Long time HN lurker and DC resident, first time HN poster.

Welcome! You specifically mentioned Dupont Circle or Logan Circle. Are you "young, single, and ready to mingle?" Great! Both are awesome neighborhoods and I cannot stress how compact and _walkable_ the city is.

Besides the amenities in those neighborhoods you have mass transit options (subway & surprisingly functional buses for North/South movement), and I'd argue that you can literally walk from Ballston Virginia all the way to U St (north of Logan Circle) with the entire 6 mile route full of _interesting things to do_. (Yeah yeah, some blocks are better than others - Ballston is a shopping mall, Farragut North is just offices, but my point is that it's an unbroken stretch. You don't need a car living downtown, ever).

I lived in Dupont for over 10+ years and had a blast. Tons of bars, restaurants, music venues, cultural options, and great dating opportunities for heterosexuals (about 50/50 male/female in the city, allegedly slightly more single women than single men). Or if you're LGBT you've already discovered the "gayborhood": Dupont Circle/Logan Circle.

Disclosure: I got married, moved out of the city (but still nearby), and then the pandemic blew up everything, so things have changed since I did. I think a lot of businesses went under, but the area isn't derelict when I drive through.

Some of the comments here stick to stereotypes about DC being "only government and defense work". There's plenty of it and it's very visible, but it's not all. You can easily go your whole career never touching Government/Defense. The statistical metro area is the 3rd largest in the US, and it ranks highest in wealth and education.

Just today, from the WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/articles/washington-d-c-has-more-tech-jo...

You said you don't want a clearance, but keep in mind that if you ever do work for the civilian government, you might need to get a "Public Trust" clearance. There's no polygraph or anything invasive, you just need to list where you've lived, not have problems with the IRS, and not be a current drug user. That includes marijuana.

A clearance (inc Public Trust) doesn't care if you did use marijuana, as long as you've stopped and haven't done so for at least a year. Admit you did long ago and then stopped. I strongly recommend never lying and saying you don't use currently if you do - if you ever change your mind about upgrading a clearance, down the road "I lied on my sworn testimony to the US government" is an automatic disqualification. I'd say drug (marijuana) disqualifications are 90% of the whining I see on Reddit & clearancejobs forums.

user:	throwawaydc223
created:	February 7, 2023
karma:	15