31-year-old DevOps engineer Andrew Rendon hails from New Jersey in the United States. For ten straight months, he had to take back-and-forth flights every week to join work, which took a toll on his health, ultimately forcing him to take a job closer home albeit with lesser pay, Hindustan Times reported.
Rendon and his wife used to reside in New Jersey, but had to shift to North Carolina after his wife found a job there earlier in 2025, commencing his super-commuting phase, the engineer told CNBC Make It.
Why did the couple shift to North Carolina?
Rendon and his wife couldn't afford a home in New Jersey and had to stay on rent, but could buy one in North Carolina. Houses in North Carolina cost half of what they do in New Jersey, Rendon told CNBC Make It. So, they decided to move to the southern state.
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Super-commuting to workplace
As Rendon's office was based in New Jersey and he was not expected to work remotely, he had to wake up at 2 AM once a week and drive 2.5 hours to Raleigh Airport to board a flight. The flight would take 1.5 to 2 hours to reach Newark in NC, and then the 31-year-old had to take a train to reach office.
After office, Rendon would reside in a hotel before work the next day, and would then attend office before catching a flight back home.
How much did the commuting cost?
Adding fuel, flight and hotel expenditures, Rendon had to pay close to $1,200 a month, which went up to $1,800-2,000 in the last few months.
The lack of sleep and intense travelling was starting to take a toll on Rendon's health, along with rising costs, for which he stopped journeying the long distance back-and-forth.
Getting a new job
Rendon said that after super-commuting for ten months, he managed to find a job in North Carolina, although with an annual $40,000 pay cut.
"The job market has been insanely brutal; even for someone with 10 years of IT experience, it’s really bad," Rendon told CNBC Make It.
However, the techie said that he won't be going back to his former schedule, and is loving living in North Carolina.
