Too old to be a newbie?

I need some real world advice. Am I too old to be a newbietruck driver?

I am a 50 year old college educated Information Technology (IT) professionalwith 30 years of IT experience. I am burnt out on computers (everyone is an ITexpert since they own a computer) and I have hit the age discrimination wall inmy industry to boot.
Please! I am not living in some daydream world. I know thejob is hard, pay isn’t the greatest, etc. I used to make six figures along withthe stress and indigestion that came with such jobs. Money is secondary atthis point in my life.
I am planning on taking a course at a local truck driving schoolfor my CDL A and to get PDTI certified. I am in good health, have a clean driving record, no drug oralcohol problems, no criminal record; have been bonded several times in the past for work, etc.
My question is: Am I wasting my time? If I get my CDL A andPDTI certification plus HazMat endorsements will a company want a 50 year oldnewbie?

 

I guess this is a case of the grass always looking greener on the other side. Having been in the IT business in databases, networking, storage and virtualization I can tell you that the "stress" comes not from the work but the idiots who think they are the experts in such technologies, insane deadlines or clients and employers who want to do things on the cheap/illegal (like hacking a software licenses, violating copyrights/copy protection, salespeople over selling the software/hardware as instant salvation or using the boss' nephew for strategic work, and everything in between).

At this point where I live a lot of high end work has dried up. I used to virtualize and migrate datacenters. On Long Island, NY where I am located most of the IT assets have moved off of Long Island for good reason (hurricanes, nor'easters, unrest/terrorism in NYC, etc.). My wife works for local hospital installing/maintaining pacemakers and defibullators and she is in demand so I am stuck here in the region geographically (at least until the kids go to college -- that is in 1 and 4 years). Besides, making 6 figure income in NY is nuts! I think driving a truck I will clear more after taxes than before when I made more. I supported a payroll system for 2 years for a large cosmetics company and as silly as you think the math makes sense! Go figure! That is our government's tax code at work. BTW I used to pay the truckers in the trucking division too so I am in for no surprises!

Plain and simple: I used to love computers. I started when they were the size of your average sized mini-van. Now anyone who has rigged up a nintendo console is in IT and it is only getting worse. I am at a point I hate computers now.

 

twicebit: Thanks for the link! Great information.