Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Virginia > Northern Virginia
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 07-17-2015, 02:42 PM
 
280 posts, read 350,906 times
Reputation: 85

Advertisements

Hi,
I have an offer from USPTO. Title is good, salary is ok(not great though) but since its a permanent, stable job so I am entertaining it. I live in South Carolina and I know cost of living is gonna be high. But has anyone worked for USPTO. How is it to work for this agency? I will be taking IT role. How's the environment/housing close by etc.
Thanks!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 07-17-2015, 07:52 PM
 
86 posts, read 108,077 times
Reputation: 27
I don't work at USPTO but I am a federal employee and from what I've heard, they rank pretty high in the "Best Places to Work in Federal Government" poll. Just Google that and see what you find. I believe USPTO is located in Alexandria so you're probably better commute-wise living on the Virginia side.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-17-2015, 10:16 PM
 
8,983 posts, read 21,166,799 times
Reputation: 3807
The USPTO is a healthy walk from the King Street Metro station. I have no idea about the parking situation but You can also You're basically in downtown (aka Old Town) Alexandria. There are apartments walking distance from the USPTO but their rates (~$1700-2000 for a 1BR?) will blow your mind coming from SC. If you can share your salary range, your preferred budget and your community priorities, we can direct you towards neighborhoods that will combine convenience, amenities and (relative) affordability.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-18-2015, 05:43 AM
 
280 posts, read 350,906 times
Reputation: 85
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tone509 View Post
The USPTO is a healthy walk from the King Street Metro station. I have no idea about the parking situation but You can also You're basically in downtown (aka Old Town) Alexandria. There are apartments walking distance from the USPTO but their rates (~$1700-2000 for a 1BR?) will blow your mind coming from SC. If you can share your salary range, your preferred budget and your community priorities, we can direct you towards neighborhoods that will combine convenience, amenities and (relative) affordability.
My salary is going to be around 85-95. I was thinking for 2000 housing budget for 3 bed. Which seems impossible now.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-18-2015, 06:35 AM
 
Location: Reston, VA
2,090 posts, read 4,247,129 times
Reputation: 1331
2000 for a 3 bedroom place is not impossible - it will just come with a substantial commute.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-18-2015, 06:47 AM
 
Location: West Hollywood, CA from Arlington, VA
2,768 posts, read 3,529,348 times
Reputation: 1575
Quote:
Originally Posted by musman View Post
My salary is going to be around 85-95. I was thinking for 2000 housing budget for 3 bed. Which seems impossible now.
Look in the Woodbridge and Lorton Areas. The PTO office is an 8 minute walk from the King Street Virginia Railway Express Station and the VRE also services Lorton and Woodbridge. A monthly train pass is about $200 and the Government will give you $120 every month to help pay for it. Parking is free and its a 25 minute train ride.

I would highly advise that you dont drive.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-18-2015, 08:12 AM
 
83 posts, read 128,943 times
Reputation: 78
I've been an attorney at the PTO for 10 years. It's great place to work, though I'll offer the caution that the federal IT world is um, challenging (my wife is in IT at another agency). I second the recommendation of Lorton w/ that budget. I've been teleworking full-time for the past six years but know many colleagues who live in Lorton and praise it for its location, reasonable commute, and affordability. I used to VRE from Burke before teleworking and the walk from the VRE/King St. Metro is the office is actually kind of pleasant.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-18-2015, 10:07 AM
 
Location: New-Dentist Colony
5,759 posts, read 10,724,246 times
Reputation: 3955
Check the reviews on Glassdoor. But they get pretty good marks on the Best Places to Work Survey. (The latter I think is unscientific and very flawed, but the extremes are pretty telling.)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-19-2015, 09:54 PM
 
66 posts, read 117,897 times
Reputation: 97
The USPTO is in the Carlyle section of Alexandria, about a half mile west of Old Town Alexandria. Carlyle has a mix of residential and commercial space. Unfortunately, a lot of the commercial space is vacant. Monthly rents for Carlyle apartments are high even by NoVa standards, but the buildings are relatively new. There's probably a premium factored into the rents as well, because the area is within a mile of a Metro station.

When I worked on campus, I rented 3 BR townhouses in the 22152 and 22310 zip codes. My monthly rents were more than $2000, but not much more. I took the Metro Blue line to work. I did not consider living in areas serviced by the VRE because I thought its schedule was too limited.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Virginia > Northern Virginia

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top