OTR means I don't need a house or car?

In all actuality you will be driving anywhere between 8-11 hours EVERY day unless you get on with a company that gets you home every weekend which would pretty hard to do as a student. While you are on the road with a trainer your pay will be anywhere between 200-400 a week. Then when you get on the road by yourself you can make anywhere between zero dollars a week to 400 or 500 bucks a week depending on the miles. It isn't bad if you don't mind being gone 2 weeks at a time then off for 1 or 2 days then back on the road. That truck is your home on wheels, and remember over the road truck diving isn't just a job it is a LIFESTYLE and completely different than any kind of job or lifestyle out there.

 

Shorter hours? Ha, I wouldn't plan on it. No free food? Actually that can happen sometimes, although not with the regularity that you are used to. Occasionally stuff gets rejected at the receiver, or it is an overage. If it isn't enough to mess with donating to a Food Bank, it can make a nice little treat for you.

 

Are you serious?
You would be wasting your time driving a truck.
All of those languages...esp the Chinese dialects and Spanish...are very much in demand due to our economy becoming more global and the fact that there are alot of Chinese and Latin immigrants living here (legally and illegally).
Combine those language skills you have with some sort of degree in business...and it will open up many better-paying doors than trucking will.

 

Man, ain't that the truth?

Well said.

 

The setup you have now you can live better.

You might make a little more OTR but your expenses are high living out of truck stops. If you pick the wrong company, you can find yourself looking at $800 one week and a $100-200 paycheck the next two weeks. Though you might think you don't work more, you'll be confined waiting to pick up or deliver or sitting on a dock. It's not like a regular job where you go home and can do what you want. Eventially when you gain experience, you can get better jobs. I would read the forum a little more to get a better picture. There's alot of negatives out there you don't know about.

Though employable, your driving record is iffy. If you can't hit a baseball, you don't try to pursue a career in the major leagues. Stats already say you haven't had your last traffic event. And you can get in a whole lot of trouble in an 18 wheeler. Find what you like to do, then figure out how to make money doing it and then you'll be happy.

You might want to live cheap as possible right now. But the sooner you pursue home ownership, the better off you will be when you get older. You might not be in it two days a month, but it's an investment and there will be a day you won't be gone all the time.

 

You likely will be working the same number of hours, if not more. You also have to remember that trucking is a 7 day per week profession...
As for the house and car, you really won't need a house. If you live in a major metro area, you may also be able to get away without having a car.
Good luck to you!