Hello everyone- Let me introduce myself...

Hello everyone. I wanted to take this opportunity to say and introduce myself.

I am 40, married with a 4 y/o and 2 y/o, college graduate who is currently working two jobs, 60+ hours a week, and my wife works full time as well. My dilema is that if I am going to be working that much, I want to get paid a good wage to do it. My full time job is a government job and my part time job is grocery.

Eventhough the government job is steady with set hours, the chances for advancement are limited. By limited, I mean you are waiting for someone to retire or die before you can move up. With the part time job, it is good but the pay is crappy. I don't mind working the long hours, what I do mind is not having anything to show for it. With that being said, I have been thinking about doing a career change and start a driving career.

I have been doing a lot of research on getting my CDL and the different ways to do it and the different companies that will hire a noobie driver. I found a lot of very good information on this forum and look forward to learning even more. Ultimately, I am looking to earn more money from one job driving, where I am working the same amount of hours for the two jobs I have now. I have never been opposed to working hard to provide for my family.

I know that a new driver starting out is not going to get paid very well that first year. But after that, the opportunities to make more are greater. I have also read some threads that mention it is possible to get local jobs with little or no experience, but they can be hard to find.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated and thanks for all of the info on this site.

 

I have looked at the CDL schools around Houston. Both Lonestar and HCC (Houston Comunity College) have CDL Schools and the cost about the same, around $3,200.00. With Lonestar, the out of pocket cost would be around $970.00 (student loan would cover the rest, but because it is a "continuing education class", you don't get full financial aid) and I could go to school on the weekends for 12 weeks, which would allow me to keep the full time job while I go school. It would be tough in the beginning not being able to work the part time job, but if we tightened our belts, it could be do-able. The problem is that I don't have $9700.00 just lying around.

Another plus to going that route is that I could sign on with some one after school, but not be obligated to work for them for a year in return for them putting me through school.