Center preferences

One thing to keep in mind when you hear differing opinions on the same centers is that your quality of working life can vary wildly from area to area within the same building. The same thing goes for large consolidated tracons and to a lesser extent smaller facilities can vary based on your crew/RDO's. There is very little you can do coming from the academy to dictate what area you'll go to or what RDO's you'll have. It's all luck of the staffing draw.
 
I don't work at ZDC but live near it. It's a nice area about 45 minutes to an hour outside of DC but it's expensive as hell to live here. You do make good money at ZDC and can make it work but Loudoun County is consistently the 1st or 2nd richest County in the country with Fairfax County taking the other spot right next door. Townhouses just up the street from the facility are going for $500k and a single family home will set you back $650-$800k. So to sum up, great area, good place to raise a family, little to no crime, but expensive.
My wife works for capital one so I would be planning to be close towards McClean, but I don't mind a commute if needed to get to a more affordable area until I would be certified. The cost is the biggest worry, definitely doable though.
 
My wife works for capital one so I would be planning to be close towards McClean, but I don't mind a commute if needed to get to a more affordable area until I would be certified. The cost is the biggest worry, definitely doable though.

Well the nice thing about your commute is you'd be going against traffic each time (although depending on your shift that might not always be the case) since most traffic would be going towards McLean/DC in the morning and away in the afternoon. That area is even more expensive than Leesburg where ZDC is located but I'm sure you have looked into the pricing by now. That'd probably my least favorite part of living here is the traffic. Since it's somehow been the fastest or one of the fastest growing counties in the country for the better part of 20 years sometimes you'd think you're in LA traffic trying to get home.
 
Yes it is. More expensive than I'd want to deal with though. Plus it's a level 10. Earn enough to be comfortable, but nothing crazy.

Real estate in/around Denver is expensive but that's it. I was there a couple weeks ago and went to a nice steak house and when I got the check for 2 it was only $124. I started laughing when I saw it cause on LI that was easily a $300 dinner.
 
Well the nice thing about your commute is you'd be going against traffic each time (although depending on your shift that might not always be the case) since most traffic would be going towards McLean/DC in the morning and away in the afternoon. That area is even more expensive than Leesburg where ZDC is located but I'm sure you have looked into the pricing by now. That'd probably my least favorite part of living here is the traffic. Since it's somehow been the fastest or one of the fastest growing counties in the country for the better part of 20 years sometimes you'd think you're in LA traffic trying to get home.
Fortunately for me I have already lived in the LA area haha. I was in DC/McLean area back in May and didn't terribly hate the traffic. That was only for a few days granted, but they also seem to have a decent mass transit system set up in that area as well. Also, this is all given that ZDC is even an option. From current standings it doesn't seem like it will be so I may end up somewhere like Chicago.
 
Fortunately for me I have already lived in the LA area haha. I was in DC/McLean area back in May and didn't terribly hate the traffic. That was only for a few days granted, but they also seem to have a decent mass transit system set up in that area as well. Also, this is all given that ZDC is even an option. From current standings it doesn't seem like it will be so I may end up somewhere like Chicago.

Well now I can ask you, how did you like the LA area? I'm a warm weather guy and would love to one day end up at LAX, SCT, or something like that or even start out at like the Santa Monica or Palo Alto tower. Traffic aside haha what is your opinion on living out there?

And the DC metro unfortunately is a facade we've been having serious problems with it the past few years as we learned that safety inspections were ignored for oh idk 20+ years? So they've been catching on fire and just last week a train derailed. Luckily I don't have to take it and avoid it at all costs. It's convenient when it works yes but they've really dropped the ball on it.
 
Well now I can ask you, how did you like the LA area? I'm a warm weather guy and would love to one day end up at LAX, SCT, or something like that or even start out at like the Santa Monica or Palo Alto tower. Traffic aside haha what is your opinion on living out there?

And the DC metro unfortunately is a facade we've been having serious problems with it the past few years as we learned that safety inspections were ignored for oh idk 20+ years? So they've been catching on fire and just last week a train derailed. Luckily I don't have to take it and avoid it at all costs. It's convenient when it works yes but they've really dropped the ball on it.
It wasn't horrible. I'm from Florida so I missed having rain. There are cheaper areas to live that a lot of people commute to the LA area from, but that causes a lot of traffic. Traffic happens through most of the day, but there is still a rush hour. I personally appreciated how well the highway system was setup out there though. The trick is to know as many routes to where you need to go as possible and learn which highways connect to what and where. Yes, that sounds obvious, but sometimes unexpected traffic can be gone around at the last minute if you're smart about it. I can tell you it will be a much different environment than what you're used to as far as population and activities. And at the right time of year you can go from playing in the water on the beach to skiing down some slopes within a matter of a few hours, that's hard to find anywhere else.
 
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