Wanting Advice. Please look at!!

david10259411, your dad wants you to have an easier life. He has seen the trucking industry change from the days when we were a robust, unionized manufacturing economy. Anyone could earn a middle class income by driving trucks, and you have benefited from your dad's work ethic. Now, the labor pool has changed. The equipment is easier to operate, the required skill level has lowered. Companies are willing to import labor, and those are the drivers with whom you will be competing for jobs.

When you are young, the adventure of trucking appeals to you. You can not imagine how family and home time could trump adventure. You can not imagine how a job with excessive hours could interfere with your hobbies or recreation. Adventure wears off after about three years. The economy will improve and drop again by the time you are 21.

Now is the time to concentrate on your education, but keep the dream because we will always need motivated truckers. Have a backup plan. Have a skilled trade or profession. Most people will work three different occupations during their lifetime. It will be very difficult to return to school later.

 

Listen to your Dad. Go to school,get good grades,then off to college. After you graduate from college you will at least have the education to make the choice. You can not choose from things you do not know.

 

If Your Dad has been a Trucker for 30 years,,, then it's in your blood too.
You were born to truck , Cody.
We've been in it for 30 yrs too. Our son was placed sitting on the drivers seat from the time he was 2 yrs old and up.
Our son wanted to go with his dad every chance he could. Even when he finished high school.
But let me tell you a bit more....,,
After high school, we told him to go to school for something or join the military. He went into the Marines and served his time.
When he got out?
He wanted to truck. His Dad helped him to get his CDL. Driving the truck, came natural for him. He did such a fine job driving.
So he drove truck for several years, Learned about all how to pull , flatbeds, dump trucks, hauling gas, oversized loads and loved it all.

I'm SO GLAD HE GOT THAT OPPORTUNITY TO DRIVE!!!! And did what his heart told him.
WHY?
Because a year ago,,, he came down with Leukemia. IT HIT HIM SO FAST and HARD> WE THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO LOSE HIM.
They had to do a "Bone Marrow Transplant on him".
HE is home now from the bone marrow transplant. But he is weak.
He can't drive, even though he says " I Miss Trucking".
So now, being home he found a new hobby
He loves working with his hands , and now he makes Wooden Trucks to LOOK just like your truck.
He has his own web site, that he is showing the trucks for anyone interested. That he can make for someone
This is Giving him something to do!

Not sure if I can post his site on here..
But
Because,,,,,, HE LIVED and Experienced HIS DREAM.
That is Driving Truck.
I"M so Glad he had that opportunity and chance to follow his dream.

I Hope You Do Too , Cody !!!!!!
FOLLOW YOUR HEART., And Your Dream.

 

The stimulus plan is supposed to increase construction work . Jobs don't happen overnight . There is planning , bidding , and many jobs take 2 or 3 years to complete . Maybe if there is a big construction job near you you and your Dad can buy a dump truck and you can haul asphalt or gravel .

 

I hear ya, im a 4th gen.

if your around farming at all you can look for a job with a farm when you turn 16, it will put money into your pocket and after a few years when you turn 18 I would bet that the farmer would trust you with a truck come harvest at minimum.

I would definetly go to college though, I took college courses in high school and went to technical school afterwards. spent a while spinning wrenchs, but found out that working warrenty work in a small town will kill you faster than most bad driving jobs. I began looking back into college at csu for mechanical engineering, but since i have a degree already, financial aid has been cut off and its all me, scholarships that aren't handed to highschoolers, and loans (and im not big into borrowing). so i decided to try to save up a chunk before making the dive and follow the family tradition. I figure that when i finally do get back in, i will spend summers on a harvest crew. I am living proof that it is harder to go back to school than to just stay in school.

keep in mind that there is a 90% chance that you will at bare minimum want a family someday.