Looking to leave stable career to go OTR..

It's ok that you want to make a change but use your time wisely so you can get the best. I have to agree with most that now is not the time to change. I believe your only hope for a driving position at this time is with the bottom feeders and then you would be looking at more than just a pay cut. Can you live on $1000 a month or less?

Why not try to get trained in specialized hauling like explosives, heavy equipment, gasoline, or any other driving job that takes more training than just driving the truck. You will have a very hard time finding such a job but that's where your current job comes in. You have the time. NEVER EVER quit unless you have another job to go to. And pre-hires are not worth the paper they're printed on. You'll have to make contact with a company you like and talk with them on what it will take for you to drive there. You never know they might have business dealings with other companies that will hire you right away and then you move up.

I'm surprised that you're still in the IT business. I thought that just about all the jobs were outsourced to overseas companies. If you can just hang on and start looking I believe you'll be much better off. Plus I don't know of too many companies that have a person at the terminal with the experience you have with a computer. Most have a department that will send the tech in from somewhere else. With that in thought, you might be able to use that to your advantage.

You just have to go a different route than all the students coming out of school so the companies will know your abilities. To start off you should make a list of what companies you would like to work for. Don't hold back and shoot for the moon. Get as many as you can then you can go on to the next step of being known by that company. You can do all of this and still work so you can have your toys, because you don't want to give them up. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

Two things jump out at me right off the bat and I've highlighted them above.

This trucking job also has no growth opportunities. You pick up a load and deliver it. Then you get another load and deliver it. After that, guess what? You pick up another load and deliver it too. Get my point? I also make fairly good money but for a guy who's 46 years old, this job doesn't have any growth for me either. But I'm staying in it as there's nowhere else to go in education that can offer me what I need to live. In addition, we're starting an e-business and I need all the credibility I can get with this job. Trucking enables me to do just that.

You say that you've always been drawn to trucking. I meet people like that in my church too. Just be sure it isn't a pipe dream and that you get your head out of the clouds and plan your feet firm on planet Earth. You'll grow old before your time, take a definite cut in pay to what you're currently doing and hate it within the next few years.

Ultimately, here's the question you need to be asking yourself: Is trucking all that I've ever wanted to do and I just can't do anything else? Or can I do something else outside of trucking and be happy there too?

If you can do anything other than trucking, then for Heaven's sake, do it. Don't just take an uninformed leap from the frying pan into the fire. If you can't imagine anything other than driving, then maybe it's a good idea to consider professional driving. But you MUST look at ALL angles; this forum is a good start. Meeting with other drivers is a good start. Taking a ride with a trusted friend is real good advice, in my opinion.

It's a rough world out here and it's not getting any easier. The market is company driven right now and you'll have to take your lumps just like everyone else just starting out, 'cuz that's what you'll be doing.

 

Thanks everyone for all of the great insight!!!!

 

I came back to driving after trying several things over the years. Driving just happened to be what I really liked doing and what I was really good at.
My wife was never all for it, she never thought I would go on the road again, since I had not driven over the road since we had met.
I mentioned it to her one night and she said go for it.
I was kind of in the same situation as you. I drove OTR for a few months when I got my license in 1991, I was only 21 at the time though and wanted to be at home with my friends. So I went to a local driving job.
Then there was college (paid for by driving), and a few other jobs. Then back to driving.

When I finally went over the road again about 2.5 years ago it was a big change. When I told my wife I was putting in my 2 weeks notice and going to a refresher course and then to an OTR company her jaw dropped. She really did not believe I would do it.
For the first couple of months it was hard for her. I was only off work 3-4 days a month. She got use to it though and was better.
Then I got on a dedicated run and I was home normally 1 night a week, and off work 1 weekend a month. She liked that better. But then if something happened with a load and I could not get back that week she would freak out.
So I went to a company where I was home a night or 2 a week, and home weekends. She liked that much better.

As for what you should do.....
I really do not know about your relationship with your wife. You may want to wait till the house is paid for and you are ready for retirement. Drive for a while then be an expediter with your wife going with you.
Or maybe she would be good with you OTR for a year, then with a company that gets you home weekends.
That will be your call and something you and her will have to work on together.

As for a refresher. Even the company's that have schools and offer them do not charge full price for the school for a refresher. I went to Central for one, and it was not too bad, though I did not learn anything, and I had it paid off in 9 months.
On the passport deal. You live in a border state. So just get an enhanced drivers license. I just got mine myself, and is cheaper than a passport.

 

Pay the mortgage off! You're short time on it so stay where you are! I've been doing this for a long time and as all the rest have said this is NOT the time to let a dream lead you astray! Pay is being cut loads are getting harder to find in certain areas of trucking and it's become dog eat dog like you would not believe!

If you've bought all of your toys concentrate on getting the house done and then and only then look back at driving! By then you might even think of buying a used GOOD truck as I do believe that more and more of the companies out here will only do the fleece purchase plan! At least you'll be able to beat those programs by having your own and sign on with a better rate of pay or even get your own loads if you can swing a trailer.
You'll need to get retrained before an insurance company will touch you but owning is so much better these days than making someone else rich! And in a couple of years things will be better as these depressions/recessions always go away just like they will be back in about another 30-40 years!

Start another savings account for that truck and trailer, take as much of that 401K you have with this company and put it in a better savings such as a CD or IRA which will pay a heck of a lot better!

IN 6 years when you have deed in hand and wifey doesn't have to work as hard and you don't have that payment THEN come out here! Fewer bills means less headaches!

Good Luck
Rollover

 

Well, if you can't get financing but don't need the truck for work right now, then just ACT like you did. In other words, take what you would be paying each month on a truck note and socking it away. Then, when you have enough to buy a truck, you can either buy one, re-evaluate and use it on something else, etc. Or if your decision comes sooner, then perhaps a much larger down payment will sway the bank.