Should I become a trucker

then by all means try it, if you fail you will be able to tell others to stop them from makin the same mistake. theres a sayin "a scared man cant work and a jealous man. cant make any money". Dont be a scared man, hop in, i wish the best of luck to you.

AS FOR ME........IM MORE OF THE STEERIN WHEEL HOLDIN, TIRE BEATIN, STICK SHIFTIN, WILD YOUNG MAN WHO CANT STAY AWAY FROM THE SMELL OF DIESEL FUMES

 

16x70 is 1,120 a week. 1,120 x 52 is 58,240/yr. take out all the taxes, fees, other costs (like insurances and licenses) and you probably look at $50,000 as your net income? Not bad, it's enough to keep your head above water, that's for sure.

There's a lot of opportunity cost in all realms of trucking. Finances aside, there are also some physical and psychological things you should consider. How do you think you would do possibly not seeing your friends for a while? Loved ones? Be prepared for potentially living a life filled with solitude and stress if you do end up doing this. Physically, you may not be eating the same foods as you would be in your office job. That might not sound important, but if you ate considerably healthy while you worked in an office, imagine likely having to eat what's cheap and convenient, like cheeseburgers and drinking tons of Mountain Dew. When you wake up in your warm bed, it's clockwork for you to shower, put on some deodorant, brush your teeth and wear fresh clothes, right? Now imagine doing that same routine when you're living in a vehicle. It's not impossible, but it will be significantly harder. If you are in general a pretty hygienic person and very conscious of your body, it will bug the crap out of you if you are "filthy". And if it doesn't, you just won't care at all about hygiene, period. And if you don't care about your appearance or body, it will hurt you down the road. If you end up having teeth that have rotted out because you drank so much sugary crap and never felt like you had enough time to brush your teeth, or just no longer felt like it was important, you WILL regret it for obvious reasons (including the fact dental work is not cheap, and you might not get health insurance/dental coverage from your trucking).


Driving an oil tank can be very dangerous stuff, and every day you drive, you are sharing the road with someone who could hurt or kill you and the people around you if they aren't paying attention or just are bad drivers. So if that really makes you nervous or if you have issues with hypertension, this job might not be for you (it's not a character insult, it's a safety matter).


Consider what I've said. Trucking is a whole 'nuther beast and while it sounds really good on paper to get in for the money, you may end up biting off more than you can chew. Good luck

 

I'm pretty sure you do not get paid "overtime" for the other 30 hours you are expected to work.

 

I'd second that and raise you for I'd trade my cdl just to sell shrimp out of a van.

 

I have a bachelor's degree in business administration but there are few open jobs There are open jobs in your line of work you spent money to learn

The few jobs available pay $30-40k per year That more than you will make in ur first year trucking maybe second year and it more than you will make if you would to start in as a LEO also in a small town, they only make 20K a year.

to me it is foolish to spend 4 years in college and then do something different when you get out. Why go if your not going into the field you study for?

 

You appear to have the go-getter mentality, which is good and all, but you're missing some points.

. You are not going to be the only person to apply for these jobs. Considering you do not have any trucking experience (you don't even have a CDL, do you?), the likelihood you will get hired instantly is very low. Since oil is very expensive, and very volatile, you need to build up equity in yourself by getting yourself the necessary experiences in truck driving. I also believe you need HAZMAT endorsements to work in the oilfield. I don't say this to be mean, but quite frankly you do not sound like a candidate to be driving in an industry with high expectations (at this time). CDL classes, the licenses (including HAZMAT), and the insurance you may need to take it out is definitely not free, nor cheap. Unless a company from the oilfield has CDL certifications to give you the training and everything to get you legal and qualified, you will start out in the hole. You might not get any income for weeks. Because there is preference for experience, your resume will look very weak and you might not even get hired as quickly as you expected, if you do get hired in the first place without paying your dues and taking a job with one of the mega's.

Also, I'm not saying this to be a richard, but what did you expect your career would like when you were in college? What did you reasonably expect you could do with a degree in Business Administration five years out of college? Ten years? Twenty years? What job opportunities did you expect were viable for living in North Dakota? What you really should have done was pursued an environmental engineering path, because there is even bigger money to be made there and more opportunities if you played your cards right, especially in the northland/Heartland. The fact of the matter is that a degree in Business Administration isn't what will get you a job hauling oil. Experience is, and you can't just "pass Go (and collect $200!)" on having to deal with the brunt of the industry.

I don't know how you can expect to make $71k in your first year of driving a truck. I don't know how you can reasonably expect you'll be getting high paychecks for a set amount of time if you don't even know you'll still have a job.