Trucker with degree ? Anyone

BS, Industrial Management, AA Land Survey / Civil Engineering Technology. Worked as a Design Tech for MN DOT as a student worker, did 4 years as a Process Engineer Tech, 2 years as a Quality Control Manager, 3 years self-employed Quality systems consultant.

Best thing I have done is buy my own truck.

 

If I ever get my CDL and drive for $$, I’ll let ya know. Ha Ha

Depends on how close to completion? If you are close, you should finish your degree if you can afford to. I don’t think it hinders your future employment having one.

IMHO a degree is one more level of options for a person in the job market. You may not work in your field, but an employer is going to think you can learn, and few current or future careers don’t involve learning new stuff.

Like Al (post #16) I wonder why work on a degree you have little interest in?

 

I've got an AS in Information Technology and a BS in Criminal Justice, and I have post 9/11 military education benefits that I fully intend to use at my Alma Matar within the next 2 years to get my MBA via online means while still driving. It's not required but.. why waste the benefit? And, in my company and living down the road from headquarters, there are ton of places I could go with all my credentials.

Anyways, I spent 5 years in law enforcement and got tired of the political pressure to bring in more revenue, the chain of command pressure to be more aggressive, and the judicial loopholes and individual legal interpretation that allows/ed known criminals to get away scott free, or with at most a slap on the hand. My career spanned over 2 departments but ultimately when I saw where the department was headed I opted to resign and follow my heart... i've always wanted to drive since I got my first ride in my uncles truck at 6 years old. I love law.. and miss it terribly... but the negatives of the field trump the positives in my experiences.

Having that degree won't hurt.. and opens options up if/when you get tired of driving... and that pride and sense of accomplishment sure helps the ego a little too. If you've built tenure in your company it might be easy to go from driving straight into the office provided they have openings. Every trucking company has an accounting dept, accounts receivable, etc.... but even if you only move into being a DM... you'll know what your drivers are going through since you once sat in their seat.

 

Spend a few bucks on a printed version or audio book of "The Personal MBA" before you spend a pile of money at business school.

 

trucking is a LESS attractive looking career to someone with a degree. the average high school grad has fewer options as far as how to earn a living wage. i place myself in that same category, as my degree is pretty much worthless. trucking offers the opportunity for anyone to earn 45-60k a year every year, and you just will never get there working retail. ive gotten there doing several things, but all of them had severe drawbacks. collection agent, ugh. telemarketer. doing taxes for people. trucking is a lifestyle, though...you either like it or hate it. thankfully, trucking and i get along. maybe some day investing will pay the bills, but until then, ill take the drawbacks of trucking over the drawbacks of the other things ive been involved with.

 

BSBA and MBA - spent over 30 years in the footwear industry, a LOT Of time on factory floors in various parts of the world. Today in that industry, companies only want to hire people in their late 20's or early 30's, not some guy in his late 50's. Got the MBA because the companies I started in the industry at the time had 26 shoe factories in the U.S., and needed plant managers, paid for both my bachelor's degree and my master's degree, to go into the plant manager training program. Week after I graduated, and the day I was supposed to go into the program, they closed 8 factories, and the transfer of production to China started there. Division I worked for closed a year later and with that my job was done too. Next company lasted 8 months before that closed. Should have gone into trucking then, instead I drove around the country for a year in various RV combinations. Did my time working/living in China, and sometimes not working after the recession in the U.S. and the Great Foreigner Purge in China in 2008. Some company offered me a job living in Puerto Rico for 10 months, then to Tennessee, it was like "how much do I have to pay to do this?" Got hired by another company for a huge raise, their business went south so here I am. Now jobs in that industry are paying what I was making back in the mid-90's. Trucking is still like the good old days of finding a job, high demand for people. The hours are shorter than some of the jobs I've done the last few years, way less B.S., I think can't imagine it being any worse than some of the nonsense I've dealt with the last few years.

 

I learned that lesson at age 45 Jetage, Thankfully I still have time to make a difference towards my retirement.

 

I've held a degree for many years. I received it from the school of hard knocks.

 

down in knocksville. graduated there myself, with honors. not braggin... just sayin.