Education of Truckers

I am certainly not looking to get rich driving truck but instead using it as a gap filler between lay-off and retirement. Thinking of buying a tractor, using it for the next few years and then modifying it to pull a large fifth wheel RV where we will live full time. I plan on getting my phd in fishing and beer. Don't tell me there is no course of study called fishing and beer. It's my fantasy, let me have it!

Lupe, listen to a tribe elder (read, old man). You will never succeed as long as you place blame on the system. Look into yourself and realize that you must accept the rules and live within the rules to find success. Until you accept and correct your own faults you will always feel persecuted. Everything that happens to you, good and bad, is ultimately your responsibility.

 

I have a BA in Human Resources Administration, 24 years experience in the banking and securities (stocks & bonds) industry, was a Bank Vice President and very 'respectable' in my family's eyes. It's taken them awhile to figure out why I am 'wasting my education' driving a truck. I have explained that I hated every one of those 24 years working a 9-5 job. My system doesn't work on that schedule and it was like trying to keep the square peg jammed into the round hole for 24 years. Now, I am pretty much on my own schedule and it works better for me. Like everyone says - it's a lifestyle, not a job - the lifestyle works for me.

 

There are people of all walks out here. Medical doctors who got tired of paying for expensive equipment. Paying mal-practice insurance etc. When I was with star there was a former NFL player that was a driver. You just never know who is behind the wheel now-a days.

 

I drove trucks on the summers to PAY for college.

notarps4me is right -- truckers come from every walk of life.

 

to be a trucker you only need to know how to read. come on now I was driving trucks a little for my dad when I was twelve.
as far as your pompas ### Q goes,are you going to be full of glee to hear that most dont have anything than a highschool education.
Its truly a lifestyle for those of us that stick around and make it a life.
As a child my parents always told me to do what makes me happy, so I drive truck.
It really doesnt matter what you do,what matters only is if your happy and content.
I'll drive till I cant drive anymore.
I am a father of three and a husband first. The next time you see a truck its not just some big slow loser in the way,in most cases its someone totally at peace with themself and also performing a job that is paramount for the flow of goods in america.

 

One thing is for sure. The perception that truck drivers are people too uneducated or stupid to get any other job is definitely not true. I have an associates with enough hours for a bachelors... just haven't had the time or money to tie them all together. There are people who. like me, just got sick of the cubicle world and need to get away. Yeah it's not an easy life, but it is a life, unlike the mindless automatons in the cubicle shuffling the same papers every day.

 

The last two posters are most correct. Life is way too short to spend doing something you don't enjoy. No you don't need to be a rocket scientist to drive a truck but you do need an apptitude for driving. Don't think for a second that just anybody can drive. I know plenty of kolleg gradiates that have little business with even a class c. Unfortunately, we all know a few supertruckers that fit in that same category!!!

 

The big problem with trucking is it has become a dumping ground for people that cannot find work in ther field or with there "eudjumacation"

 

Not a dumping ground at all. It is the modern cowboy. From the outside looking in it is a very appealing vocation. Big shiny toys and the freedom of the road. I'd like to know how many have gotten their CDLs and then found out it wasn't for them so they went back to more normal jobs. Also, how many have diqualified themselves by getting in trouble.

 

Sounds like a winner to me.