| ias_39 |
08-28-2003 09:41 PM |
DC v NYC
8track:
Quote:
I don't know how we got on Chicago as a comparator, but I'll take on D.C. vs. New York.
It is the eternal debate here. D.C.'ers generally have a major chip on their shoulders about being compared with NYC. The truth is, comparison is pretty unfair.
NYC has something like 14 million residents. D.C. has about 600,000 residents.
NYC has thousands of bars and restaurants of all sizes. The D.C. restaurant scene is both top and bottom heavy. There are quite a few very expensive and nice restaurants for a city of its size, and a lot of crappy cheap places. The city lacks, however, every day good eating establishments that NYC seems to have in adundance. D.C. can't be said to have a signature "cuisine" of its own, moreover. It borrows a little bit from everywhere. The upside is that you can actually get a reservation to a good restaurant here on less than one week's notice.
Night life. NYC beats the pants off D.C., no question.
Law firm life is undeniably better. We work on the same caliber of matters (except maybe for corporate deals), generally get paid about the same or slightly less, and work fewer hours. There's no question I'd rather practice here than there.
Culture is actually quite good in D.C. for a city of our size. We blow away any comparably sized city anywhere in the country with respect to museums, theater etc. Of course, we don't hold a candle to NYC, except maybe in the museum department, but then again, it's WAY easier to get tickets to everything here.
Sports. We have crummier teams than NYC, no doubt. The city rises or falls on the Redskins every year and they have, since the conclusion of the Joe Gibbs era, been mediocre to sucky. The Orioles are a sorry excuse for a hometown baseball team. They aren't even home town. As far as opportunities for personal recreation/sports, however, Washington has NY beat by far. We have more park space per capita than, I think, any other US city. Every evening in the summer, these fields (including the Mall) are covered in ball players of every stripe. We have gyms galore, bike paths, a river, and accessible countryside less than 30 minutes away. All in all, lots of opportunity for one to excercise if you want it.
People. I have always found D.C. people to be pretty friendly. The very transient nature of the population makes people more outgoing and willing to make acquaintances. Networking and politcking are also art forms here, so if you don't have your head up your ass, it's relatively easy to meet smart, nice people. The downside is that a lot of good friends will leave for other parts, which can be sad.
NYC is overwhelming in this regard and all of my friends up there tend to stick pretty close to the same protective circles of friends that they have known for a long time.
And the catch all -- quality of life. This is the one that for me trumped NY. For someone that wants to put down lasting roots somewhere, this is a good place. It has housing stock that is nice and relatively affordable. The city is accessible and vibrant. One can go home at 7 PM and have a life. For me, the life of a lawyer in NY does not afford the same QOL. There, if you hit the age you want to have kids, you will inevitably move out of your $2100/month studio into a house in the suburbs and a mind-bending 50 minute commute. Think about it -- working until 7 or 8 and then fighting your way back on the subway and train to Long Island, New Jersey or CT? Those people who do so no longer consider NYC their home, but rather a difficult place to go into and work in, and then escape from at the first opportunity. NY takes it out of you.
I always tell people that they should try and live in NY for at least a few years while they are single, but then get out before it's too late. NY will make you hard. The crush of people, the cost of living, the noise, the pressure of daily existence, isn't good for you in the long run. It's something you can survive, and even thrive on when you're 22-30 and have a little law firm cash in your pocket. Not necessarily when you're 30 and older, though. The single, 30-something NY women by and large have that dark, suspicious eye about them because they've been burned by so many world class NY jerks. The single 30-something males are, by and large, "playas" who have lived the smorgasborg life of NYC so long that they are pathologically on the search for the "bigger and better deal."
In D.C. by contrast, you might actually run into a 30 year old virgin who has been so dedicated to getting A's and making partner, that he/she never looked up from the books long enough to date the opposite sex. That's bad enough in its own right, but at least the person is sincere!
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Me:
NYCBIGFLAW imposes more pressure, allows less responsibility, and offers worse odds at partnership than any other market. For transactional attorneys, it offers more prestige, more in-house opportunities and more premium work than any other market.
DCBIGFLAW offers legislative/litigation/regulatory work as good as anywhere else, and compared to NYC, marginally better hours for marginally worse pay in a homogenous, boring, preppy swamp. |
