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npgraphicdesign

What's the most time you'd be willing to devote to a work commute?

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How much would you commute to a job, and what factors would influence your decision? Keep in mind the time in the poll is only one way, so the full back and forth commute is double that.

Would you spend 2-4 hours per day on traveling to a good job, yet come to terms that time is taking a bite out of other activities in life?

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Commuted 2.5 hours each way for my first NY job. Grandma's house in NJ, walked half a mile to a bus into Manhattan. From there a train, to another train to either a bus or a 25 minute walk to my destination in Long Island City/Astoria Queens. Well worth it at the time to get my feet wet and save up for my first NYC apartment.
Killing threads since 2004.

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Would you spend 2-4 hours per day on traveling to a good job



Wow...no, not for a long term position. Maybe a year or two tops, and only if it offered a future.

When I started off in sports television we'd work 80-100 hours a week plus traveling around the country from Thursday to Sunday every week...That experience and hard work has paid off. I really loved being on the road like a rock star, but seriously, it takes it toll...I couldn't imagine working at some job that I didn't absolutely love and having to spend an extra 4 hours per day of unpaid travel time for an extended period.

It also depends on where you live...a 90 min commute in LA seems normal while here in michigan many people would consider you to be rather desperate.

One thing I miss about California is everybody honking their horns under bridges while sitting in traffic...one in particular was on the 5 going toward Santa Clarita...I'm thinking the Balboa Blvd bridge, maybe?
Your secrets are the true reflection of who you really are...

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Would you spend 2-4 hours per day on traveling to a good job, yet come to terms that time is taking a bite out of other activities in life?



As opposed to what? Starving?

I bought my house a bit over 15 years ago. It made a lot of sense to buy the house in the area it was in at the time; half way between my work and my wife's work. About a 15 minute commute door to door for each of us. The market has gone up, the market has gone down. Fortunes change and so do jobs.

We now both work in Los Angeles in areas that are FAR beyond what we could ever possibly afford to live in if we sold our home and tried to move there.

It's not a matter of deciding to commute. If either of us want to work in our chosen fields, it's something we simply have to do until fortune allows otherwise. The time in each direction might be 45 mintues, 90 minutes or, on a bad day, 3 hours; you just never know.

It is, what it is and we're grateful for the opportunity to work when we can get it.

C'est la vie.
quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

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Currently I'm at around 15 minutes on a bicycle. The only way I'd be willing to do a 2-4 hr commute is that it would be on a train and I could work on my laptop in the train and the employer would accept that so that the time spent commuting would be reduced from the time spent sitting in the office.
Your rights end where my feelings begin.

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I've had commutes ranging from 1km to 130km. For me it all depends on how much money aim making on the project. It's also pretty common for me to get paid travel time if the project is located far from the city.
Have you seen my pants?
it"s a rough life, Livin' the dream
>:)

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Would you spend 2-4 hours per day on traveling to a good job, yet come to terms that time is taking a bite out of other activities in life?



Hell no.

I'd move closer (I did down size from a 1400 square foot town house to a 500 square foot studio apartment to be closer - two people and a cat don't need much space) but wouldn't be willing to go that far more than once every few weeks.

I commuted by bicycle for about 1:40 four days a week, although that didn't really count since I'd otherwise ride for 60-75 minutes making the commuting loss 25-40 minutes or 12.5 - 20 minutes each way which is vaguely reasonable.

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Would you spend 2-4 hours per day on traveling to a good job, yet come to terms that time is taking a bite out of other activities in life?



Hell no.

I'd move closer (I did down size from a 1400 square foot town house to a 500 square foot studio apartment to be closer - two people and a cat don't need much space) but wouldn't be willing to go that far more than once every few weeks.

I commuted by bicycle for about 1:40 four days a week, although that didn't really count since I'd otherwise ride for 60-75 minutes making the commuting loss 25-40 minutes or 12.5 - 20 minutes each way which is vaguely reasonable.

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On a daily basis? I guess about 90 minutes (one-way) for a long-term project, or 2 hours for a short-term (2-4 weeks) project. But that would have to be for no more than a 40 hour on-site work-week. For some projects that require 50+ hours per week, beyond a 90-minute commute, I'd want to get a hotel room for 3-4 nights per week; and I'd only do that if the pay was enough to defray most of that extra overhead.

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I would only want to spend 30 minutes or less, but if I was desperate for a job and needed to keep a roof over my head and food on the table I would do whatever was necessary.
She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

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No way. My time is way more important than to be wasted on the roadway. If it were a really good job that far away, I'd rent a room there during the week and come home on weekends. But it'd have to be the job of my dreams and it'd have to pay the big bucks.

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I'd move closer (I did down size from a 1400 square foot town house to a 500 square foot studio apartment to be closer - two people and a cat don't need much space)

For me that sounds like living on a nuclear submarine.:D:D

After 4 kids and 27+ years, several hobbies and a home business or two, I have Too Much Stuff.[:/] We, like many others, are looking to downsize and simplify. But still, I gotta keep the beer making kit, the sewing machines, the reloading equipment, the table saw . . . :S:D

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I currently have a 35 minute commute in a job that allows me to work from home (most of the time, unless I'm traveling out of town to one of my project sites). I typically make that commute once or twice a month, tops. So most days (if I'm not out of town) my commute is the 15 seconds it takes to walk from my bedroom into my home office. B|

Of course, before my office got relocated, my commute was a 20 minute walk, so I was really spoiled.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

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Jobs come and go. At least for myself working as a software developer this is the reality I have had to deal with as I have worked at more than 20+ different organizations over the years. Sometimes I have gotten extremely lucky where I have only been 5 minutes away from work, but on average the commutes have been 45-60 minutes with 75 minutes being the worst I have had to deal with (not counting rare days when some weather event brings the commute to a stand still). Currently it takes me 30+ minutes to get to my present job in the mornings and yet it takes close to 60 minutes on the way home. Hard to explain this except that there are just more people on the roads trying to get from point A to point B in the afternoons than there are in the mornings.

The shorter the commute the better. But instead of fixating on the commute I say fixate on the place you are commuting to. If it is a good job, the commute can be tolerated. But a lousy job is not worth the commute, even if the commute is only 5 minutes away.


Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

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With a preference for not living in a large city, and most work opportunities being in and around London, 2 hours is a typical commute when everything is working. It can be longer when (frequently) the trains don't work, or when driving to a location on the periphery of London. I don't mind a hotel when I'm really away from home, but in central London either the state of the hotel or the price tends to be prohibitive. It means Monday - Friday without time for anything other than work, and a tendency to sleep deprivation. One day, managers will catch on to the concept that today's technology means there is very little need for people to be physically present in ranked desks in an office, like children in a schoolroom!
Anne

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I had an hour each way for 1 1/2 yrs. I knew it was a 1hr drive when I signed up, and I really had to take the job too so not much choice there. So I spent 2 hours each day listening to audio books or singing along with loud music, while complaining about the various agricultural vehicles that are on that road, making my way to this little town.

Then they decided I should go work someplace else 2 days/week, in a big city. No matter how early/late I left home, it alwas took me 1 1/2 to 2 hrs each way to that location.
Then they changed my work location to there 4 days/week, and after I complained about that I got fired.

Now I got a new job in my home town, where I can bicycle to work in 15 minutes. Or take my car and make the same time.

:)


ciel bleu,
Saskia

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After 4 kids and 27+ years, several hobbies and a home business or two, I have Too Much Stuff.[:/] We, like many others, are looking to downsize and simplify. But still, I gotta keep the beer making kit, the sewing machines, the reloading equipment, the table saw . . . :S:D



Your house sounds just like mine.:S except it's two kids. A half-dozen sewing machines, and the other stuff plus what's in my studio makes for a moving man's dream job. Or a heck of a good yard sale. :P
lisa
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