Would you accept a job offer for $12,000 more than you're currently making if the commute was a little over an hour and you had no possibility of ever working from home?

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I feel like it depends… starting your career and life out having a 12k boost to your salary could be a huge benefit to leapfrog your career / life early on. However, there is a lot more to choosing if someplace is a good fit for you outside or wfh and commute. As someone who has had commutes ranging from 0-1.5 hour one way the reasons I joined or left companies ultimately was never down to the commute. It was always due to opportunities and culture.

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I would say go for it as long as you feel excited about it. You are young, now is the time to explore, fail, learn and grow..
I had a 30 min commute.. I prayed for longer just so I can catch some zzzzzz on the train (true story.. don’t judge me 😜)
I had a nice quite 55 min commute, but I wanted to work in the big city(NYC) and drink and party every night, but couldn’t afford the city apt and had a 1.5 hour commute..
now I have a 15 min commute and covid wouldn’t let me see ppl..
what I am trying to say is.. be young.. make YOUR UNIQUE MISTAKES and learn and pivot..
Also.. don’t stay so long at your dream company that it becomes a nightmare!

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No. I turned down one which was an $80K increase in base salary because the commute would have been 1.5 hours each way and I’d have to buy a car to get there from the city. They wanted four days in office and I didn’t want to live near where they were located.

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Yeah i feel like OP should've said % vs dollar amounts. 80k could've been a 15% increase for you while 12k might be a 30% increase for OP (i have no idea, maybe OP said percentage somewhere else)

Nope. 12000/52/5/2= $23 an hour for your commute not including gas. Add in the additional stress of driving and what else you could be doing with that time and it’s not really worth it.

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+1. And not just gas, you'll wreck the value of your car by putting tons of miles on it, you'll need car repairs more frequently, and the lack of WFH flexibility from that distance can become an issue if your car is in the shop.

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Okay I need to clarify- the new job is significantly better than my current one (better benefits, salary, everything) and its with a more prestigious organization. And I am less than a year into my career. The idea that I've even been offered this job is huge.

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Is the work more interesting and looking to lead to bigger and better?

Unless you will be happier. Don't bother

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Depends on why you're thinking of changing jobs. If it's strictly for more money, then instead of jumping ship right away you should read up on how to manage your personal finances and see if it's possible to get a raise in your current position first. If it's for a strategic career move, then that's another story. But it seems to me since you're asking about money, you're probably feeling like you don't make enough.
And maybe you don't. But if you can figure out how to live below your means within your current salary then when you do make more money you'll be able to safeguard it more easily.

There's a book called "The Millionaire Next Door" that talks about this extensively. I wish I had read this earlier in my career. If you've never had a long commute you'll quickly learn that commuting becomes a significant part of your life. Only you can decide if spending an extra 43 hours a month commuting is worth the extra $800 a month after taxes.

I should also note the type of commute matters, I had an hour and a half commute on a ferry an it was sometimes nice to have extra time to read or watch movies. But very difficult on my family life. I work remotely now.

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No, unless I can move closer to work 😆😆

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Oh it entirely depends if it's helping my career in general, and primarily if I think I'm going to like the role more...

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This is it here, OP the question isn't about salary,.it's about dream offer vs commute.

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Nope, breakdown the value of your time and cost of commute- the salary bump would shrink and the job would drop in interest

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If the commute is via public transportation, I'd do it.

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As someone who just moved their family another 35 miles south due to housing prices and I kept telling myself we can do this, this is the best for my family…. (All because of housing and nothing else)
I am five month into the commute crap and it’s about 45-50min each way and tbh I am about to have a nervous breakdown. There is zero work life balance, I work 12 hour days (always did but wasn’t an issue before when I was only 15 min away).
So from my perspective- I would say no. But then again you mentioned in another comment that it’s prestigious and amazing benefits, which is huge.
If you are super young, not married or thinking of starting a family right now - it might be doable if you see a long term future with this company to get bonuses and RSU and other stocks and save up money to be closer or even just get the experience under your belt to get that next and better job in a few years.

Something like this needs serious consideration and really isn’t a clear black and white answer.

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If I had a family, no.

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No I wouldn’t do that. When you account for the travel and wear and tear on the car and gas, that extra 12k isn’t clearly giving you a better life than your current situation with 12k less.

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Definitely no. The sheer fact that they’re making you come to the office daily is a deal-breaker on top of the long commute. If they were reasonable about work/life balance and letting you WFH half the week, I would possible say yes. But WFH is a huge commodity that most progressive companies are offering in light of this pandemic.

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It sounds like a great opportunity especially this early in your career. I did the same for around 6 years but eventually the commute was just not bearable anymore. It takes a toll on the quality of life.

Sounds like you are young so it might be the best time to make that kind of sacrifices for future opportunities.

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That depends. How do the job duties compare? What are your career path goals and the potential options at the company? How much would it cost in gas, and how old is your car (think of car trouble)? And how important is working from home to you? I used to drive 1 hour and 10 minutes each way every day for a low paying job, but in the end, I had higher paying roles and tons of experience which set me up for the next stage of my career. Well worth it at that time for me, but doesn't mean it's right for everyone. But no matter what - you need a reliable car or a good AAA plan :) PS, I enjoyed the drive, gave me lots of time to thinking and decompress before and after work. But you need to know other ways to get there b/c there are a lot of wrecks - and it adds another layer of complication if you have kids that you have to get from daycare/school at a certain time.

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NOPE!!!

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Is the position one where you could potentially shift your work hours a bit? Would they allow you start earlier in the morning and earlier in the day so that you can beat rush hour traffic and shorten your commute time?

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Nope! Did the hour + commute for 18 years, there’s probably a price I’d put on it, but it’s not 12k. The only benefit was the ability to de stress at the end of the day but you can’t really do that while your road raging to get home to the family.

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Time is money and happiness so think about what you normally do with your time

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