From Nebraska to D.C. and Back: Prioritizing Family and Opportunity

Kyra Dornish has fond memories of her childhood in Columbus, Nebraska. Growing up near her father’s family, she felt connected and found joy in the safe, supportive local community. “I loved being close to family. My dad’s side all live in Columbus. I really did think it was fun growing up in a smaller town – driving around with your friends when you’re 16 and feeling like you know everybody,” she said.

When she began attending the University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL), she found a similar welcoming culture. “I really enjoyed going to UNL. I thought it was a great university experience. I love that the university is very comingled into downtown and everything’s super walkable,” she remembered.

Career opportunity leads to D.C.

Kyra accepted a job working at Hudl, a sports technology business in Lincoln, after graduating from UNL. Her degree had a different focus than the job she began, but the experience made her interested in software development. At the time, though, she didn’t act on this interest.

When she was offered a position that more closely aligned with her degree, she and her husband Tom decided she would accept the position. This was despite the fact that it meant moving all the way to Washington, D.C.

Prioritizing parenthood over big city living

After moving to D.C. and starting her new role at a nonprofit organization, Kyra quickly found out the job she’d accepted didn’t line up with what she wanted in her career. Because of her experience working at Hudl, she chose to enroll in a software development boot camp. This led her to accept a position at Deloitte while living in Washington, D.C.

Kyra began working in the consulting branch at Deloitte, where she works with federal clients in technology implementation and business strategy. Deloitte works primarily in financial reporting, risk management, technology implementation, and business strategy. Because it is a large, worldwide business, Deloitte works with clients in many different aspects related to these focuses.

Kyra and Tom found a good group of friends to connect with in D.C., but also found many complications of living in such a large metro area. “We didn’t have any kids when we lived there, and the thought of having kids and being in a logistically complicated city felt not doable to me,” she explained.

The memories of growing up in Columbus made Kyra realize Nebraska was the place where she felt would be best for raising a family. It was difficult to think of how a parent could rent or purchase a home large enough for children, afford daycare, navigate the complexities of dropping them off and picking them up daily, and be able to still enjoy parenthood.

“That was definitely one of the biggest drawbacks and one of the reasons why we ultimately decided to move back to Nebraska,” said Kyra. “We kind of always knew that we would move back. D.C. felt like a fun thing to do while we didn’t have kids.”

The ease of family life in Nebraska

Deloitte employs over 400,000 people worldwide and has more than 80 locations within the U.S. When considering leaving the D.C. area, the options for where to move were wide open for Kyra and Tom. They chose to move back to Nebraska because it was the place they wanted to start a family.

Now with four kids, they are glad they made this decision. “There’s obviously a huge benefit you get from the cost of living, but also factor in that we have a lot of really cool things here,” she noted. “There are a lot of fun restaurants, fun things to go to, shows, concerts, sporting events – you name it! There are things going on in Lincoln and Omaha every day.”

Showing friends the joy of Nebraska

Kyra now encourages her friends from D.C. to visit and experience Nebraska because of all it has to offer. She recommends they visit during the fall to attend a Huskers football or volleyball game. Or if they enjoy baseball, she encourages them to visit during the College World Series in Omaha. In addition, she takes friends to visit the Historic Haymarket in downtown Lincoln and to eat at Blue Sushi Sake Grill.

She also encourages families to visit the many locations around Lincon that are excellent for children. “It’s been super fun to explore a lot of the things we wouldn’t have thought about doing if we didn’t have kids. We love going to the Lincoln Children’s Museum. We love going to the Lincoln Children’s Zoo. We love exploring the trails in Wilderness Park. It’s been super fun to see what things are here that we didn’t even know about,” she continued.

Good cost of living in a strong community

Because so many positions in the tech industry are remote, Kyra says it means the opportunities of where to live are wide open. “If I was talking to somebody in my industry, I would tell them about the cost of living in Nebraska,” she said.

Compared to most states, an employee in the tech industry in Nebraska will have more money to take home because of the cheaper cost of living. “One of the main reasons we came back was the house we have and the space we get is so much more than what you can get in other places.”

She added that the communities in Lincoln and Omaha are very easy to get involved in as well. “Since we moved back, we’ve even been able to make a lot of really good friends that we didn’t have before we left. People are nice and welcoming. It’s just a good place to live and to spend your life.”

The Good Life Is Calling

Are you interested in learning more about living and working in Nebraska? Connect with the Good Life Is Calling team here. You can also learn more about finding a career in Nebraska here.

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.