Moving Out

You should have around 2 ish months rent + utilities before you move out. And if you can't have your friend and you split the bill evenly, I suggest finding a 3rd roommate. Living in tiny CAL housing for a while, it's more advantageous cost-wise to share the apartment with more people. However, you should probably find people you know to an extent. If you do happen across randoms, make sure they sign a contract to all the terms of your apartment. This at least gives you some legal means of getting your money back if they jump ship (granted you can track them down).

Signing on the lease means you can potentially get your money back because it's a binding document (like a contract). If you sub lease, still give them a document saying something along the lines of "I will pay X amount of money for rent per month and X amount for utilities." If anything, ask the landlord to draft something for you. Legal binding contract is better than word of mouth purely because there can be a chance for pay back versus never at all.

For my apartment, I take care of everything and trust people to pay me back (it's signed on the contract). Though I've never had to deal with randoms.

At least you have a job. If you didn't have one, I would have advised you to stay at a friend's place or a relative's until you could stabilize your income.