to get from Herndon to Pentagon City. I take the train sometimes to see a client from Wiehle
to downtown, Farragut West. For me that is a 10 minute drive to metro + 37 minute train + 10 minute walk, so about 57 minutes total. $12 RT ticket. Hoosband would drop me off so I don't have to park. Last week I happened to get on the train at the same time as my former intern, who now works for EY and got assigned to a project at Crystal City. She says with the train change at Rosslyn, her commute from Ashburn is at least 1.5 hours each way. $12 RT ticket + $5 parking each day. That commute is a killer even for a 23 year old.

It's just a way of life though around here. My son's first job was at NASA in Greenbelt. He commuted from our house in Great Falls for the first year and it was a minimum of 1 hour if he left by 6:15am. To come home it was 1.25 hours at 3:30. That's if nothing happened on the road.
He moved to Arlington and his commute went to 30 minutes (if nothing happened). He just started a new job this week and it is either a 10 minute train ride, or 20 minute against the traffic commute if he goes to another office.

I've done a big commute before, but now I work in Lansdowne, so a 15 minute against the traffic commute by car, unless I'm going to DC to see a client.

To be honest, I would do my best to live somewhere central or convenient, but you don't base your living area completely around the job. Job situations change. You could get a new job that puts your house far away.