New truck driver hoping I didnt make a mistake changing careers!!

ther not all like this, but sometimes ppl have bad expirances, in time it will get better and the hardest part is starting, and prob the first year.. After that you can than have a little more say in where you wanna go and what you wanna make and really begin to look in to whats available... Hang in there, gl,

 

Unfortunately, most training companies are. The running joke is that SWIFT stands for Slave With Idiot For Trainer. In 2010, I was hit by three of their trainers while in 2 different rest areas and one truck stop. Not the students who refused to try the maneuvers, the trainers. The were very minor accidents, but had to be reported anyway.

And, trust me when I say this, there are a lot of training companies that are far worse, and by that I mean downright dangerous. I'm not surprised by your experience, I've read hundreds of horror stories this year alone that are far worse than what you went through, and yours was bad enough.

I was a California nurse, who departed from the profession because of Arnold Schwarzennegar's hostility towards the California Nursing Association and returned to trucking. It wasn't a burnout issue, unless you count having my pay cut in half, and having 30 CICU patients at once every night, pulling double and triple 12 hour shifts, that sort of thing. I figured if I was going to be abused, I might as well do something that made more money and that (hopefully) wouldn't result in my killing someone by accident.

That was in 2006, and I already had 9 years experience as a trucker prior to going into nursing, so my return to the industry was like picking up where I left off. But, by the summer of 2007, the industry turned ugly towards its number one resource, the drivers that actually do the work. Pay started falling, benefits got eliminated, pay schemes came up to further reduce a drivers pay while reaping huge tax breaks for carriers (at the expense of drivers' future benefits, retirement, even our credit ratings). And then companies started to really push the myth of a "driver shortage," and used that myth to get permission to hire drivers with "guest worker" visas.

You have your RN, please heed my advice and go back to it. If it's travel you want, you can always get into travelling nurse through various reputable registries, I've been told the pay is quite good and the level of respect is very high (most I've met say they earn six figures plus per diem and other expenses, though the time away from home can be hard).

Another option you could consider, though I don't know where you would get trained for it, is to drive the mobile clinics, portable MRI's and CT's, that sort of thing. I've thought about that and am looking into it now, given my background (both as a nurse and a trucker), and I suspect it wouldn't take me long to get my RN back if need be.

Good luck, and drop in to tell us what you finally decide!

 

WRONG ANSWER!

The burnout rate for a registered nurse is less than the time it took to get the degree and pass the state boards. You thinking trucking's hard, think about this - there are no hours of service rules in nursing, most nurses work 12 hour shifts, and we are often required to pull double and triple shifts. Like the American Trucker, nurses are blamed for anything and everything that goes wrong, regardless of who is really at fault (especially when it's the fault of a student doc or intern). We got into the field to help others, and then learn that we have to deal with a paper blizzard of documentation that takes half our shift to deal with.

Doctors treat us like slaves, short of actually whipping us when they get angry. Patients treat us like maids, but at least we can excuse that for their reaction to being ill or injured and in a hospital. We get exposed to all kinds of nifty little bugs with no cure that doctors (and sometimes patients) don't feel it necessary to warn us about. We have to carry malpractice and liability insurance just like the docs do, while getting paid 10% of what the docs do for ten times the work.

Ever work with a child who was beaten nearly to death by a parent, and then have to be polite and courteous to said parent? Every watch someone kept alive against their will on life support, knowing that they are suffering horribly, because the family hasn't the guts to let go? Ever watch the only patient you ever had survive chemotherapy die because some intern refused to listen and gave the patient the wrong medication? Ever have an infant die right in front of you, and you could do nothing but look into the deadly silent face of the dad while the mom screams her wrath to God? Ever watch a loved coworker die a slow and painful death because of an accidental needle stick from a patient with Hepatitis or HIV?

I'm sorry guys. I know trucking is a rough career, and right now we are being basely abused by the industry in the name of the next quarter's profit statement and for some invisible stockholders' dividends. I know there needs to be a solution to the abuses we deal with, the scams we are put through, etc.

But don't EVER for a second think that yours is a worse lot than everyone else. It isn't, and never was. Nurses, cops, firefighters, EMT's, soldiers, these are but a small example of those who have it far worse than you do. They do these jobs because they want to help others in their most desperate time of need, unlike we truckers who do what we do for the paycheck and freedom this line of work once promised.

In case you didn't get an idea of my former line of work, sign me...

California Medicine Woman
Former Nurse and EMS Instructor

 

Friend, I've been in and out of trucking for 38 years and worked for many companies. The reason I've been in and out is because of what you are experiencing. There are few good companies out there especially when you are new to the industry. I can't think of a single one that I can recommend to you. I wish you well.

 

Your a idiot,,,by your own admission your a "EX' driver yet your sage advice,,"it gets in OUR blood"

Your quite the expert

 

Ca medicine woman

Sorry that it sounds like you really had it bad in your nursing career.
I have been an RN and have left job dues to my own decision before I burned out or was frustrated with the job. I don't know what the rules and regulations are in California but from what you write about the working conditions.....In NY you can not work more than a 16 hour shift with out having 4 hours off. Depending on where you are in the state, most RN's with any bit of experience working in a hospital is probably making $50-75K a year. You don't have to carry malpractice insurance either in NY you are covered by the institution you work for but you can choose to carry it you want more coverage.

As to the working conditions-yes they sux. I knew before I went to nursing school that there would be pain, death, tragedy and sorrow- I guess part of the 'care giver' reason I became a nurse. I learned early on that alot of situations are very bad but again I knew that going in or early on. I was not surprised by the garbage I saw, mostly sad at what a car or gun or knife can do to another human in the wrong hands.


I think all careers have their tough moments and times and yes the medical profession is probably one that has more stress than others in general. I think it is up to that individual to then move on, such as you did or get a different job.


Just like driving, nursing is not for everyone.

 

I had two nursing classes to go before I became an RN and walked away. I had a 3.96 gpa and was breezing through but knew it wasnt for me. I also sold cars for the last few years. I made 70k plus for three years straight but hated it. All I did all day was think about driving a truck. Dont get me wrong, I want to make a good living for my family, but if I go home miserable every night, what good is it?! I am a bit of a research hound. There is good money to be made trucking. Like any career, if you are clean cut, and articulate, and you can interview well; if you have a clean record and good work history, you can put yourself in a money making situation.

I have been told that I could have played baseball professionally when I was younger. I WAS really good at it. I also knew that if I had to do it everyday I would have hated it. Dont get me wrong, I would have done it if I knew the salaries to be made. lol. At least for a while and then hung it up. lol. But the point is that some people need fullfillment in what they do over the money.

Some people can go through life miserable. Some just cant. I am one of those who needs happiness. I need to be happy in what I do. Giving up nursing is ok if trucking will make you happy. Years ago when I was a bartender in ny, it was probably the best money I ever made, on my days off I would go to the park with friends and throw a ball around. As the saying goes, the best things in life are free! Do what makes you happy!

 

I would have to disagree with this being a over exaggerations. Wife and I signed up with Swift. Our reason for picking them? (Female trainers are hard to find. If the female trainer didn't work out, I was told I could train my wife.) I went OTR with a O/O to prove I still had it while wife waited on trainer.

My wife's first trainer, a black woman introduce herself by asking my wife (who is white) "I was told, you ain't trifling around black folks cause the Driver Service told me U banging a black dude" (I'm interracial) My wife sucked it up and did not ask: WTF dos this have to do with training me how to Big Truck? This trainer was on a local dedicated run, home every night, & equipped with a single bunk Volvo. The trainer tried to make extra $ hauling extra loads outside of her regular route. This leads up to Wife being forced to sleep in the front seat. After being bullied three day about not being able to drive without sleep, food, or showers wife was dropped off at Atlanta terminal. Her trainer told her "Swift run short female trainers, I never get Fired." I called driver service manager in hope of finding common ground. I used to be a manager, sometime people don't get along. Our DSM never denied anything that happened to my wife. She even said: You know, this is trucking. People don't always get sleep, food, or showers when needed" IN THREE DAYS?!?!?! Wife http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/members/38822-pixel/ sent a letter to safety. I was given ok to train my wife by Ray Cruz. By the time I finished Mentor Class Our DSM who took my wife's letter as a personal attack called to inform me: "Due to what your wife did I will see to it that your wife never sets foot in a Swift truck again; as a trainee or a rider."

The reason Swift gets mixed reviews by drivers and posters has to do with how the company is set up. Swift is not like KFC where original recipe is the same in KFCs all over the world. Each Terminal is only as good as the manager running it. In Phoenix no one wanted to hear my story. Kansas was helpful: "the people who work your terminal are a joke" Sparks worked hard to get me a truck and set me up for mentor's class in Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City Said: wife's trainer and DSM should be fired. TX/Ca told me "That just the way it is, in Swift" The good people who work for Swift are not enough to make up for the bad people in management. This is how you get crap like this

chedid122 Do not give up on your CDL. Use this forum for Info, Good & Bad. Don't forget this is a internet forum. Anyone can post here. You will find support from some people & find others rude. Wife stop posting on this forum because she found: "The Rude". Some were real drivers, some were Swift Recruiter posing as drivers. Your story is normal among the big corporate fleets who make $ training noobs. With everyone hunting for a job you will find the big fleets don't care about turnover. For every one who walks out 100 people are waiting to take your place. Hard to find, but look for a smaller outfit who will give you a shot.
No trucking company is perfect, I would settle for (not stupid).
If you want to be in demand keep the quality of your work high and your record clean.
There isn't a shortage of sloppy drivers, only good ones. Wife and I wish you luck.