Promotion Opportunity in Mclean, VA. Need some advice.

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by BDBohnzie

1) 90k maybe, as it would be a 20% increase in pay. However, it also depends on your living arrangements and what your wife would contribute...

2) Commute wise, there is no good commute in the DC Area, unless you live and work on the same road, or have Metro/Train access. It's pretty safe to say that for every 1 mile of commute, it will take 2-2.5 minutes to travel. So a 20 mile commute will take 40-50 minutes depending on traffic. Keep that in mind when looking for a place to live. However, if you are apartment hunting and can afford it, check out the Rosslyn/Ballston/Clarendon area. Travel to McLean from those areas shouldn't be too terrible.

I used to drive a 54 mile one way commute (90 minutes, Frederick to Bailey's Crossroads), and you certainly get used to it after a while. And you figure out alternative ways as well. I did that for a year (It was 30 mile/60 minute before I moved to Frederick) before my company transferred me to their Frederick office. Now my commute is less than 5 minutes, and I can go home for lunch.

3) As FRPLG said, IT in NOVA is very easy to come by. The Dulles Corridor has tons of IT opportunites with some big players, as well as the Federal Government. But before making the move, I'd make sure she does a thorough search of the available jobs. Security Clearance is like Wonka's Golden Ticket...if you have one, you are set.

The secert clearence is not as big a deal as it was say around 04-06. Now a days a lot of contractors will hire you with the condition that you will get one while you are working for them. If she doesn't have one don't sweat it as long as she has good credit and a clean record she can obtain one.

Just last week my boss hired a non-clearence person over one that was clearence, the non-clearence was better quailfied. Some people think casue you have a clearence you can just walk into a General Dynamics, CACI, Boz Allen and they will just hand you a job, not the case. Now if you have a TSI with lifestyle poly diffrent story but those are very rare.