metro area is one of the largest in the country, covers a huge area, and has almost as many people as NYC. Most people with the means end up moving with their jobs rather than commuting. Hour+ commutes are not unusual.

(source:

- grew up on the East Coast and spent time in the DC area

- advised two West Coast startups that opened offices in the DC area neither made it, but the one that opened in DC proper, despite having deeper pockets, failed faster and their office never saw a customer willing to come into the city)

[setgree]

Contra this, I recommend that folks live in DC and commute to those areas if/when needed.

I lived in the Columbia Heights area for two years and I found it lovely. Dense, full of amenities, and within walking distance of Rock Creek Park which, IMO, is as good for running/walking/biking as any urban park I've been in.

By contrast, I find the suburbs around DC painfully bland and car-centric. Crystal City and Silver Springs in particular are places I can barely stand.

YMMV :)

[bane]

It's definitely true, despite the Metro, the area is painfully car centric, with some very difficult to navigate road systems. I've heard it called an area based on the civic planning model of "development denial" where the suburbs get defined, with all the nasty suburban roads/stroads types you can think of, then NIMBYs disallow further development, so new suburbs and added a bit further out, and that pattern has repeated since WW2. The DC Metro Area consistently rates in the top-10 for worst traffic in the country, and its patternless ebb and flow absolutely defies consistent planning when driving around.

Adding to your note, most of the people I know who've lived in DC proper end up with jobs out of the city, and usually after 2 or 3 years just give in and move closer to work. A trip from Columbia Heights or even Dupont Circle to National Landing (where Amazon's HQ2 is) is still frustratingly about an hour on the Metro, a driving distance of less than 7 miles. It's a reverse commute so I guess there that?

[compsciphd]

silver springs is in florida, not md ;)

[TimC123456]

Another counterpoint to this:

I live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of DC and work (remotely) in tech. I would highly recommend—as have others here—that if you enjoy a nice walkable city, you should try living in DC proper, too, and if you _have to_ commute to one of those bland suburbs where the big HQs and startups are located, you'll be well positioned to reverse commute if you're near a Metro station in DC.

I moved here from San Franciso, where I had a similar reverse commute from SF down the peninsula to Cupertino for work in tech. I love DC for a lot of the same reasons I loved living in SF rather than in Silicon Valley—I much prefer city life to suburb life—even with all the grit and rough edges. If you do, too, I think you'd prefer DC proper to any of the suburbs.

[torstenvl]

The suburbs are not bland, DC is. The idea that DC is a richer experience than Alexandria or Manassas or Frederick or Fredericksburg is absurd. These are places with centuries of character, not the transient facade you find in DC.

[TimC123456]

Sorry, I was referring to the previous commenter's list of suburbs, like Pentagon City, Clarendon, Rosslyn, Tysons, Reston, Herndon, etc. in that corridor out to Dulles.

(Downtown) Alexandria is lovely. Manassas and Fredericksburg (VA), and Frederick (MD), are very distinct from DC and the DMV suburbs, though—to me they feel much more like separate cities/towns in Virginia and Maryland (with all that Civil War history you're referring to).

[mixmastamyk]

Those were not recommended upthread.

[softwaredoug]

DC is a region of various "downtowns" connected by the metro / beltway. Tysons Corner, Bethesda, Silver Spring, Rosslyn, Alexandria, are all their own business centers with their own neighborhoods, themselves walkable. Each looks like a medium-sized US city downtown. Each has its own anchoring agencies / businesses that define the economy of the area.

[senkora]

This. DC does transit-oriented development, where the areas around metro stations are densely zoned, quite well.