“Hi, Raju. Thanks for thinking of me – these are exactly the sort of technical skills I’m using now. However, I have NO interest in commuting to McLean. The DC Beltway is a life-sucking endeavor. Good luck in your recruiting efforts!”

The above was my response to a recruiter who was looking for someone with microservices, Docker, and Kubernetes experience.  I fit all of that.  But he specified a job in McLean, VA.  For those of you who don’t live in the DC area, to get to McLean, VA, I’d have to go around the DC Beltway.  And, per my note back to poor Raju, “the DC Beltway is a life-sucking endeavor”.  The image that comes to mind is from The Princess Bride, where our hero Wesley is strapped into a machine that’s supposed to suck the life-force right out of him.  (For anyone not familiar with the scene, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbgyppGqBgg.)

For the record for any recruiter that may catch wind of this post, the Baltimore Beltway is only slighter better.  I’m not interested in traveling either of them, just as a matter of quality of life.  And yes, I’ve tried Metro and MARC.  No, your commuter benefits package to pay for those don’t interest me.  I’ll keep my career path nicely tucked away between the two circles of traffic hell, thank you very much.  But good luck in your recruiting!