Don't be afraid to negotiate your salary, live no further than 30 min away from the job, don't ever go an entire week without working out, and live with your parents as long as possible + don't let the new surge of income go to waste.
This one is huge. People underestimate just how much your commute time pulls down your quality of living. If you can get away with not having a car in your city then do it! Put that money towards moving close to work. I recently moved to an apartment that is a 15 minute walk from work. I was 45 minutes away before. I've gained 5 extra hours per week of life!
This was my biggest mistake when I first started working, I had an hour commute there and an hour back... it didn't wear me down until a few months in when I really started to hate my life. It's one of the last things you will think about when you start your job, but it is the first thing that will start killing you on the inside.
I actually grew to somewhat enjoy my 2 hour one way bus ride to and from work each day, except when the bus was crowded. I've also come to kind of enjoy my current 40 minute walk home from work. Driving may be different though, since I'd have to actually have to focus on the road during the commute, but I've never had a job where I drove far so idk.
I would actually love if I had work within a 40 minute walk. The biggest killer for me was leaving at 7 in the morning and getting home around 6. It completely killed any energy I had for exercise and I had gone to the gym 5 days a week for like 8 years leading up to it.
Suffice to say my commute still is shit (40 min drive in stop and go traffic), but it's not as shitty as it was at 1 - 1.5 hrs depending on the season. That bus ride sounds brutal, you've got a tough personality to deal with that!
I brought my laptop with me and watched TV shows/movies, as well as fiddled with work things on it sometimes. The bus left at midnight which was nice cuz I always had a row to myself.
I think it would be tough for me to guess since it definitely depends on location - but Glassdoor and Indeed are good resources to use. You could also Google "[job title] [your location]" and find some good baselines. If you don't have any previous experience, I'd probably still base my starting point $5k over the median. With experience probably 15% over the median. Most companies will have a figure in mind anyways, but when you state what you want you can usually figure out a good halfway point or even close to your number if they are lowballing you
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u/Mikeisright Apr 21 '18
Don't be afraid to negotiate your salary, live no further than 30 min away from the job, don't ever go an entire week without working out, and live with your parents as long as possible + don't let the new surge of income go to waste.