Thoughts on commute (Long Beach, Irvine, Pasadena: how much, home, college)

[cotocatmom]

Just looking for outside thoughts/perspective from those outside my immediate circle. I live in Coto/RSM and have two job offers. One is in Mission Viejo (near Saddleback College), and the other is in Irvine (by John Wayne Airport).

The job in Mission Viejo is a very small start up company, and because of that does not pay very well, but the location is a huge factor in why I'm interested because it's only about a 12-15 minute drive each way. It is a typical 40 hour work week. Both are similar job descriptions, however the job in Irvine pays about $15k more each year, with the opportunity for commission and a bonus. The downside to that is that it's a 50 hour work week, and obviously the Irvine job is going to be about 45-50 minutes each way with traffic, according to Google maps.

Money is not a huge issue, I can take either job and be 'okay' financially, but the position in Irvine would add a lot more to my resume for the long term. (I am single and do not have kids or a family to support or rush home to). Which position would you choose? The Irvine job pays more but obviously that will be cut into a little bit for gas, car maintenance, and toll road fees. I've seen a lot of posts complaining about traffic and congestion while commuting, so I'm looking for thoughts on the drive from RSM out to Irvine, at about 6:45 or 7am, and 5:30pm to come home. I'm not sure realistically how busy the roads are at those times, although I suspect around 5:30pm it will probably be pretty bad. If I do take the position in Irvine, I would likely take either the 5/405 or the 241/133 out to the 405 (or Barranca and then take side streets). Thanks for any feedback, any thoughts/insight is appreciate

[tmreed195]

Something to consider if you have time...take a day or two and drive up to Irvine in the morning or evening at those times you would be commuting to and from work. That might give you the best feedback for what the commutes would be like.

[russlancea]

I can't comment on the drive to Irvine, but I used to commute from the city of Orange to Long Beach. It's not really a bad drive, but it did get tiring. If you don't need the $15k+, then I would personally pick the closer, but smaller company.

an hours drive each way is a lot. Can you imagine making that drive in the rainy weather we have today? How much longer is the commute in bad weather?

My husband had a cushy job that was about 15 minutes away on the freeway. He made the hard decision a few years ago to quit that cushy, but non-challenging, dead-end job for a place where he could grow. It was a job promotion with higher pay, but in Pasadena! Not only was the drive a challenge, but the job was also. Big start-up hiring the big boys from Google, Yahoo, etc., but management was horrible. Many engineers left and so did my husband. He left that job before his 1 year anniversary to work with his ex-boss and ex-coworker from the cushy, dead-end company. One of the reasons he left that cushy job was he had heard that the longer you stay at a job, the less appealing you are to employers and that you should jump around regularly. I thought people valued company longevity and loyalty.

Well, in his case, this advice was true--his salary rose with each hiring. With his current job in Culver City (yes, another horrible commute), he didn't expect an increase in pay, but HR told him that if he was starting a new job, he ought to get paid more, so he was given a 15% salary increase on the spot. Wow.

So, all this to say, that the smaller company may not be prestigious or a big company, but it's much closer and demands a regular work week. It could be a great stepping stone to something bigger.

[cotocatmom]

Originally Posted by tmreed195

Something to consider if you have time...take a day or two and drive up to Irvine in the morning or evening at those times you would be commuting to and from work. That might give you the best feedback for what the commutes would be like.

So I made the drive this afternoon, by coincidence I ended up having to run an errand a few blocks away from where the job in Irvine would be. Despite the weather, traffic seemed pretty normal... I took the toll roads, and it still took me about 35-40 mins to get there! I don't speed and weave in and out on the freeway (maybe I should), but it felt like kind of a long drive. I've made it out to Irvine in 25 mins before just by taking Portola and Alton (obviously not during peak traffic), but this place is out by the airport and I seemed to hit a lot of red lights and congestion once I was off the freeway.

It's hard to coordinate a day I could go during the times I'd actually be commuting, but it made me wonder how I would feel about the drive after a 10 hour work day. Strongly leaning towards the closer position right now. I used to live in a city where my commute consisted of a 45 min ride on a coach bus... I think I really took the fact that I could just sit back, relax, and not actually have to drive for granted!

[ysr_racer]

Life is short, commutes are long. You decide.

[LuvSouthOC]

It's obviously your choice but I will say this: Many of us in OC made adjustments in order to get the higher QOL we have here in OC. Driving in hellish traffic for not really a lot of money wouldn't work for me.