Surfing Waves

Yep, it's me, asking for advice again .

So...I was just wondering if anyone has been a regular commuter to London before and am trying to suss out how bad it is? I would also like some advice on a job I've been offered if you'd be so kind, this is my position:

I live in Guildford and have been offered a job in London. Now, the position is pretty crap to start with, it's bascially and office/admin assistant come oddjob, but what sells it is the opportunities it may lead to. The company is called Vector Foiltec (http://www.vector-foiltec.com/vector.htm) and is a pretty unique construction company who, amongst many other things, were responsible for the Eden Project. The company is growing rapidly (office has quadroupled in size in 3yrs) and they actively seek young people (moi) and help them develop their skills/talents. The office also seems like a pretty chilled out place to work (looks great too) and everyone pretty young and down to earth. The pay is £17.5k/yr.

Those are the good bits. It took me 1.5hrs to get from my house to the office on the day of my interview, so I'd be getting up around 5.30-6 every morning and getting in at about 8 at night (hrs:9-6). This is taking up a good chunk of my spare time in the day and would also completely mess up my running (4x/week)(which is quite important to me). This would also cause other problems like limiting my (amazing ) social life etc etc. Also, the long day and stressful commute would no doubt be absolutely shattering! Another thing is that the commute would cost about £4k a year meaning a not-so-great £13.5k salary.

Is commuting to London as bad as I hear? Do you think taking the position would be worth it?

Thanks folks! I really appreciate everyone on the forum being so kind and helping me out!

...J...

Hellfire! You put some responsibility on us lot!!!

Seriously though, I think this is a question you can only answer/solve yourself. Guess you are gonna have to sit down and list all the pros and cons and if that doesn't sort it for you - go with your gut feelings man.

Good luck!!

How are you going to commute ? If its by train, dont forget they do like their strikes !!

flyingvee wrote:Hellfire! You put some responsibility on us lot!!!

Seriously though, I think this is a question you can only answer/solve yourself. Guess you are gonna have to sit down and list all the pros and cons and if that doesn't sort it for you - go with your gut feelings man.

Good luck!!

im with flyingvee....

would you have enough money to cover all of your overheads and social life etc

what happened to the Free Spirit job man

the Company looks pretty awesome, i reckon there is a fair bit of internal promotion available to the right people......

The commute is OK, just get a good book and listen to some music, you get used to it.

Dunno about the money - can't you get them to pay something towards a season ticket?

definately would not take on that commute cost for that salary. but thats just me, do what you feel is right!

Cheers folks.

I have given it a loada thought this afternoon and I think the opportunities within this company are too good to pass off, I mean, it kinda a feels like one of the only hopes I have of actually getting a proper career. And the last thing I want is to regret not having tried it, I have enough regrets already!

I'm going to ring up tomoroow and explain my situation and see if they'll negotiate on salary though.

Freespirit, bah! Sod 'em! They never rang me back. I don't want to be working for a company that can't organise a bloody job interview anyway! It's them who're missing out!

And thanks again fer helpin' out! You're the nicest strangers I've ever met!

...not that you're strange

...J...

What's your rent?

If you live with your parents then the travel expenses are nothing.

As you said, don't let a good opportunity pass. You can always quit if the commute is too much, but 1.5 hours really isn't that bad.


(13.5K after travel expenses? Someone forgot to take off tax and National Insurance! Sorry to bring that up )

oh sorry, thought you meant 13.5k and then paying for travel.

Johnny B wrote:Is commuting to London as bad as I hear?

There's a reason I was cycling two hours a day... to avoid being on London transport
Commuting sucks your soul if you do it too long, but it'll be alright for a while.

But try and keep it simple. The odds of something going wrong vary with the square of the number of vehicles involved.
One train (and then walk) - nice and easy.
One train, and then get the tube - four times as difficult.
One bus, one train, and then the tube - nine times as likely to be delayed.

etc etc...

i reckon go for it. if you really cant hack the commute then you can always just jack it in, at least that way you have tried it and gained the experience......

No regrets and all that....

Get a Motorbike, easy to filter through traffic !

I've taken the job!!

Goodbye free time. Goodbye running and fitness. Hello mindless commuting and eternal tiredness.

Goodbye free time. Goodbye running and fitness. Hello mindless commuting and eternal tiredness.

...oh I don't know, you could spend the commute running from one end of the train to the other? I'm sure that won't annoy people at all(!).

Now that we've got that cleared up lets go & celebrate!

lucy wrote:

Now that we've got that cleared up lets go & celebrate!

Good point. Well done and congrats in the new job

Sar wrote:

lucy wrote:

Now that we've got that cleared up lets go & celebrate!

Good point. Well done and congrats in the new job

Woooop Woooop!

Nice on mate! Congrats on the job!

Don't let everyone doom and gloom you about the commute, I used to travel into town for work every day for about a year, train and tube. It's not so bad, the tubes are pretty reliable and there's plenty of free newspapers, the Metro's my favorite.

Congrats mate, best of luck to ya !!!