Putting in OTR time to get local gig, realistic?

Your reality is what you believe it to be. If you believe going OTR is a requirement before you can get a local gig, then that will be your reality. When I started out, I chose to believe otherwise and as a result, I have never spent a night in a truck stop and can count the number of times I've had to sleep in a sleeper birth on one hand with fingers left over.

Granted I'm not saying local jobs are plentiful when you have no experience. They're not. But they can be found if you try hard enough to find them.

 

Exact same thing I am planning on. Get my CDL then 1 year OTR (experience and maybe it'll be a little fun huh?) Then look local.

 

You never know - she just might surprise you also if she isn't working, or if you don't need her income - even if she doesn't drive, she can ride along (if its OK w/the company you work for - might cost a little bit for insurance) - that way you don't have to worry about home time to see her

 

You should try to. Your wife is probably gonna want to start a family real soon and OTR isn't really a quality life for many a truck driver. Nice being home every night or three, instead of stuck out there for a month or more.


Good luck to you, Driver !

 

I got a local job right out of school, you will just have to get out there and look. I will say that local work seems to be more of a Rush, Rush , Rush, type of work. But it does feel good going home every night. I guess it boils down to what one is looking for.

 

If you want to drive OTR, yes they have national accounts with the Mega carriers.

 

And I think that may be hard for some people to understand when they come here and read all of the stories. When a person insists "this is the way things are", that may be true...for them. But the person making those claims may be speaking only from their little slice of experience.

Also keep in mind that the discussions on this board are dominated by over-the-road truckers, and those driving tractor-trailer combinations. Keep an eye out when you're on the road...there are a lot of different types of trucks moving a lot of different types of products, and there's a driver behind the wheel of every one.

I recently saw negative comments here about jobs that might involve "driving the truck to the site in the morning, doing some other kind of work, and then driving the truck back at night". Well, from where I sit, if my CDL leads me to some kind of employment with a decent wage, and good work, it doesn't neccesarily have to be sitting behind a steering wheel all day. Different strokes, ya know?