Career Change Question

A friend is a teacher and complains about her pay often. She makes about $45K, but works 8.5 months a year; summers off with intermittant breaks throughout the school year.

A starting truck driver makes about $35K assuming he runs pretty hard, 4-6 weeks OTR at a time with 3-4 days off (home time) inbetween...for the entire year through the heat of summer and the cold of winter...and being home for holidays is no guarantee...plus truck driving ranks as one of the most dangerous jobs...and there's no pension and you'll have to subsidise your health/dental coverage out of your paycheck each week.

After a year or two it gets slightly better.

 

Our daughter just hired on with Los Angeles Unified for $58,416 annual which was the lowest pay scale they have. She gets the full summer off but will probably teach summer school to get a start on her student loan debt of $68k. Way more $$ than old dad with his CDl is making.

 

Forget about the schools. The best way to learn is driving actual miles and being paid for it alongside a co-driver. 3 months later you can go off on your own. Team driving theses days has changed a lot from 2005. Whereas in the past, you would switch every 5 hours and split shifts, nowadays you can't split it up. I think its easier than it was. Both ways you can't expect much sleep.

 

That's just the beginning...those "full summers off"...when it's about 6 weeks, and there's 3 weeks off at Christmas, and Easter, and she has to take her refresher or whateverelse they call them teacher education courses to keep upgrading...she'll not have much time off. My son is teaching on a private program..teach 2 years, go to school and graduate with a MA degree... he's making about $20,000 but housing and food is included.... but as a band teacher he only works about 100 hours a week, more or less. Not including having to give individual music lessons, chaperoning band and other activities (aka football games and marching band), going to school and doing his own homework....
Wow, their lowest pay is $18000 more then when I was teaching in Hawaii.
Good luck to her and I hope she really enjoys teaching. the hardest part isn't the teaching, it's dealing with OPC's.... Other People's Children!
mary

 

Comparing teaching to truck driving is like comparing apples to oranges. Job satisfaction and a decent paycheck is the goal.

 

First career was Naval Flight Officer. Gone a lot, flying from a carrier and real squirrely hours. Second career is mentally abusing young children as a middle school teacher. Yes, home everyday and holidays, responsible for everything with control over nothing. Summers spent earning credits to maintain the certification, parents #####, students ##### and administrators #####. Figure on trucking means working long hours in a dangerous job and get no respect from anyone, but got control over what happens (as much as anywhere) once on the road. And the noise level is what I want it to be. Getting to see this great country, too. Someday I'll figure out what I want to do when I grow up. For now, driving a truck is a dream come true.