Sean Pyles

Thank you.

All right, Elizabeth, I don't know about you, but when I saw this listener's question come in, I really related to it because I was in a similar position in my early 20s trying to figure out how to balance living in a city that was expensive, but I thought would have good opportunities with moving to a place that was less expensive, but I wasn't really sure how it would pan out career-wise for me.

So how did you think about this in your early days of getting a job and making your living and finding a career, all of those things?

Yeah, the nepotism issue is really big and that's a big part of why I didn't move to New York City after graduating college.

I was starting off in journalism and I had a lot of friends who were moving to New York City and it seemed like a good place to go for that, you know, kind of at face value.

But I thought I would have a really hard time breaking in in such a large city.

So I ended up moving out to the Bay Area.

My twin sister was already there.

And it seemed like a small enough area where I could find a ladder and climb it, although it was still quite expensive.

This is part of why I ended up moving to Portland, Oregon eventually.

But I did find that ladder.

The ladder was called NerdWallet, and I've been here for a number of years, and it's helped me have a good career.

So I think being in San Francisco was really key in my early 20s to get my career started.

And then eventually, once I found my stride, I figured, hey, let me move somewhere where I can actually build the rest of the life that I want to have.

And I think that's something our listeners should think about, too, is that this is not a forever decision for them.

Yes, they'll be there for six years, but they could move to any other place afterward.

It was both, really.

I was able to get some good internships early on when I was in the Bay Area.

And then a guy I was dating connected me to a job that ended up helping me get my job at NerdWallet because it helped pad out my resume and give me more experience.

So it was kind of all of the above, just everything that a city offers you in terms of connection and jobs.