When is a longer commute worth it?
This May I'll be moving to a smaller city in the Northeast for an FP&A position. The office is actually 15-20 minutes outside of the city where it's more rural and seems to have much less of a social scene, and being 22 that's pretty important to me.
Do you think it'd be worth it to live in the city so I'm actually able to meet people and have a social life? But in turn have a longer commute? It'd probably around 45min give or take.
If you're young I'd stick with the reverse commute. You'll miss out on a lot living in the suburbs at 22.
I'd consider a 45 min commute average not long. I'm also assuming FP&A hours won't be crazy like IBD so 45 minutes is completely doable.
Yeah that's exactly what I was thinking. I did an hour or more for my internship so 45 minutes shouldn't be too bad for me.
Plus like you said hours should be no where near IBD.
Feasible to take a train? 45min by train vs. driving makes a huge difference.
The closest train stop I'm seeing is about 3 or 4 miles away from the office. I'm going to look into bus routes too though, I think that would be better than driving myself too.
Consider train plus Uber, if that is possible.
Could bring a scooter with you so you can whip it to work from the train station
IS this at a Corp HQ? If so, they may have their own bus or mode of transportation to/from the train station,
I'd live in the city or at least a top notch suburb, not in the middle of nowhere - you'll hate it.
I'd ask HR or whoever recruited you. Say you're excited to join the team and are looking into accommodations and wanted to know how everyone else who lives in the city commutes to work. Worst case scenario, a 45 minute drive isn't too bad.
A 45-60 minute commute is totally doable. However, winter commutes in the Northeast can be a total pain in the ass (especially if you are driving yourself), so you need to prepare for those 45 minute commutes to become 60 minute or 75 minute commutes when the weather shits on you.
reverse commute. moving to the suburbs when you are this young can really fuck with you. don't discount the weather effect either in the northeast. when it's january getting dark at 430 and you're living in a small town, it will suck big time.
do the city.
I've been doing a reverse commute for 2.5 yrs. Commute is only 18 miles but due to all the idiots on the road it usually takes 55-75 min, but on bank holidays and near Christmas I can do it in 25 min.
Not going to lie it blows, but it's a great time to zone out and learn. I can go through the Economist cover to cover in a week by listening to it both ways. Find a source of information that you love and then just zone out to it (podcast, newspaper, audio book, etc.). Being young you definitely do NOT want to live in the burbs, IMHO. Personally I would go crazy. Yeah, 10-15 hours out of your week is depressing, but being able to walk to a local bar/coffee shop and not see yoga moms or a majority of dads after a soccer game is well worth it. Rent will be a little more expensive; I heard a fact that living in the suburbs saves the average person $10k/yr as opposed to downtown. But, still I would recommend living downtown. Live in the burbs when you have a bunch of rugrats running around.
Just curious, were you already living in/near the city when you started working and doing the commute?
The biggest challenge I'm having is finding public transportation routes and schedules. Being ~5 hours away and only being to the city once, I don't really know any of the areas or streets to actually know where the train or bus stops.
You probably already know this, but most cities have their public transportation routes on google maps. I don't know if this will help with bus stops but if you type in your prospective apartment to the train station and ask for directions, it will give you the bus route and time frame(i.e. bus comes every 10 min). If you're in a major city, there should be a stop for your bus within a few blocks of you location no matter where you are. It can still be confusing but at least it will give you the train/bus schedule and route.
Nope. Moved from across the country. Rented for 2 yrs downtown then bought a condo last fall. Definitely the way to go especially going to a new city in order to network and meet new people.
Would much rather go to a coffee shop with 20 year olds après yoga than to a suburban starbucks with grannie yogies.
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Commuting for the long-haul (Originally Posted: 12/19/2014)
So I am currently at a fund that offers a nice long-term career outlook in a large but certainly not tier-1 finance city. My girlfriend turns out to be living in a city closeby and is planning to stay there as she's co-running a family business, I really want to stay at my fund and basically am now commuting to work by train or car daily. That means I am on the road just to get to work and back for almost two hours per day. I have a small "backup flat" for the occasional late night at work. Overall that is quite an adjustment from my first years as a professional where you basically tried to live as close to work as possible.
I am quite productive while in transit and everything is working fine currently but I still wonder whether this is a good setup for the long term, if you consider that my job requires about a 60-70 hour commitment each week with some light travel for new deals and portfolio work, and given that I can see us having kids sooner or later. I remember from my London days that seniors would commute a lot as well but am interested in hearing from others about specific examples. Thanks.
How is working from home perceived at your firm? Perhaps relevant once you actually start a family. I have a coworker who just had a kid and takes the same day off every week to take care of the kid.
You can do it, it just gets to be a drain on your life. I knew a decent amount of people in London who had very long commutes but if you can actually work on the train and include that in the 60-70 hours/week, it's not too bad. The in town flat also will be a lifesaver. I also know a few guys who commute from Philadelphia to NYC daily-it's about 1.25 hours on the train each way they and use it as time to work. For some reason most people I know who do it last about 2 years then they either end up getting a new job closer to home or moving closer to work, but I've known a couple of guys who have done it for the long haul. It's obviously preferable to live close to work but it can be done. I've done hour commutes before and after a short amount of time it just becomes part of your everyday life. The problem is that once you stop doing the long commute you think what the F was I doing to myself commuting for hours every day.
And in reality, if your commute is basically one hour each way, you could be living out in Richmond and commuting to the City and have it take longer on the Tube and have a much less productive time than if you're on the train. Hell, I lived in Kensington and commuted to Mayfair and depending on how many people had jumped on the tracks and were under a train causing a delay, my commute took 45 minutes door to door. For another example, if you live in Greenwich, Connecticut, where a ton of people who work in NYC live, the train ride is an hour.
You can also save a ton of money by not living in Central London or NYC by commuting.
So many bankers/lawyers live by the coast and commute into London everyday. It is the most common commute in uk and you can save so much money. SO many people commute from Birmingham into London. The tube must be hell in the morning for you. My commute to university takes me about 70-90 mins each way.
I think working from home for full days is not really in sync with our company culture. I can try raise this eventually (when kids are in the game) but better not now. However, travel days originating from my actual home and going back there are fine, judging from what I see among our partners.
I'll try pull it off. After all, a lot of guys I know drive/cycle in spending 30min per leg; I spend almost 60min per leg but am working 75% of that time. Just staring down the barrel of spending 2 hours each day on a train for the next decade is making me a little uncomfortable.
That said, from an existentialist point of view, I am spending another 12+ hours each day at a desk; how insane is that?
I don't get the question here. You'll either do the commute or you won't. Someone else doing a commute for a decade isn't going to make you any more or less miserable.
Personally, I wouldn't do it. Make her move, dump her or find a job close to home. Wasting 10-15 hours of your life per week committing is beyond miserable and not worth it.
Except in this one situation. As we all know, once you get married and have kids suicidal thoughts will engulf your mind and soul. And rightfully so. But you have the optimal solution. You have a pied-a-terre to hide out in. Pimp that out, and start crashing there on the reg.
Sly dog you.
Lol
TNA, excellent points, thanks.
In all seriousness, maybe talk to your girl and see if there is a time she'd leave the business or a middle point to both of you can life to share the travel. I'm going to assume you're the breadwinner. Maybe you can commute for like 3-5 years but after that she relocates closer to you when kids are in the picture.
Hopefully you're In a nice climate cause winter can jack your commute. Even o Amtrak which is a porcelain doll when it comes to inclimate weather travel.
Yeah not an easy topic...
travelling and commuting is the biggest torture that is.
life seems mundane and irrelevant if you do it everyday.
im already sick of my 30 min commute everyday..
and commuting from one city to another is even worse. you are totally dependent on someone else to make it. if the train is late or you don't show up on time for some reason you are screwed. its not like within city commute where there are trains every 10 mins or so
Honestly I don't think its that big of a deal, especially as you don't seem to mind the commute and you get some work done on the way. Out here in the Bay Area tons of people live in SF and work down in Mountain View and the shuttles to and from the city are easily 1.5 hours each way. Sure the hours are a bit more flexible, but contrary to many think, people out here work pretty long hours as well.
60-70 hours a week isn't great, but it isn't awful either. If I were you, I would suck it up for a year or two, especially because you like your job and presumably like your significant other. As much as people on here are used to living really close to work, an hour each way, assuming that you're 1. Being productive and 2. The commute time is consistent(no bad traffic) really isn't that bad in my opinion.
I work about 60 hours a week and commute 45min-1 hour each day out here in the Bay Area and have no issues.
n/a
to and fro 2 hours? that's nothing, suck it up man. I'm doing 1.5 hours both ways and working way more than 60 hours per week.
Get your chick to move in with you - after all you're the man who's bringing home the dough
Fuck that shit, I’d live in the suburbs vs a 45 Minute commute. I like my sleep, I like to work out, and I have better things to do with my time.
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