Like to hear from other HAPPY drivers that switched careers

I too am in the process of leaving my present job for OTR. I've been in Sales & Account Management for a wholesale importer/distributor for a year/more now and am ready to make the switch.

I wish you the best of luck ... what companies are you looking at?

 

I will speak for my husband. He left 27 years of being a chef and running kitchens to go OTR. He misses the kitchen, the environment, the creativity. But he was getting older and that kind of job is tough, but the main reason he left was he didn't like how the industry was changing.

He loves the money that he is making, the benefits, the vacation time. We went last month to Hawaii for 10 days, that kind of vacation was never possible when he was running a kitchen. We have plans of seeing many more places while he is a driver.

He loves seeing the country, he hates being away from me. Overall he is glad that he made the switch, but there are tradeoffs involved.

 

As a wife, I can tell you that I am happy that he switched. He was getting way too stressed and overworked, not to mention drinking too much. Now I have his undivided attention 4 days a month, which is more than I ever had before. We can take vacations, go camping, do anything with his time off without having to be tied to the kitchen. And of course, the money and benefits are great too.

 

I just finished Swift Academy at the PHX terminal last Tuesday.

Head back to PHX for orientation and the wild blue yonder Sunday night.
Its going to be a big change after being self employeed for the last 10 years. with the construction/trades being in such a depressed state at this time, Momma said get a job !! LOL.

 

Has he looked into the possibility of taking you along on a couple of trips in the truck? There are lots of companies that have rider programs and the wife is the number one reason they do it.

 

Hmmmmm This is a tough one.

I'm a happy driver. That has switched careers..more than once. I swore the last time I left trucking, I would never be back.

I think it's more a matter of prospective and responcibilities you have on you at that moment in life.

At this point in my life. It allows me the freedom to do pretty much what I want to do when I want to do it Which was not the case when I first got into it.

South America (Brazil) and Europe (Spain) are on my radar for next year. But the more I think about it though...a quaint little Spanish speaking island sounds nice.

 

Last October I made the decision. I signed up for school and gave notice at my job.

School started in November and I got my license the first week of December. I waited until after Christmas to start looking for work and started working in the middle of January. February 13 was my first solo run.

So I'm coming up on 7 months of driving solo and in some ways it seems like only yesterday I was getting into a truck for the first time. For me it has been the best decision I ever made career wise and I wouldn't change it for the world.

Before I got started I read a lot of information on this site and others. Once I got out there it was pretty much what I expected.

I'm with a relatively small local company with about 80 trucks on the road. I do about 95% no touch freight, about 20% is simply drop and hook. I'm home every weekend though not always the same day. Sometimes friday, sometimes saturday and I usually head out sunday or monday.

I work too many hours, even though it doesn't feel like work. I don't see enough of my girlfriend and I don't have enough time to get some of the things done I would like to at home. I've missed birthdays and other events.

So I have never been happier with my work but there are trade offs. Thankfully I have a great girlfriend who takes care of most things at home and deals well with me being gone for a week at a time.

Now if I was out for weeks at a time or if I didn't work for a company that treats me well and treats me like a person or if they didn't take proper care of the equipment or tried to push me to do things it would be a whole different experience.

So I guess my point is that you can get a pretty good idea of what to expect though until you get out there you won't know for sure if it is for you or not. And if you don't get on with a company that meets your needs and expectations I think it could turn sour pretty quick.

 

I have to agree with tinytim, you won't know if it's for you until you try it. Some people love it, some hate it. It's not for everyone. But you will never know until you try. So I guess it comes down to, take a chance and maybe change your mind, or spend the rest of your life wondering what would have happened if...?