Northern Virginia - outside of DC - what can folks tell me about it?

[NewJeffCT]

My wife is getting recruited (not by Bechtel, another company) to work there pretty aggressively. What can folks tell me about it, other than it being expensive to live.

The company is a big UK-based company with a division in Chantilly, VA.

[Lord Wortherington]

1. Is it BAE?

Chantilly is out by Dulles, Anywhere USAville. On the cusp of all the developement and out near fundy hell and Confederate war loversville, Manasass.

[NewJeffCT]

8. no

Not BAE. Rolls Royce, believe it or not.

[Squatch]

39. That was my first guess, too.

[SPKrazy]

2. It's outside of DC?

and

it's pretty there

lots of people

:shrug:

[NewJeffCT]

6. well, google maps

had it like 5 miles from the DC airport.

But, I'm sure there would be other towns to live around there.

And, my wife is from China, so she's used to being around a lot of people

[sasquatch]

3. Not worth it

You'll be surrounded by Midlo, MS-13, and Old Southern Racist. Midlo by far is the worst of the three. She'll show up at your house with boxed wine and party at your house no matter what you say and TM will do doughnuts in your front lawn while discrading empty wine cooler bottles into your flower bed. After that you'll never be rid of thme.

[NewJeffCT]

4. I've already discussed VA with Midlo

since she is a native of CT - but, she would be about 2 hours south of DC, if I'm not mistaken?

[sasquatch]

7. Doesn't matter, she'll show up no matter what

:silly:

[Capn Sunshine]

5. There's lots of jobs in nondescript Govvie buildings like this:

Clearance
Minimum Security Clearance Requirement: Top Secret (TS)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To Apply
Apply for Job: There are two steps to apply for this job. First, click here to submit your resume via email to this employer. Then, click here to create a free ClearanceJobs.com account and post your resume.


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The Job
Overhead Non-Imaging Infrared (ONIR) Analyst/ Engineer_slas

Applied Systems Research, Inc. (ASR) is a dynamic and growing small business with opportunities in the exciting intelligence and ballistic missile defense (BMD) areas. ASR offers a competitive salary and excellent benefits, as well as substantial entrepreneurial incentives.

ASR customers include the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), and the military services. ASR specializes in measurements and signature intelligence (MASINT), advanced geospatial intelligence (AGI), space, sensors, radar, electro-optics, and imagery. ASR also develops automated decision aids, combining metrics, operations research, and information technology.

Our Overhead Non-Imaging Infrared (ONIR) positions support NGA’s overall strategy for the integration of Advanced Geospatial Intelligence (AGI). We are looking for self-starters to join our hand-picked team to provide subject matter expertise within the NGA. Key positions exist for senior to mid level ONIR analysts, and engineer/scientists to perform tasks such as the following:

·Establish and implement a vision for employing ONIR products and services into GEOINT collection operations and analysis/production
·Monitor existing and planned ONIR architectures to include: the entire TPED cycle, groundsite operations, and production center operations and assessment impacts to the current and future Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) enterprise
·Conduct staff functions serving in the support capacity of functional/program manager for ONIR integration within the National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG)
·Execute ONIR actions as identified by the ASR-developed AGI Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP)
·Potential exists for “operational” positions, developing and implementing concepts of operations (CONOPS) for integrating ONIR data within the NSG

Primary job locations are in Bethesda, Maryland; Dulles/Chantilly, Virginia; Mclean, Virginia; and possibly Franconia, Virginia.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Required: Minimum bachelors degree in a related field (or equivalent experience); TS security clearance with ability to obtain TS/SCI; excellent technical and/or programmatic skills; excellent customer relations, written/oral communication, and computer skills.

Desired: Advanced degree in technical or related field; experience working with intelligence community, for example, NGA, NRO, DIA, military services, and/or CIA; proven abilities to devise and implement innovative analysis approaches to solve complex problems; experience with modeling and simulation (M&S) and operations research analyses using COTS and GOTS software; and higher security clearances including ISSA full polygraph (or ability to obtain).


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Preferences
Career Level:


Type: Full Time Employee


Industry/Job Category: Military - Intelligence Analysis


Geographic Location: Northern, Virginia 22033


Job Location: On-Site/Office


Travel Requirement: Not Specified
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lots of intel folks living and working in and around NOVA

[Lord Wortherington]

11. Yes, look out for this building-

They will be looking out for you... literally. National Reconnaissance Office

[leftofthedial]

9. when the wind blows from the north

the stench is sickening to the point of disabling

[Flaxbee]

10. Chantilly is only about 45 minutes from DC, (approx. 27 miles) and within easy distance of

Dulles Airport. NoVa is nice; my husband and I are trying to get back up to the area. The housing market is really weak there right now and I think you might be able to find a lovely home for a good price.

Not as expensive as you'd think - I'd take a close look at it. LOTS of work opportunities in the area, and DC, in spite of the dark cloud over the White House, is a fun city.

You don't want a new sweet juvenile kitten for your new home, do you? He he he... (trying to place a 6month old cat dumped in our neighborhood).

[NewJeffCT]

12. we're still a little ways from having to make the move decision

But, they're setting up to fly her down there.

[Flaxbee]

13. I was just pulling your leg (sorta) about the cat... ;-)

but - the NoVa area has grown really fast in the last 10 years or so - what used to be lovely rolling farmland is now full of strip malls and track homes (McMansions). BUT - if you have a little time to look around, it definitely has its pluses, some older, nice neighborhoods, good restaurants, etc. It IS the suburbs, but if the job and money are right, it might be worthwhile to explore it.

Good luck!

[truedelphi]

21. Good luck with the cat. I think you could get good price for him

Or her here at DU.

People seem to like to photograph the critters in odd positions while making them look cute or sweet or fluffy or PISSED at Bush.

or all four.

[Parche]

14. NO Tollbooths?

:shrug: :shrug: :hi:

[NewJeffCT]

17. no tollbooths in CT for years now

it's nice

[XemaSab]

15. Arlington is a lovely city

but expen$ive. :)

[TZ]

16. Chantilly's not bad

Its pretty suburban liberal..It's NOT like Manassas. Chantilly has a lot of high tech (IT, biotech, etc) there. Its becoming pretty democratic actually. I recently interviewed for a job in Chantilly..now TRAFFIC is an issue. If you move, live in or around Chantilly/Vienna or you will go nuts with the commute. Overall that part of Va is not too bad really.

[NewJeffCT]

18. thanks

I'm sure if we move down there (big if still) - we're not going to limit ourselves to Chantilly.

[TZ]

19. One piece of advice if you do move to N.Va...

Avoid commuting on I-66 at ALL costs!!!!!!

[Flaxbee]

22. lol! I used to drive from Markham (beyond Warrenton) to Vienna

every freaking day, then took the Metro into the K street area. Sheesh it sucked, and that was 7 years ago.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

20. My dear NewJeffCT!

You have mail...

:hi:

[mike_c]

23. I grew up there, in part, and went to college there....

I remember when Chantilly was a tiny crossroads. Those days are long gone. I went to high school at Broad Run HS in Ashburn, in the early 1970s when Ashburn was nothing but a few homes, an old general store, and mile after mile of fields and woods. When I was a kid we used to bicycle for miles in the surrounding countryside and fish, camp, etc. Now Ashburn is a huge aggregation of bedroom communities.

Fair disclosure: I decided fifteen years ago that I won't return to northern VA, despite having family and lots of memories in the area. Unless it has improved quite a bit in the intervening years-- and I doubt it-- it sucks long and hard. WAY too many people. Gridlocked highways-- it used to take me nearly two hours to drive about 30 miles or so to classes in Fairfax from out in Loudoun County. Mile after mile of tract houses and tract McMansions. Terrifically high cost of living.

Again, my experience is going on twenty years out of date now, but I watched that area grow from a largely rural, beautiful place to a crowded suburban hell.

[Burma Jones]

24. We used to live on the NY-CT Border near New Canaan

We moved there from Northern Virginia, when we moved back to the DC area we were determined to live in Montgomery County, MD....I mention that because if you're used to New England, Virginia can be a culture shock, the local governments in Virginia are exceptionally weak compared to those in states further north and have a difficult time imposing restrictions on growth that the folks down in Richmond want to see to add to the Commonwealth's coffers, yet the Government in Richmond is stingy with the transportation funds. People in the Chantilly area are quite agitated about undocumented aliens, so there's this simmering racism clashing against the class-ism of wealthier residents of Fairfax County wanting the cheap domestic labor supplied by the immigrants and despising the blue collar workers in the western part of the county and over in Loudon County.

There are worse places to live though, lots of worse places to live, but, if you're secure in CT, personally, I would stay there.....

[NewJeffCT]

25. thanks for your input

we have a problem here in CT with "smart growth"

[Midlodemocrat]

26. Squatch lives and works up that way. I'd ask him.

I couldn't live there, myself. It's too congested for me. You need to move south to Richmond!

:crazy:

[NewJeffCT]

28. My wife has lived in China

for 29 years - congestion in the US is minor compared to anything she's experienced.

Thanks for the assist, though.

[kwassa]

27. Northern Virginia is more liberal than the rest of the state

and has excellent public schools, some of the best in the country. I am thinking of Fairfax in particular.

I also live in Montgomery County, MD, the other side of the Potomac.

[NewJeffCT]

30. thanks

good stuff. Chantilly itself seems to be about the same size as where we live right now, and home sale price is with a few thousand $. Chantilly is far more diverse - 25% of the population is Asian/Pacific Islander, and almost 20% Hispanic and 10% African American - while it's about 4% Asian where we live, and 4% African American and 2% Hispanic.

[kwassa]

33. The diversity around here is quite amazing

it is not uncommon to have children from, say, 90 different nations in the school.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

29. Strip malls, office parks and subdivisions

That about sums it up. Although the outlying areas are actually very nice.

[NewJeffCT]

34. what outlying areas do you mean?

thanks

[madinmaryland]

31. Since you would be working in northern VA, you should not

live in Maryland. The commute is horrendous around the beltway to northern VA. What takes 45 minutes off hours, can take up to 2 hours during rush hour! Also there is no real unified mass transit from MD to northern VA.

[NewJeffCT]

32. well, it would depend on how quickly I could find a job

as to where we would live... I did a cost of living comparison on Fairfax, VA and it came up that we'd need a salary increase of 15-20% to maintain our current standard of living.

[KG]

35. that's my hometown. it was a great place to grow up.

too pricey to go back to, but a small part of me wishes i never left.

[NewJeffCT]

36. what makes it a great place to grow up?

schools? people? environment? culture?

[KG]

37. all the above.

at the time the Fairfax Co school system was one of the top ranked. since it wasn't an factory town the enviironment was cleaner, economy more stable, and because the local industry was the govt of a world power, the was easy exposure lots of culture, american and foriegn and diversity amongst the citizenry.

[NewJeffCT]

38. thanks

sounds like an interesting area.

[Squatch]

40. Although Fairfax County, along with PWC, Loudon, Fauquier, etc

are leading the charge by trying to pass really draconian anti-immigration laws.

[Squatch]

41. Broken down into regions

Inside the beltway, you've got Arlington, Alexandria, McLean.

Arlington (esp Rosslyn) is really nice, though EXTREMELY expensive.

Old Town Alexandria is drop-dead beautiful, though similarly expensive.

McLean is pretty crowded.

Around Chantilly, you've got Manassas, Fairfax, and "the country" out west of Dulles. One of my good friends lives in Round Hill, about 20 miles west of Chantilly, and it is BEAUTIFUL. Absolutely charming and quaint countryside.

It's all about what you want and what you're willing to give up.

If you want to live in the country, you're going to be going with traffic during both rush hours, which can be a nightmare. If you want to live closer to the beltway, you're going to give up space, quiet, and a whole lotta money.

One thing you do have going in your favor, though, is that 2 or 3 of the counties (including my own Prince William Cty) made the 2007 Top 100 counties for rates of home foreclosures. So, no matter what your real estate agent tells you, remember this: IT'S A BUYER'S MARKET. You can get homes for cheap as dirt (relatively speaking, of course).

I live in Woodbridge, which means I deal with the I-95 corridor each and every day. I've developed tactics and techniques to minimize the commuting times, but every once in a while it'll back up for miles and miles.

You're going to face the same challenges with I-66, Rte 50 and the Dulles Toll Road.

All in all, DC has definitely grown on me. What this place lacks in the areas I highlighted, it more than makes up for in terms of things to do, places to eat, etc. There is never a shortage of shows, events, etc in this area.

B

[NewJeffCT]

42. We'd be most concerned about schools

given that our daughter is almost 5 years old now...

[Squatch]

43. Fairfax county has great schools.

Some of the best public schools in the nation, if I'm not mistaken.

:thumbsup:

Plus, there are about a bazillion privte schools in the area.

[NewJeffCT]

45. I believe the proper DU term is "brazillion"

not bazillion. But, thanks

[Squatch]

47. Here's the funny thing.

I've been using "brazillion" for as long as I can remember here on DU. Nobody ever responded to it...no chuckling, no smilies, nothing! So, I thought that the "brazillion" joke had gotten old and people had forgotten about where the word came from.

Today, I posted to this thread, consciously thinking it's time to retire "brazillion" and you responded. :shrug:

:rofl:

[kwassa]

44. Here is the Fairfax County Public Schools website

http://www.fcps.edu/index.shtml

Kindergarten there

http://www.fcps.edu/start/kindergarten.htm

some stats from another site

http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/va/district_profile/68#teachers

edit to add:

this site ranks all the elementary schools in Virginia. Note how many are in Fairfax.

http://www.psk12.com/rating/USthreeRsphp/STATE_VA_level_Elementary_CountyID_0.html

[NewJeffCT]

46. Not concerned so much about kindergarten

as the long term - so, this statistic is impressive for the entire county:

Graduates attending post-secondary programs: 92% (2007)

That's pretty good for many towns here in Connecticut, and I'm pretty sure no entire county comes close to that when you add those attending two year and four year schools together.

[kwassa]

48. One last point

I know I am beating this to death, but ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/29/AR2006082901543.html

D.C. Suburbs Top List Of Richest Counties

By Amy Goldstein and Dan Keating
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, August 30, 2006; Page A01

The three most prosperous large counties in the United States are in the Washington suburbs, according to census figures released yesterday, which show that the region has the second-highest income and the least poverty of any major metropolitan area in the country.

Rapidly growing Loudoun County has emerged as the wealthiest jurisdiction in the nation, with its households last year having a median income of more than $98,000. It is followed by Fairfax and Howard counties, with Montgomery County not far behind.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/09/wealthy_counties.html

One list, which cites the 10 richest counties with populations greater than 250,000, includes five counties around Washington, D.C.:

• Loudoun County, Va., topped the larger counties with a median household income of $98,483 -- more than twice the national median.
• Fairfax County, Va., placed second at $94,610.
• Howard County, Md., placed third at $91,184.
• Montgomery County, Md., placed sixth at $82,187.
• Prince William County, Va., placed seventh at $81,904.

[NewJeffCT]

49. thanks

good information. sounds like a nice area overall.