DEV Community

Ben Halpern
Ben Halpern

Posted on

 

What's your commute like?

Top comments (136)

Collapse
 
jesusgollonet profile image
jesús gollonet • Edited

I work remote, but I do go to a coworking space which is between my 2 year old kindergarten and my 4 year old school.

My commute a 15 minute walk with them in the morning and most days same in the afternoon.

Our routine is to play whatever games we come up with. This morning we were playing catching giant letters from street signs. I would say a letter and the older one would have to find the biggest one in sight. The younger one just pointed to any letters he could see.

I love my commute.

Collapse
 
alexd__93 profile image
Alexis Rondón

That's the most stress free commute i have ever read, amazing!

Collapse
 
jesusgollonet profile image
jesús gollonet

Hah not when we're late :P

Thread Thread
 
mercier_remi profile image
Rémi Mercier

Hahaha, I can relate!

Collapse
 
alexd__93 profile image
Alexis Rondón

About 2 seconds, from my bed to the desk.. Working fully remote right now.

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern

Same 😄

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern

The commute is definitely the big benefit of remote. Anything you miss about office life?

Thread Thread
 
alexd__93 profile image
Alexis Rondón • Edited

Tbh not that much, but sometimes I really miss the social morning with people and coffee in the office (had a short office job before this one)- even though I'm always in communication with my team via slack, face to face interaction can be missed a little.

Collapse
 
aturingmachine profile image
Vince

My standup is at 8:15 AM. I commute to Chicago everyday from Wisconsin. I wake up at 5:10 AM and make the 6:08 train to Chicago running the whole length of the line. I get to the office around 7:45. In all it's about 2 hours one way, or 4 hours a day.

However I love my job and my coworkers so I don't mind the commute. I usually listen to podcasts, code, browse Twitter of Dev to pass the time.

Collapse
 
dance2die profile image
Sung M. Kim • Edited

Wow. that's a long commute.

What would be the part of the job that drives you to handle such a long commute?
(_because I'd love to factor that in, when looking for a job 😀)

Collapse
 
aturingmachine profile image
Vince

I get to work with some cool stuff and do full stack development. The more important part, which is a lot harder to factor in when doing a job search, is the people. The culture at my company is really great and I like everyone I work with. I only knew the commute would be worth it since I had a friend working there before I joined, and from what he told me it was a great place.

Thread Thread
 
dance2die profile image
Sung M. Kim

Thank you, Vincent.😀
Much appreciated the reply 🤜

Collapse
 
mercier_remi profile image
Rémi Mercier

A 15-minute bike ride, door-to-door, along Paris' canals. 🚴‍♂️🌳

Way better than the 50-minute tube ride I used to do before. 😅

Collapse
 
yechielk profile image
Yechiel Kalmenson

45 minute subway ride.

Which sounds like a lot, until you compare it to my previous commute which was an hour drive.

The fact that it's on a subway also means I can spend the time reading instead of navigating rush-hour traffic, so it's more relaxing as well.

Collapse
 
eljayadobe profile image
Eljay-Adobe

36 highway miles to the office, one way.

To reduce the commute time by avoiding rush hour traffic, leave home around 5am. Leave work at 3pm.

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern

What's your day like after you leave at 3pm?

Collapse
 
eljayadobe profile image
Eljay-Adobe

50 minute drive home during the just-before-rush-hour ramping up.

Once I'm home, I'm on daddy duty, since my wife works later hours to avoid rush hour and she does the early morning parenting. Feed the dogs. Give the dogs and cats some loves. Take the kids to their events.

I also do my fun programming, which for me I like to learn a new programming language every year. And answer questions on SO. And on Wed and Thu is raid night for World of Warcraft.

I don't watch TV. I got out of the habit when my first kid was a toddler, and it is very difficult to watch TV once you're out of the habit. Too passive. Unless the show or movie is really engaging, after 15 minutes I'm antsy and have to do something. As a for instance, I've just started 2nd season of Game of Thrones.

What I don't do is bring my work home with me.

Collapse
 
larizzatg profile image
Larizza Tueros • Edited

To the work from home, it takes me 30-40 min average for 4.5miles (7.3km) thanks to traffic because on Sundays that's 14min average.

Sometimes I listen to an English podcast with my SO and we practice pronunciation and grammar making up silly phrases.

Collapse
 
leanminmachine profile image
leanminmachine

40 min commute (30 min subway ride + 10 min walk). Kind of regret renting in a location away from my workplace, could've been staying in a location with a walking time of 10 min from my workplace (but really small apartment and no washer and dryer -- i am picky!)

But i still like socializing from time to time, and also it's easier to communicate, so don't think ill want to work full remote.

Collapse
 
andypiper profile image
Andy Piper

Usually about an hour door-to-door (London) - 10 min walk to train, 30 min train journey to central London, 10-15 min on 3 stops on the Tube, and then a quick hop to the office. It doesn't feel too taxing. In previous roles I've had a 45 minute drive from home to office, or a long bus journey... in my current role I've gotten rid of my car completely and just use the London transport network. I can listen to podcasts (usually Mac OS Ken every morning, maybe The Changelog, or Games at Work dot Biz) and music, catch up on my other news feeds.

Collapse
 
michelemauro profile image
michelemauro

+1 for the Changelog :-D

Collapse
 
natonathan profile image
Nathan Tamez

To Lectures from term time address it’s quick 10-15 min walk.
To the office from home it a 30 min drive due to traffic.
I know not the worst commute but there it is.

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern

Not bad, but still takes some time.

Do you have a driving routine in terms of particular radio/podcasts/music?

Collapse
 
natonathan profile image
Nathan Tamez

I don’t drive yet haven’t got around to do my driving test, normally my mom drops me off or I get a Uber. But I listen music or a podcast, nothing in particular though.

Thread Thread
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern

I'm 30 and still haven't got around to my driving test 😄

I just got my learner's permit this year, so I'm on my way. No shame in putting it off, but I would recommend it earlier than what I did.

Thread Thread
 
natonathan profile image
Nathan Tamez

My reason is I go to university in a city were is 1. Unnecessary to have a car, 2. Nowhere cheap to park a car.
I might look in to getting a motorbike though.

Thread Thread
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern

Yeah, very similar situation to me. I always lived in walkable/bus cities and also just couldn't ever afford or justify the expense.

Thread Thread
 
alexd__93 profile image
Alexis Rondón • Edited

Have you guys tried moving in bikes? For me it's a lot of fun to do it, here in Buenos Aires is the same issue you guys mentioned, owning a car seems to be more stressful than anything else lol

Collapse
 
chdeinert profile image
Christian Deinert

Most days I have a ~15 minutes walk to the train-station, then a train ride that takes 20 minutes and another ~15 minutes walk to the office. On the train ride I normally relax and read.

And I say most days, bacause if I'm feeling too lazy I take the car to the station - which takes 7 minutes.

Collapse
 
anortef profile image
Adrián Norte

I take a bus that takes 20 minutes more or less to get to my stop and then I walk 10 minutes to work, all of it while listening to podcasts, observing people with their dogs and looking at how weird pigeons can be.

The bus has a stop at like 100 meters from the office but I walk 10 minutes because we spend way too many hours sitting down.

Collapse
 
teekatwo profile image
Tori Pugh

I recently started a new job and my commute is only 30-45 minutes now, there has been a bit of construction. Before this job it was an hour drive to and hour and a half drive back.

Commute is a straight drive. I'm glad to finally be so close to home. First time I've worked in my state professionally.

Collapse
 
kenbellows profile image
Ken Bellows

15-20 mins currently, 30+ previously. But the lead developer on my current project commutes ~90mins each day, and our security manager drives like 90mins to get in, but hits rush hour in the afternoon and often takes upwards of 2hrs to get home. Both have been doing it for years, and I don't get it personally, but they both love where they live and what they do enough to make it worth it to them, and hey, do what makes you happy I guess.

Collapse
 
themattyg profile image
Matt Graham

Right now, my commute is a 5 minute drive or 8 minute bike ride.

But it hasn't always been like that. I used to commute from Whitby (a small town east of Toronto Canada) into Downtown Toronto. Every time I say this, people go "oh, that's not too bad, thousands of people do that everyday!" Which I agree with. From where I live, you have one of two ways to get there: drive or commuter train.

Driving is something like this: Driving the 401 is risky business or this: The g*dd*mn motherf*king 401.

The commuter train is slower than a sloth in a snowstorm. When you ride it, you think of bullet trains from around the world with either longing or disgust. The people that ride the train have had their soul removed, bit-by-bit, until there's nothing but a lazy zombie sitting in the chairs that are just a little too small. A drive that takes roughly 30 minutes without traffic and about a 3rd more distance takes 42 minutes to just under an hour - and that's just the train ride. You first need to get to the train by bike, bus or car; the latter makes you aggravated before you even get on the train. Then waiting in line to board the train, zombies listening to their music or reading the latest crap our local politician has done. Then climb aboard. If you get a seat, you're lucky - every once in a while a train that is missing 2 cars will show up and "standing room only" sounds roomy it's so packed. Then the slow crawl downtown.

The doors open! You've made it! Nope, not quite. Now you have to walk, take a subway, bus or streetcar to your destination. The lucky ones work within a few steps of a stop. Some have to walk an additional 10 minutes to get to their work. You put in your seven-to-eight hours (or more, if you're lucky enough to work at a startup on salary) and then hit the reverse commute.

All that stuff backwards, then once you get back to your "home" commuter train station, if you drove there, wait another 10-15 minutes just to get our of the parking lot.

All told I've spent as little as 2 hours a day commuting to as much as 4. Quality of life was non-existent. I've heard stories about commuters that come into NYC from multiple states away and think I would lose my mind doing the Toronto trips for years at a time, so I can only imagine what I'd do if I had the NYC commute.

Sorry. I needed to rant. :/ #canadian #sorry