Freight ‘drop zones Being developed for major markets

Nope. Only the very elite programs approach that kind of money. The average American programmer is competing with offshore and is working like a dog, most likely for less than $100k, a tiny bit more if they are senior with a resume. And when I say like a dog, I mean close to OTR hours. And the stress of deadlines makes OTR feel simple.

 

Most of them to be honest. It's not all that hard. It is time-consuming, and it can be frustrating but if your motivated it can be done. It took me about a year to be employable at an entry level. When I was sitting in docks, on my 34, or had shut down for the night I would pull out my laptop and get on sites like teamtreehouse.com or freecodecamp.com. I also looked up and watched the entire Harvard CS 50 course on youtube to learn more about computer science.

I am certainly not a genius. Before I started truck driving my background was a farmer, construction worker, and worked in a foundry. All heavy labor type work. Hell I'm not even a HS graduate. I have a GED because I dropped out my senior year. I am also not all that young. I just turned 39 last month and started learning to code a few months before I turned 38.

It wasn't easy. I did it out of sheer determination because I wanted a change in my life. I wanted to be able to work remotely from anywhere. My desire to sit on far off beaches in beautiful places is what kept me going. If I can do it, anyone with average intelligence and the ability to keep trying when things get hard can do it if they really want to.

Heck with page builders like Oxygen, Square Space, Divi, Webflow, Elementor, Beaver Builder etc you don't even have to code to get your start building websites. You just need to get out there and do it.

 

Nonsense. I was in IT before trucking. I was building websites in the 90s. The idea that your run of the mill trucker can learn computer programming is ridiculous nonsense.

 

I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one. I certainly am no genius and I figured it out. The amount of resources available today to help one learn is virtually unlimited. I personally think if a guy is motivated and refuses to give up they can do it, but that's my opinion.

 

If you are talking about simple, stand alone apps, you may be able to muddle your way to something half coherent.

But if you are talking about corporate development, you need a host of skills. Starting with understanding the underlying business processes and design sheets that are the basis for your project. Next, you would need a significant understanding of the RDBMS or No-SQL back end being used, along with any connection methods being deployed. Or perhaps your project is using containerization, so all the technology that goes with that. And if you are not familiar with any of the languages/protocols being deployed, you best plan on staying up all night studying after working all day -- and weekends too. Of just stay in trucking earning the easy money.

 

Most companies that utilize drop lots have been doing so for 25 years and have in house IT departments. I have read the article three times and still can't figure out what is new. Sounds like a bad investment. I will say drop yards are a premium in that neck of the woods. IT is a dime a dozen.

 

i agree with this 100%, regardless of current situation or goal.

which leads me to this: how many are in trucking bc they gave up somewhere else or lack the motivation to really do better?

there are WAY better jobs out there but many will find all the reasons in the world to never better themselves.

 

I never said it was easy, and I will be honest I have a lot to learn myself still and will continue to have to learn as I advance and technologies change. I got lucky landing the job that I did, but I also make less than half of what they are paying the senior devs because I still have a lot to learn. I actually learned more in my first two months than I did in a year of studying on my own. I am lucky to have a senior dev who is a great mentor at my company. Likewise, I do spend time outside the hours I mentioned learning and studying for sure. I do personal projects, and study to improve my skills. I want to increase my value and expertise, so I look at that time as an investment in myself.

I'll never go back to trucking though. I don't miss the piss smell on the parking lots, waiting 45 minutes for some dude who was taking a shower to finally move off the fuel island so I can fuel my truck, New Jersey, Atlanta, or the crappy food and lifestyle of living on the road.

Not having to walk across a dirty parking lot dodging bags of poop to take a dump in a stall next to a guy who ate to many bomb burritos is pretty sweet too.

 

It's a company specializing in drop lots and final mile. Instead of a company owning it's own drop lots, they pay these guys to handle it instead.

If drop yards are at a premium then doesn't that make it an excellent investment?

 

Smart money behind this. Interesting to see if they'll find any traction and if so with what sort of companies