Career Planning

You are right, I could loose my license within days of getting it, but I never planned on being laid off, always thought with my skills I could run out and find that next opportunity in hours. The job market is changing fast, you won't know what skills you need until you need them.
I am taking a gamble, I have 10 years left working if I retire at 65, if I loose my CDL I will be the guy flipping burgers, or maybe helping you pick out a 2x4 at Home Depot or Lowe's. I had a plan, didn't plan the layoff, there are outside influences you can't control. What if god forbid you are walking down the street and get hit in the head from that chunk of green ice from a plane with a leak flying overhead? You survive the hit, but are paralyzed from the neck down. What would be your plan? Most of us don't have a plan for that, does it happen, yes, but the odds are against you having it happen, same with loosing your CDL. I would venture to guess you are in control of your violations, accidents, and of your health, you have to take care of you.
You can't plan for everything, I feel I have done the best I could, raised 5 kids, none of them are in jail or on drugs, and I am still able to open my eyes every morning.

 

where are you from? tractor trailer trucks aint the only vehicle your CDL is good towards. & a couple twotree tickets or an accident aren't necessarily going to stop a construction company from hiring you to haul dirt. Or if you're fit, you can work docks at a good company, they seem to pay pretty #### well.

 

While not to be ignored, One shouldn't allow the what ifs to control the journey. Best to you in your search.

 

You can go to work for yourself buy a truck and get your own authority. You can haul dirt, grain whatever and answer to yourself. As long as you don't fire yourself!

 

Really leave the career thing out, most are considering the a career or a profession just drive and do nothing to better themselves. I see them every #### day and it get tiring to see these idiots driving a truck in recklessly while being in a hurry. So of you want this as a career, start with learning how to identify driving issue you have.

 

An interesting article I found: Every person that comes here asking about making trucking a career should read this and decide for themselves if the risks, dangers, sacrifices, and level of responsibility is worth it.


It's no mystery why young people don't want to be truck drivers

"A driver could face felony charges in Washington State for not cleaning zebra mussels off a boat he was hauling. Felony charges? How many other "civilians" can land in that kind of hot water for failing to be 100% diligent 100% of the time?

Felony crimes are nasty crimes: murder, armed robbery, grand larceny, drug trafficking ... and apparently failing to clean mussels from boats. The State of Washington is, rightly, working hard to prevent a zebra mussel infestation. One of the chief ways of inviting an infestation is to allow contaminated boats into uncontaminated waters. The waters won't stay that way for long.

Published reports say the driver was stopped at an inspection facility on Interstate 90, where officers from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife discovered about 100 of the mussels clinging to the large boat the driver was hauling. It was the second time the driver had been caught within five years with an infested vessel -- hence the possible felony charge under state law. No charges have been laid as of this writing, and the investigation continues.

Miss a few mussels during an inspection and wind up in jail for a year. What sort of message does that send to people considering a driving career?

If you scan news headlines about truck crashes and other unpleasantries, you'll be surprised how many such incidents result in vehicular homicide and manslaughter charges. I'm not suggesting drivers involved in fatal crashes deserve a pass just because they are truck drivers (also, I'm not passing any judgment on fault or failure here), but stakes like those scare people. If I knew, when making a career choice, that a single professional error could ruin my entire life, I'd certainly give it a second thought.

I can't think of many other unskilled jobs that come with that degree of responsibility. Take construction or manufacturing. Even if shoddy workmanship is found to be the cause of a problem, the worker is seldom held directly responsible. The company (the employer) is certainly on the hook, but the worst that might happen to the worker is termination. Few welders have ever gone to jail for producing imperfect welds.

Even when the consequences are less dire, drivers have a great deal more on the line than most other workers. A decent ticket these days will cost a driver half a week's pay. I know if, as an editor, I was fined for every tyop and spelling mistake that made it into print, I'd be in the poorhouse in no time. I do proofread my work, and usually several other sets of eyeballs see it before it winds up here. Sometimes stuff gets by even the most diligent copy editors.

But if a driver makes a lane change without a turn signal or slips up over 55 mph at the wrong time, it will create some financial hardship the driver and his or her family."

Read more at:

http://www.truckinginfo.com/blog/on...ung-people-dont-want-to-be-truck-drivers.aspx

 

Plus the whole never see your family if you got one, never create one if ya dont.

 

I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but you can't plan unknowns. You can be laid off at anytime, most states are at will, wear the wrong color socks, goodbye. While having an exit plan is always nice, I don't think there is any job in America that has 100% job security. If you are stressed over it, maybe this is not the right career for you.