Early 20's Life in Seattle/Kirkland?

[Siege10]

i am a 20 yr old guy who lives in downtown seattle. personally i find that there are plenty of jobs here if you're willing to work for them. i have work for quite a few different companies and i find that they all can and will pay you $10/h + if you have a skill set they're looking for.

i have a computer science bachelors and irronically im not doing anything even related to that field. i work for a farmers insurance agency. while my base pay is $9/h i get commision. i normally take home something arround $2500 to $3000 a month which is more than enough for me in my starter appartment in the heart of downtown.

as for the night life. there are multiple concerts everynight covering everything from your local garage punk/rock bands to rap/pop and even a few venues putting up some country. its all about what you're into. if you're into the night life then you'd have a hard time not finding something to do or somewhere to go.

while i now have a car i took the bus system here through highschool and college. i can honestly say that it works well enough. i personally think its slow as *&#$ but it seems when ever i meet someone not from arround here they rave abiut the buses and how fast they are. while i never had to take a bus to kirkland i know that from downtown you could take the 550 into bellvue and probably find something to take you to kirkland. they also have a site that can plan your trip for you.

as for the dating scene in portland i have several friends there of both genders who claim that they only let complete *******/bastards or ugly people into portland. but maybe you'd have more luck.

[asw1]

To answer some of your questions

Kirkland is a nice town with booming nightlife but you're not going to find anything other than top 40 and hip hop there or in Seattle - at least not on weekends.

As far as the economy there....its not bad but most of that economy revolves around the tech industry (google and microsoft are both there).

If you're into the arts and want to avoid the wretched top 40\hip hop nightlife - i would check out the Capitol Hill area in Seattle.

[DJKirkland]

I moved to the area about four years ago in my early 20s. Originally found an apartment in Kirkland (had never heard of the place so didn't know the difference) and then moved to Capitol Hill, adjacent to dt Seattle.

Kirkland is most definitely one of the more prefereable suburbs in the metro. It's upscale, clean, very safe, and accessible to Seattle. It's very close to major employment centers in Bellevue and Redmond. It has a great little waterfront 'downtown' with a few bars and a couple of places to go dancing. The catch with Kirkland: think Orange County north. People can be a bit pretentious. Nightlife at the previously mentioned dance venues cater to the frat/sorority crowd with top 40/hip hop music. Its easy to get to the colleges in the area if you so choose to abandon online learning.

Wages in Washington are on the high end of the national scale, so if/when you do find a job to make ends meet, you'll do better here than, say, Portland. There is no state income tax here and essential food items are not taxed.

If you decide to stay in the area, I can almost guarantee you'll move to the city of Seattle. You'd fit in well in Capitol Hill, lower Queen Anne, Wallingford, Fremont, or Green Lake easily. If you want to avoid the top 40 dance venues head to Capitol Hill. If you're comfortable going to gay bars, they do play house/techno/trance on the weekends. There's a club in Pioneer Square called the Last Supper Club that is a 'straight bar' but plays dance music and hosts internationally acclaimed techno djs (Tiesto, Kaskade, Darude, etc).. You won't be trapped in hip-hop dry humping, grinding hell if you know where to go.

I've heard people claim they have trouble meeting friends here. I haven't found that to be true. I'm originally from Idaho, and I've made some of the greatest friendships here I've ever experienced. That, and some great business connections, though I work in the architecture/engineering field so that's important in this economy. Don't be scared off by the social aspect. None of my friends here are native Seattlites. There are many who are new to the city like you will be, and all looking for a connection. Most of my closest friends in Seattle actually moved here from New York and Boston.

As far as transit goes, there are multiple park-and-ride lots in Kirkland that you can get to and take a bus to Seattle if you need. Very few of my friends here have cars - I'm one of the few. Half live in the city, half live in even more remote suburbs than Kirkland, and I've heard few complaints about transit accessibility.

Try this city out- you'll love it!

[parfe89]

If you're into dance music, Seattle night-life will treat you well. The electronic scene has definitely started to blow up around here. The hip-hop scene is popular as well. The problem is that the only night-life is in Seattle. Kirkland, and it's surrounding areas (Redmond, Bellevue, etc.) are relatively boring and pretty much die after about 9 PM. Kirkland is not happening what-so-ever. However, your trade-off is a cleaner, wealthier and safer living environment. Most people I know in this area don't even lock their car doors at night.

There are two main bridges that you can take to Seattle, which can be pretty bad during rush hour. Otherwise, the commute across the lake from Kirkland to Seattle isn't bad at all, maybe about 15-20 minutes (easily taking up to an hour during rush hour).

As far as transportation goes, it could be better, but I have never had a problem getting anywhere without a car. As long as you don't mind walking a couple of blocks and getting up a little on the earlier side to catch your bus, it's fine. You can usually find a bus route that will get you where you need to go.

Also-- Microsoft pay scale on the low end? What? MS is an extremely great company to work for. They ask a lot from their employees, but oh boy do they take care of you in return.

Anyway, Kirkland overall is a great place to live. The people can be a little weird, but I feel like you just can't avoid that no matter where you go. After being here for 21 years it's a little boring, but if you're coming from a small town it'll be the perfect transition into a more social urban-ish environment.

[Inkpoe]

Out of all the towns in the Eastside, I would say Kirkland has the most nightlife going on. But it takes a llllloooootttt of patience dealing w/ Kirkland, because of the whole parking issue (limited and usually cops are on hand to watch you leave then pull you over) and the Shark club is known for ripping off their customers on the tab (so don't have a tab with them). But otherwise, I like Kirkland night life because it's really beautiful with the waterfront.

Seattle does have a "major" nightlife scene going on for them. But once you live here and make friends, you'll know which bars to go to.

[bvanevery]

Originally Posted by parfe89

Also-- Microsoft pay scale on the low end? What? MS is an extremely great company to work for. They ask a lot from their employees, but oh boy do they take care of you in return.

Sure... if they actually made you an employee. I haven't kept up with their hiring practices lately, but for many years 1/3 of their workforce was "temporary contractors" with no benefits. Even though these people worked for the company for years and performed exactly the same duties as the actual employees. In short MS scummed an awful lot of people out of the benefits they should have been getting. There was a big lawsuit about that and I can't remember the result. Anyways be sure to educate yourself on the term "statutory employee" when looking at MS.

Riding on buses sucks unless you're pretty lucky with your route. Don't subject yourself to the pain if you don't have to. You can use the buses to get around if you must.