Think about becoming a trucker

Stick to being an electrician. You will make more then what a trucker makes if your half as smart as some of these guys on here.

 

Do electrician. If you hate that life then give trucking a try later. It isn't going anywhere. It's much harder to go from trucking to something else later in life.

Post 9 was accurate. It isn't all like that, but a lot of it is. If you love the life of being on the road, your chances of building a family are very low. Consider what life will be like if you are 40 or 50 without a love in your life. Is that worth the trade?

 

It can be done, I did it. I have been in trucking for 31 years.
Married 26 years, two boys well adjusted, one serving in the military and the other knocking on their door.
we are separated now (09/2016) but that didn't have anything to do with trucking. Or did it? Hard to say when you spend most of your awake hours trying to make a living.
You will probably make as much as an electrician, it will take twice as long however.

 

It’s easy to say it since you are one of the vets in the industry and got in when things where better than today.

Right now anyone getting in to the industry has a very high chance of not seeing a profitable future.

Even the good brokers are slowly turning to the $1 mile drivers and soon it will be over.

 

Trucking 35 years ago was not easy either, it is much safer today than it was when there were no required CVI, and hours of service were a joke. I have put in many 36 hour shifts in rubber blocked suspension trucks. Air ride was a dream.
Pulling LCV with whatever truck the company decided to give you as long as it had the correct registration. Most of the time it was an old B-model Mack with a 300 plus that probably hadn't made that plus in quite some time. Air tickets not required. You could get into seven different KennFreightBuiltMack (Pick a brand) and they would have seven different engines, transmissions and the switches on the dash could be anywhere and not labeled. You had to get to know your truck better than your girlfriend in the dark! All for $9.00 per hour or 17 cents per kilometer.

 

I know of 2 Electricions, and 2 HVAC Techs. 2 are family members, 2 are friends. They’ve all consistently made more money than I ever have. $40 + an hour, with OT available. Sometimes 12 hrs 7 days. $4200 gross per week. Plus benefits.

 

I was laid off from13 years in oil and gas, so I fell back on Electrical, got 2 years in before everything collapsed in Alberta. I didn’t want to live on a couch in Chilliwack, just to keep going so I did my class 1. 3 years in and an O/O now, it’s not worth it for a Canadian driver, it’s just not. You need 5 years OTR to even get looked at local here (Calgary) unless it’s fuel (Westcan/Seaboard). I was pretty pro trucking until the last year, it’s honestly getting worse by the day. (OTR and Local, Regional is Suicide imho)

 

I considered an Electricians Apprenticeship, back when it went from 4 to 5 yrs. I couldn’t afford to make $8.00 an hr. for 5 yrs. Had a family to support. Instead I made $11.00 - 16.00 an hr. Short lived gain in my case. Same Job today is $18- 24 an hr. Limited to 60 hrs a week. Don’t give up now on the Apprenticeship, it will pay off. Electrician - 5 yr Apprenticeship. Vs Trucking - 4 weeks School, and 3 mos. on the road with a Trainer. That ought to tell You something.

 

And even though it won’t happen tomorrow, self-driving trucks are going to profoundly change our industry. There’s no guarantee that there will be driving jobs in ten years.

 

Depends what you do. I own my truck hauling wood chips for a local mill. Logs occasionally if work gets slow. Its not a tremendous money maker, but I get home every night by 7 for sure often earlier. Been married nearly 5 years love my wife far more than the day we got married. Got a baby girl and plenty of time to play with her in the evenings. I got friends who are out for days on end, their marriages are strained, their kids hardly know them, but they make better than me. Depends what you want out of life.