I was a _________ before trucking....

I trained and worked as a geologist.
Also trained and worked as a translator.
Taught English in foreign countries.
Ran a warehouse.
Worked on the dock loading/offloading trailers while I got my CDL.
Truck driver...

 

I was a Catholic Preist and College Adjunct Professor.

I left my order to get married to my wife. Teaching was a "result" of my order, so I lost my job doing that. Armed with a Master's Degree, I tried my hand at "Corporate America", and HATED IT.

A friend of mine from college was an Electricl Engineer from Lockheed-Martin. He quit his $120,000/yr job to drive a truck, and loves it. He talked me into it, and I've never looked back.

I miss teaching, but my dispatcher is also a former teacher, and we excersise our brains together.

 

high school jobs -
Hardware Store
Funeral Home (yup...)
Waiter
part time college student (knocked basic courses out prior to SAT)

Undergrad jobs -
ROTC
security guard
base level tech at a motorcycle dealer (oil changer)
Betz Dearborn as an chemical tech (internship then job)

DOD / USMC -
Divisional EOD - tech class 2 (2nd Lt.) mos 2305
Kuwait - (small frag in left hip - nice scar - purple heart)
"Promotion"
Somalia - (sunburn) (wonderful people - NOT)
Mandatory discharge (honorable) during R.I.F. (reduction in force)

Graduate school -
back to motorcycle dealer... (completed "official training")
1 day a week at race track helping out (Muncie drag way)

Eli Lilly - greenfield RnD lab... (laid off 4 times in 3 years)
Lilly Bio lab - (all jobs moved overseas in 1998)

Then I had an idea (fueled by college buddies)


TRUCK DRIVER

1998-2001 company driver (wasco westway - dick Simon)
2001-2004 O/O
2005 - present Roadway

in addition I have been forced into the position of handyman and grounds keeper at our home (miss the condo).

also, I have become the "go to" guy in the neighborhood for fixing small engines and sharpening mower blades etc etc..

 

Spent a few years doing factory work before ending up as the storeman. From then on I was always working in warehousing, until one day I figured I'd rather be the guy driving the truck as opposed to being the guy on the forklift loading/unloading it!

 

K-Mart Portrait Photographer, one year
US Army journalist (46Q), five years
Journalist/Editor (NY Times/Wilmington Star-News), two years
Magazine Editor (Seattle Area) three years
Graphic Designer (Miami Beach) three years
Truck Driver student (IITR Portland, Ore) one month
Gordon Trucking (Clackamas, Ore) start in early May 2008

 

I was a city dispatcher, security guard, computer tech phone support, and a computer builder before I became a truck driver.

 

I was a Teen-Age Werewolf


Ok..

Immediately before school - Vice President of a telephone company
Before that:
Security Guard
Deputy Sheriff
Military
Ambulance Driver (no, not EMT or Paramedic, just driver)

Fit in all kinds of odd little jobs in there, too: Building Demolitions, Search and Rescue....

 

Degreed professional (Radio/TV Broadcasting), but 20+ years an a programmer/analyst in the IT field. Also, did play-by-play work on the radio here in the Dallas area.

 

Own A landscape constuction business

 

This is really interesting thread......huh how about that.......