20 years old and not sure about a career

he responded, that he lives in thier basement...clearly, not in his own apartment or house...

so there you go.

he needs to move out, and be on his own, and for his parents to allow him to stay in thier house, they are enabling him.

 

If you want any kind of social life, trucking should not be your first choice for a career.

 

I say give it a try. Go OTR while you can before you have a family. It might open up doors for you and when you want to come home.you can get a local or regional job. If nothing else if you want to move on with something else you will have gained some lifelong valuable experience no matter where life later takes you.
You won't have a lot of time for sightseeing while you are working but you can choose to take your hometime whereever you want and do some exploring on your off days. If you can handle the OTR life for a bit it will enable you to bank some money. It might just be a springboard to move you into something else.
For a lot of people out there trucking is an in between job. Many do it for a time.and move on to something else. For others is a lifelong lucrative career . For me it's been a retirement job after nearly 3 decades in law enforcement. I have enjoyed it but it certainly hasn't been a cakewalk. Its extremely humbling a times and there were many times I felt.like a homeless person just walking to the wal mart just across the street from.where I parked my truck. Someone said.feeling like a stray dog in a post, that is a good description. For the most part the folks working at the shippers and receivers aren't too bad,..(maybe 75%) but some will treat you like absolute garbage. You will also feel like after a while you are wasting your life... trucking involves a lot of waiting around and not getting paid. It really to this day still amazes me how much in trucking is unpaid labor. I've been trucking on and off.for about 9 years now and it seems the trucking industry has been in decline the past few years.Seems it's becoming a 3rd world type of job. Wages have actually declined or stagnated at best the past couple of years. ( this is a whole other political discussion). I worry about what trucking is going to look like in the long term if we stay the course we are on. But there is still plenty of opportunity for you now if you choose to do it. . You are on the right site for the advice you need, there is a lot of good folks with much experience here, good luck!

 

Regarding the part about waiting around, unless it is for an extended period of time I don't mind it. I like to read and take my time to eat and do other things. You should always be able to find something to either occupy your time or just be able to relax without getting anxious about having to wait. The US Army taught me that in boot camp. Hurry up and wait BUT learn to develop some patience especially when things are not necessarily in your control is a healthy disposition to maintain.

 

Yes this has always been my weakness.and something I need to work on. When my wife was with me it drove her nuts. A lot of this has to do with getting to a receiver/shipper and waiting for the call.

 

I think at your age you still have time to find something you enjoy doing. And the best way to find it is to explore different careers and expierence them first hand. give trucking a go and see how it works out. took me 30 days to get my CDL and be on the road. its like any other job with pros and cons and it just depends on your preferred lifestyle. given the current market conditions im +1 for looking into the trades tho

 

Me
Depends on the situation

my brothers kid lives in the apartment over his garage , but he’s a good kid , works hard , makes good money , helps out around the house a lot etc

if parents let their kid lay around and smoke pot and play video games all day and live in the basement for free , then that’s not good .



As for the advice , I’d encourage the OP to go after his state license for either plumbing or electrical .

the trades that require state licenses pay very well .

In my state you can get your state hvac ticket to open your own shop in 24 months .
Plumbing and electrical take 4-5 years , but pay better .

we are paying state licensed electricians insane money to install meter bases and breaker panels etc .

like $5k for a 12 hour day of them installing our own equipment on a pole .

that’s just for the labor , for ONE day .

One man with a van and no overhead can make unbelievable money.

 

If you are socially awkward trucking would be a great Career , if your outgoing train as a technician with Cat or Volvo get into mining and make that Big money with some forum of lifestyle , Trucking won’t offer that