Commuting Time to Work

byron66

Anyone have to commute more than an hour for work? I'm thinking about doing this because there's no IT jobs in my area. I don't want to move yet because the cost of living isn't bad and I'm in school for another year.

jeremywatts2005

I have before and it sucks trust me it is no fun at all. My new company tried to get me to travel 1.5 to their downtown location I refused and went to the location 30 min from me. I know how you feel about relocating but if there are no jobs in your area get to one that does at some point. I know from experience that having the one job in town that pays well enough sucks.

joelsfood

I used to, I sure don't miss it. If you can, I highly recommend train and then hotspot + laptop and count that time towards your overall hours for the day. That at least takes some of the sting out of it

powerfool

My commute is however long it takes me to walk downstairs to my office, which is fortunate because I hate commuting.

Prior to this job, I used to drive about an hour each way for 5 years. I hated it. Shortest non-telecommute commute for me was 30 minutes each way.

Given that you are living in Tennessee, I don't wager you have good public transit between where you are an where you are looking to commute. Depending on how your home life is, it might be cheaper (if it works in your situation), to rent a room to stay at during the week and then just come home for the weekend (see about a long weekend when you get settled into the job). If you have a family, that may not work well... but I don't know your situation.

ITSpectre

I commute more than an hr for work... and have in the past and its not bad... the only bad thing is the traffic... but you learn back roads, shortcuts, and faster routes that way. Also look into vanpools if they have them, ride with co workers when you get the job, and also if you have friends in the area that your trying to get a job in... see if you can meet them halfway and then ride with them to work.
Taking a job far from home is not bad, and driving more than an hr to work is not bad at all.. there are ways to get around that if you look for them....

byron66

powerfool wrote: »

Given that you are living in Tennessee, I don't wager you have good public transit between where you are an where you are looking to commute. Depending on how your home life is, it might be cheaper (if it works in your situation), to rent a room to stay at during the week and then just come home for the weekend (see about a long weekend when you get settled into the job).

Public transit is none existing where I live. I live in the middle of everything but far enough for it suck. 1.5 hours from Nashville, 1.5 from Knoxville and 2.5 from Atlanta. If I could rent a room I would in a heart beat, but I'm still in college for another year. I'm really looking for a tech job to gain experience while I'm in school.

ITSpectre

This issue is hard because where I live everything is 1.5 to 2.0 hrs away but the upside is there are vanpools where I live... Depending on where you want to work you could get a room for rent if you can afford to. But you may just have to make that drive each day... get that experience and get a job close to home after

markulous

I drive about 50-60 minutes in the morning and on the way home it's anywhere from 70-90 minutes. If the job wasn't so bad then I could deal with it, but at this point it's just another thing that kinda grinds my gears at the end of the day.

dhay13

same here. all the jobs are over an hour away. i drove about 1:15 each way but work from home now. if i were still commuting i probably would have changed jobs by now. it was costing me about $500/month in fuel (at about $3.50/gallon at the time). public transportation would have been about 3 hours each way with all the stops and having to change buses along the way

cknapp78

I drive about 2 hours each way from Baltimore area to Virginia twice a week. The company originally wanted me to do it everyday. I told them not interested. Countered with 2 days a week. Their response was let's see how the interview goes. Needless to say it went very well. Been doing it for about 5 weeks now. It's a pain but worth it. Especially considering I have worked 95% from home the past 7 years.

ITSpectre

cknapp78 wrote: »

I drive about 2 hours each way from Baltimore area to Virginia twice a week. The company originally wanted me to do it everyday. I told them not interested. Countered with 2 days a week. Their response was let's see how the interview goes. Needless to say it went very well. Been doing it for about 5 weeks now. It's a pain but worth it. Especially considering I have worked 95% from home the past 7 years.

If I ever get a job in Bmore imma look you up

ITSpectre

And the toll in Bmore is 4.00 each way. So you have to also figure in tolls as well if your route has any.

rsutton

I have a 30 minute threshold I wont cross for commuting. That's a threshold I was able to establish because I have always lived in area where there are lots of jobs close by (Silicon Valley). My current commute is roughly 13 minutes. If I lived in an area where that wasn't an option I would likely move.

Danielm7

I worked a job once that the company was bought out and moved about 70-90 mins away. I managed to negotiate 2-3 days a week remote so that helped dull some of it. Even then they insisted we all be in on Fridays and that was the worst commute day by far, easily 2 hours coming home, no thanks.

Currently my commute could be a lot worse because of traffic but they have a pretty flexible schedule so I leave very early to work and leave work early too. I normally work around 6:30-3 and bypass a lot of traffic both directions. Maybe you can alter your start / leave times?

the_Grinch

Currently my commute is about 40 minutes, but there is never any traffic. New job (if I get interviewed and I get it) will be about an hour if there isn't traffic (which there will be). I figure I will grab some books on tape (or MP3), plus the new job may require different hours and overtime so I might not be as concerned. At one point I would drive 20 minutes, train for 30 minutes and then another 20 minute walk (or 5 minute subway ride). I was reading a book a week which I really enjoyed.

markulous

I'm just ready for the security to be beefed up so we can use self-driving cars. In that instance an hour won't be so bad at all. I'd be able to finish out my day of work in my car, or worst-case, I'd be able to study.

ITSpectre

Danielm7 wrote: »

I worked a job once that the company was bought out and moved about 70-90 mins away. I managed to negotiate 2-3 days a week remote so that helped dull some of it. Even then they insisted we all be in on Fridays and that was the worst commute day by far, easily 2 hours coming home, no thanks.

Currently my commute could be a lot worse because of traffic but they have a pretty flexible schedule so I leave very early to work and leave work early too. I normally work around 6:30-3 and bypass a lot of traffic both directions. Maybe you can alter your start / leave times?

Here 6-30 will bypass the traffic going.... but leaving at 3pm you hit traffic... so your lucky

tpatt100

Do it if you have no choice or you see some long term gain from doing it. My commute is terrible because almost every day there is traffic from somebody rear ending somebody else on the highway. It must be texting while driving because most of the accidents look like the rear driver only realized a car was in front of them once they hit them at full speed.

Danielm7

ITSpectre wrote: »

Here 6-30 will bypass the traffic going.... but leaving at 3pm you hit traffic... so your lucky

It's relative, I have to take the highway / non-scenic route and it adds time. But if I leave at 4 it's way worse.

Remedymp

markulous wrote: »

I drive about 50-60 minutes in the morning and on the way home it's anywhere from 70-90 minutes. If the job wasn't so bad then I could deal with it, but at this point it's just another thing that kinda grinds my gears at the end of the day.

...X2....

kohr-ah

Ive done drive and public transportation.

Public trans it was a 10 minute drive to train parking, 3 block walk to train, hour train ride, and first job was a 20 minute walk downtown chicago. 2nd job was a 5 minute walk downtown.

I hated both but they gave me good time for studying.
I was gone from 7am - 630pm every day on top of my 8.5 hour work day.

Now I do a 20 minute drive and I won't ever go past a 45 minute commute per way again if I dont have to.

VinnyCisco

45 minutes for me on express train in NYC. My home train station is around the corner, and my work station is part of the building, so not much walking to and from.

TheFORCE

I drive 30-40 minutes to work. I used to drive more and commute longer with the train. Do it to get experience. It's not as bad as people make it to be. You can always utilize your commute time to study.

scaredoftests

I had an hour (sometimes 2) for 6 months. It sucked. Now, my commute is 20 minutes. Life is too short.

gespenstern

When I lived in Moscow I used to commute 2+ hours one-way using public transportation for several years. It sucked so much. At least I used this time to listen to audio books and read books.

After that I worked for several years from home, it was awesome, but the pay not so much.

Now I work in the office again, the pay is great, but have to commute ~15 mins one-way. Still sucks compared to WFH.

I guess much depends on how young you are. When I was younger it was even fun to some degree, so I say go ahead if you feel that you can make it and enjoy driving. Also, you can listen to audiobooks while commuting.

powerfool

Yeah, audiobooks or other material are great. I had been playing around with German for years, but once I started using Pimsleur during my commute at my last job, my German skills took off.

byron66

Well I lucked out I think. I'm doing 3 day Weekend 12 hour shift from 5am-5:30pm F-Sun. So traffic shouldn't be an issue I believe. It's an hour drive so I just subbed to audible.com, loaded my phone with study material, and I have Pimsleur Japanese.

Chevel

I used to commute 1hr and 30 minutes to reach my job. Honestly it wasn't bad ( as there was no traffic lol) just a few small towns. I'm actually looking commuting 6 hours round trip if need be. It would suck but the job market stinks around here.

kohr-ah

Chevel wrote: »

I used to commute 1hr and 30 minutes to reach my job. Honestly it wasn't bad ( as there was no traffic lol) just a few small towns. I'm actually looking commuting 6 hours round trip if need be. It would suck but the job market stinks around here.

Ahh see in Chicago area unless you are out in the burbs it is "Going to take 40 minutes to go 5 miles.. gonnapunchsomeone.jpg"

Queue

I drive 15-30 mins home to work. It's only 7 miles, but sometimes there is traffic. I have a 4x4 so my MPG is terrible for commuting 14 MPG. I would if an opportunity came up consider a commute, however I live downtown so all the business is here.

The people I know that have done it usually get a beater car that gets upwards of 30+ MPG's. Plan to put 100,000's of miles on it.

EnderWiggin

kohr-ah wrote: »

Ahh see in Chicago area unless you are out in the burbs it is "Going to take 40 minutes to go 5 miles.. gonnapunchsomeone.jpg"

I can jog faster than that. That's probably what I would do in that situation......