Washington DC Area Information Security Engineering Work (NOVA DMV)
The NOVA DMV area is stacked with information security engineering jobs. Is this one of the best places to find interesting work in the country for this field? Looks like a nice place to be near all major east coast and southern major cities along with good salary and lots of job growth opportunities. Anyone have any experience in this culture / field in NOVA DMV? Microsoft, Salesforce, Verizon, AT&T, Tennable Network Security, Palo Alto Networks, MITRE, Fireeye / Mandiant, Cyren, LookingGlass Cyber, Amazon AWS, Crowdstrike, Check Point, etc.
Not looking for 300k. Happy with 150 base plus perks and bonus to be honest. I feel rich making around 200k TC now (I don't want a big fancy house or other anchors which loosen the freedoms of life and movement).
I like your attitude. Are you in the area already?
I am in Seattle, looking to Branch out in a couple years maybe.
Your work will most likely be tied to or be somewhat relevant to federal government (most companies here are government Contracting companies). As a result your work will be slow and highly regulated, and most likely not interesting. Also COl is high and low salary. If you can avoid NOVA do it
Thank you for the feedback!
Can anyone share some more personal experiences about what they really enjoyed about the area (DMV NOVA)?
Indian food. Especially Hyderabadi biriyani places ๐
It is relatively safe and fairly culturally diverse.
CoL/salary isn't amazing, as others have said. If you want to raise a family, the schools in nova are fantastic. DC is a solid city. Strong consulting presence from the Big 4 and other firms, for whatever that's worth. Personally, I think the DC area is nascent, especially with Amazon HQ2 coming to Crystal city. Rents are already very pricy though. IMO not as much soul as a place like SF or LA, but you'll find lots of real, deep, stand up (if a littoe boring) people there
Thanks! How is the soul/culture in DC compared to Seattle? Seattle folks are so quiet, passive aggressive, and boring. I imagine it will be a huge upgrade. Not everyone in Seattle is as described above as I have met many amazing people, but the culture is passive aggressive, low energy, keep to yourself almost everywhere.
I spent 14 years in NOVA in telecom. If you can find a house close to work that's the ideal situation. I lived 15 min from the office, and that was great. If you have to commute, you can take the metro to and from work. But I'd say you'd have to be aware that you'll have to start early (6am) to grab a parking spot and a seat on the metro. That would then make your workday a 7 to 3 shift if your employer is good with that. You do have LOTS and to do
Thank you!
With the Smithsonian and hiking/biking trails. Old Town Alexandria is great, so are the great falls park's. There's some very good restaurants all over the tri-state area. Crabbing on the MD shore in the summer is great. If you're interested in more info reach out to me and I'll be happy to help
Sounds really interesting actually, sounds like a place I would like.
What do people hate about DMV NOVA?
Traffic, suppressed salaries, most jobs are suckling on the government teat, housing is expensive unless you move far out which in that case you have bad traffic, not a lot of great outdoors spots.
The comp to COL and traffick are horrible. You can do worse but it's never going to be like nyc, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, bay. In terms of security, it's definitely a hub, just don't expect 300k TC unless you're a director
Not looking for 300k. Happy with 150 base plus perks and bonus to be honest. I feel rich making around 200k TC now (I don't want a big fancy house or other anchors which loosen the freedoms of life and movement).
Have you lived in the DC area before? What did you like about it?