Commuting? Have you done the math?

Those systems are extremeley limited in terms of coverage relative to Metro North/LIRR in NYC or Metra in Chicago. A huge amount of the residential development in northern VA is out in Fairfax County, and that area is just now getting a Metro line. Moreover, the metro stops in Vienna, Fairfax, etc, are god-awful. They're built in the middle of the woods so you have to drive to them. A sensible rail system needs to have high density development around the station.

Meanwhile, Metro North, LIRR, and NJT go pretty much anywhere people live in Westchester, Long Island, or NJ. And the train stations are all approachable on foot. I walk 4 minutes from a 40 story high-rise in Westchester to the train station. That's 4 minutes from getting on my elevator to being on the platform.

I did the math for my first year of working - 3 hours of commuting a day, 48 weeks, 5 days a week. 30 full days spent sitting on public transport.

I wouldn't like to drive (wouldn't be much faster), but I'm still nowhere near as relaxed or productive on public transport than I could be at home - it's stuffy, limited space (leg room, anyone?), and you can't always get a seat. Account for the 6 months it took to get used to reading on a moving vehicle without feeling ill within 10 minutes, and I've lost even more time.

I enjoyed it for a while (I thought the time would force me to achieve something), but as I started using my spare time differently the commute became the biggest time suck of anything, and there was very little I could do about it (mostly due to infrequent and badly aligning public transport schedules).

Does your bus go door to door the moment you need it? My to/from/wait time for the bus is longer than drive time.

Many companies see working at the same company for more than 2-3 years as a negative. Even if you love the company, you will be seen as stagnant and lazy.

In the recent past, I've spent a decent amount of time commuting by train. I've used Caltrain (which is fine), Bart (which is usually nicer) and even both (which is... less nice).

I've actually found the train ride to be valuable. It gave me an hour or two a day of uninterrupted time when I could focus on what I wanted to do: either work on my side projects or read books.

In the recent past, I've been too busy to read much fiction; having time on a train which was "useless" anyhow let me get back into it. I enjoyed a whole bunch of fantasy and SF novels thanks to having a commute. This is where something like a Kindle really helps: it's light and convenient enough to read even if I can't get a seat, and I can carry as many books at once as I want. It also let me re-read the Wheel of Time series on the train, which would not have been practical with hardcover (or even paperback) copies of the books :P.

If I did manage to get a seat--and, since I often travelled at off-peak hours, I usually did--I had other options as well. For one, I could work on my own projects. This was particularly nice because I had a very limited amount of time, say exactly 40 minutes. This helped me focus on specific tasks, like fixing some bugs, that would have been less interesting if I was planning to work for several hours at home.

Another option was reading non-fiction. I actually learned a good deal about theoretical CS, programming languages and type theory last summer. Partly, this was because I was working at an awesome startup; however, reading academic material on the train also helped immensely. Since the train had less distractions than virtually anywhere else I spend time, I was able to get through denser passages without any compulsions to do something else (like go on HN :P).

I've also found the train a good place to read CS papers; since the time I can spend on it is inherently limited, it helps me get a quick overview that is neither too deep nor too shallow. Given an unbounded amount of time, I tend to either quickly skim a paper and get distracted or spend far too much time thinking about particular details. Reading something on a train helps me get a holistic and useful first impression.

One thing I've learned from experience: if at all possible, avoid transfers. This is especially bad between different services like Caltrain and Bart, but even Bart's timed transfers are decidedly sub-optimal. Two 20-minute chunks with a five-minute break in the middle are significantly less useful than a single 40-minute chunk. Also, knowing you will have to get up to transfer soon definitely creates more of an overhead for opening your laptop or getting a book out of your bag.

Anyhow, in total, I'm actually pretty happy if I can commute by train. Even though it does take up a fair amount of time, the time can actually be useful. I've even found the constraints make me more productive for certain things than just having that time at home.