I think I would really like a job as an over-the-road trucker, but I am really apprehensive about making the jump. I don't love my current job, but I am being primed for management and there is incentive to stay (I work in the insurance industry). I am still trying to figure out if the pay/benefits/potential are worth staying in a job that I don't love. My current salary is about 45 and I also get profit sharing rewards, 401K, and health. I am 28 and have been with the company for 1 year and 5 months. I have held a couple other jobs since graduating and have yet to find something great that utilizes my degree/major.

I guess what I need to do is find out how much I will like this job before I leave the job that I have. Do you truckers love your job? Is the travel and excitement as great as I am imagining to be, or am I glorifying it?

Also, I am wondering if there are CDL schools which you can attend on a part-time basis. If possible, I would like to keep my current job while I work on the licensing. All the schools I have found seem to require 3-6 weeks of full time, intensive study.

Thanks for your time.

A little over a year into your job and you are looking at doing something else tells me that you are not happy in your line of work. That should be an indicator there for you. How will you feel in 10 more years doing what you are doing? Trucking is different in many ways from standard jobs. It is the only job I know where you have a lot of choices in where you run or live. You can move to several different states and still keep the same job with the same company. It is something that takes a while to get used to and even longer to get out of your system. Look how many road drivers quit and come back time and time again.

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My childhood dream of becoming a truck driver turned into a nightmare!

I know my job, I love my job....but only on Saturdays and Sundays.

I am familiar with your job. If you are being prepped for management, I would stay. But, that's where I'm at in my life....not you. I have family in insurance (regional management) and they knock down some serious money...very serious.

There's something to be said for "liking" your job. If it's what you want to do (trucking). By all means go for it. You could always go back.

My ENTIRE family has switched careers.

1 Licensed Diesel mechanic -- now a RN, lacking only 1 semester being a Practitioner.

1 CPA Top 5 firm straight out of college -- high school English teacher now.

1 Communications Major -- driving a truck

And we're all happier than $#$#, even though it took more than one try. Not a lot of prestige in trucking. But, it gets the bills paid. And you get to meet a lot of people. Many of whom, you never wish to meet again LOL

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I'm gonna kill the next SOB who tells me I look stressed out.

--Unknown

It will take you a few years in trucking to get close to that kind of pay and bennies. Can you afford that? Do you have family that depends on you and your income? Sometimes it is not about just you. Liking what you do is important but it's more important to take care of yours.

Sounds like a primer for management, ask some questions.

Between NoTarps and Danc, I feel like I am in a zoo
I need to get me one of those primate avatars

OP, I have found reference that some schools offer weekend and tailored curicul\ums. Local to you, I dont know. Good Luck.

**EDIT**
Cool, now I feel better, lol

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"Contentment isn't only measured in dollars." AfterShock

I want my old one back...but I ain't sharing with nobody. So I'll keep this one

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I'm gonna kill the next SOB who tells me I look stressed out.

--Unknown

Trucking is only what you make of it and from that it could either make you or break you. I've been trying to take the plunge but wasn't getting hired on anywhere until now so I'm letting my current career go and taking the plunge. Do the research first though. I've alway's worked outside so you'll never catch me behind a desk pushing a pen. The steering wheel is my desk, the paper work is what keep's me rollin', the sleeper is my house, and the other people who live this lifestyle are my family. This is how I look at it. Trucking isn't just a job or career. It is a lifestyle and I've said this on this site I don't know how many time's. Then again, you have to ask yourself the basic question of, "How do you know you don't like it if you haven't even tried it?" If I were in your shoe's doing what your doing now. I would take the plunge. Good luck!

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"I'm not a truck driver. I'm a non refrigerated load relocation engineer".

I don't have a family. It's really just me (I do have a girlfriend).

Well; if you really like working outside, swing on over to flatbedding...

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My childhood dream of becoming a truck driver turned into a nightmare!