forget trucking

Good idea. But I have spent a pretty large part of my career teaching college grads how to drive a truck. It is sad but true. Most never got their main education paid off before there job was sent to India.

The best field to get an education in right now is nursing.

 

Hubcap- I am seeing a trend on this thread about nursing ---well I guess I picked the right career choice huh?

Thing is nursing- like driving- is NOT for everyone. It's not the lifestyle you have to think about -it's the people. Generally you see people at their worst, lowest, meanest, crapped out point in their life and you are ONE of the few people that might help to make that time a little better. On the other hand if you are a cantankerous beeach you can make that persons' time worse. Everyone has heard the stories about the mean and nasty nurse, much like the nasty, smelly driver who does not shower and shows up in dirty sweats???? Sterotypes wonderful...... Thing is again- seems like there are many similarities in my choosen profression and driving: I had to put time in to get where I am now- I was a newbie many times over at different jobs, the money suxed in the beginning but with each years experiences it's pretty decent now, I have worked all hours all days and all holidays-at the expense of my self and family. Oh and the risk for injuries? Catching something okay that's another story.....

Are there jobs for nurses? You bet-but like most jobs today- up until a few years ago I could pretty much pick and choose what/where I wanted to go w/my education, experience and background (including a few stints at management) but those jobs are getting farther and fewer. I check the paper, craigs list etc all the time -never hurts- but I would not want to be out there pounding the pavement cuz my choices would be much more limited and I am not a kid anymore (doing 12hr night shifts suxs)
I actually knew at age 5 I wanted to be a nurse and I know that I have in my lifetime made differences in peoples' lives that they will remember. I know I made the right choice in careers too
Okay I am done ranting now......

 

I can't figure out why all these wannabe nurses are on a trucking forum!

 

I'm not a wannabee nurse and my husband is a driver- I guess cuz when the thread goes that way -it's what I know

 

Did you actually go drive after school? Make it through training?

Sounds like one less whiner to put up with on the road.

 

you know...i dont find trucking all that bad. Yea you got ups and downs and everything in between. Sounds like maybe your driving for the wrong company. I look at myself as a paid tourist.

 

I have taught some nurses to drive too. If I had it my way, I would move to some remote part of Oklahoma with enough room to park my truck and I would hit the road.

But, I have some barriers that keep me from doing just that. There is nothing wrong with driving a truck over the road, if that is what you do. If you are trying to get rich at it? It is not going to happen. If you think buying your own rig will get you rich? That is not going to happen either.

If you can be content with a bunk behind you with an ac unit, a radio that plays books on tape (disk) and making a few friends out there you might last. But you are not going to get rich, but that goes for any labor field. This is what keeps people looking for greener pastures and there is money to be made from people who are not content with anything.

But I will say that now that I am older, it seems the drivers who stayed with what they had are far better off than I am. But I am one of those risk takers that likes to help start companies from the foundation...and I have paid for that willingness most of my life because that will not get you rich either. It is just best that you find something you love at the driving job you now posses.

There is no brass ring in trucking.

 

I have 3 years worth of chemistry at a respected Pennsylvania University (We Are .... ..... haha) - I quit to pursue a driving career after driving class B at my summer job and talking to all the drivers that came in to pick up O/D loads. That same steel shop helped me get my A but I still had to shell out $4,000 from my own pocket for an A so I could get hired by an OTR company for experience.I did that for a while and hated it - I found LTL and spent 4 years there making beans. One bid year it all turned.. I still keep in close contact with all my Penn State peeps and none of them even come close to what I make on W2's or overall compensation as a line-haul loser at Con-way Freight. Of the 10 or so I keep in close touch with, only two have jobs in the chemistry field while the others are doing whatever they can to make ends meet while paying on student loans. I've been placing money in my 401K and am now debt free while almost making 6 figures the last two years..

Not sayin, I'm just sayin..

 

Sorry I wasn't intending that for you, it was just a minor observation that several people had said they wanted to be or should have been a nurse.

 

The reason I'm driving is because of a layoff. Trucking is something you can always fall back on when the going gets tough. I live in a rural community where opportunities are minimal is another reason. Trucking grows on you thru the years. I've tried local jobs but always get the itch to go back out OTR.

There is nothing wrong with any education or trade you can get. The more the merrier If one particular job is not available, then maybe the next is.