Jennica & Matthew Geddert's Ramblings
Five months working at UCLA
Jan 11 Five months working at UCLA 
So if you haven't heard through other channels, I've been working at UCLA since August as a web developer in the residential life department. One thing that I really appreciate about this job is the departmental support I have to do things the "right" way. I love that there is sufficient time to not cut corners and really mull over and tweak the user interface and the underlying web framework (which I am creating) until I get it just right. Although a login is required to see most of my work, you can check out the department's public site which I coded and maintain.
The significant downside to this job is the commute.
If I leave by 5:45 it "only" takes 30-40 minutes to drive the 29 miles to work. If I leave at 6:30 it takes an hour or more. It's worse on the way home. If I leave by 3:30 it is not so bad, but it has taken up to two hours on particularly bad days. I've made a habit of checking the traffic before heading in either direction. Public transit, at its fastest takes one hour and forty minutes and is thus sadly out of the question. I wish I could simply get on two trains and be done with it, but that's apparently many years away. I guess this is pretty common in the Los Angeles area, but it sure is trying.