Thanks for helping with my career decision!

I've been lurking here for a few weeks, trying to learn about the industry. I'm planning on starting CDL school at a local community college in a few weeks, and have been trying to decide whether it's worthwhile to go ahead with it.

I've decided to go ahead with my schooling, as I think there are a lot of different types of opportunities in the industry, and I just might find something that fits if I'm patient and am willing to look around, be persistent and knock on some doors.

I've also decided that I won't be dealing with any mega-carriers at all. While there are two sides to every story, the one message that's come through loud and clear for me is that the OTR industry is in a sad state right now, and life at the mega-carriers is fraught with pitfalls and misery. If I have to slave under miserable conditions for 70 hours a week, I'd rather do it at home working two or three jobs than go live in a truck and work for a company that treats me like a dog.

I know that the best of the jobs require a year or two of OTR experience, and that I'll likely have to forgo those; but if they require a year or two of misery working for a bottom feeder, it's just not worth it to me.

I'll be in school through the end of April, and by then things will be picking up around here. Aside from typical fair weather work like construction and gravel hauling, there's a lot of gas well drilling around here as well, so if it picks up, there may be something to be had there. I'll also consider driving any kind of straight truck, class B or whatever. In other words, I'm not set on any one thing. If nothing comes of it, well, I just figure "ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances"!

So, I'm going to take the chance and see where it leads, but you can know for sure that there's one newbie who won't be coming back to post yet another sad story of how I was screwed by "Transcontinental Mega-Carrier Corp"!

Thanks for posting all of your experiences; this place is a gold mine of information!

 

Did ya ever try to tell one of your kids "Don't do it...you'll regret it!"...? And then they ignore you, go right out and do it, and then piss and moan about the results?

Well, my initial reaction to the horror stories was no different than any other headstrong knucklehead. I figured "Don't tell me about your personal problems. I won't make the mistakes you did. I've always done well at what I set out to do, and this'll be no different."

But, I just can't ignore the facts here, and aside from the griping and opinions, there're plenty of facts that can't be disputed. Sure, there are a lot of personal screw ups along the way, but the underlying details about the dysfunctional, mega-carrier OTR industry are right there in black and white. Smarts and hard work don't seem to be what these outfits are all about.

There also seem to be success stories - mostly from people who didn't accept that they had to suck up a lot of crap working for a crummy outfit, just in order to be able to drive a truck. So that's the attitude I'm trying to take going into it.

For putting all of your stories out there for others to read and learn from, I thank you all!