[Rev.Vassago]

Originally Posted by silvan

So what's your story, Rev? I'm curious. How'd you wind up trucking?

I started doing it for my family. I wanted to be able to allow my wife to stay home with the kids, and I couldn't do that on what I was earning, so I made the switch. Before I started driving, I did a lot of computer work. Mostly what I did was re-do filing and accounting systems, to make them easier to use.

I always wanted a life like yours, but I've never been able to get it. Nobody would hire me, and this has been the only way I've been able to find to make a living, even though I'm an old school dyed in the wool computer dweeb from before normal people had access to the Internet and all that jazz. I just went through all of this again when I lost my job, and decided I would leverage my book and all my open source development experience into a job that never materialized.

I wish I had the college education to go with my computer experience. If I did, I doubt I would be doing what I do now. I probably would have ended up in programming of some sort. Either that, or multimedia work - probably in advertising.

I don't hate trucking, but I'd rather be here by choice than by a lack of other options. I've wrestled with that for a long time. I have a "Career angst" thread on here somewhere that explores that topic in depth. I've always been something of a mess reconciling all my interests and talents with what I do for a living.

Trucking certainly wasn't my first choice. I don't have any love for it, and if another opportunity presented itself that had a greater return, I would leave it in a heartbeat.

Here's my story, if anyone cares:
http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/01/23/1935248

It sounds like we have similar roots, but you are here by choice. PM me if you don't want to hijack this innocent thread any further.

Hijacking threads is fun! :wink:

[Rev.Vassago]

Interesting reading, silvan. Interesting, indeed.

I sucked at foreign languages. All I managed to learn was how to swear in Spanish. :lol:

I think my biggest problem was that I didn't fit in well in the school environment. I just don't work well with someone trying to teach me how to do things - I would rather just dive right in and figure it out on my own. I think that was my undoing in college. I just lost interest in being taught.

My latest passion has been figuring out Photoshop. I spend a lot of time at Worth 1000. You can see my work here.

[vavega]

yes silvan an interesting read! but to hijack it even further, i have an unopened still in the shrinkwrap copy of visual C++ 6.0 if you want it. it'll give you something to play around with while you're idling. :wink: my sis bought it thinking she would take the class and then found she didn't need it (the class) so i inherited it.

i suspect rev it's his choice of ties not his interview skills. :P

[Rev.Vassago]

Originally Posted by vavega

i suspect rev it's his choice of ties not his interview skills.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[silvan]

Originally Posted by vavega

yes silvan an interesting read! but to hijack it even further, i have an unopened still in the shrinkwrap copy of visual C++ 6.0 if you want it. it'll give you something to play around with while you're idling.

I appreciate it, but I think I'm all out of optimism on that front now. I tried every avenue for six long weeks, I sowed a lot of seeds, and in the end, I crawled right back into a truck so I wouldn't go bankrupt.

i suspect rev it's his choice of ties not his interview skills. :P

I looked damn good at my last job interview, and I felt like I carried it off well, but here I am.

At the time, I was torn between trucking and taking that job. I thought I was going to get it, and wasn't sure what to do when I did. Now that I've been back at it for a month, I kind of wish I had had to deal with the problem of telling my new boss I'm sorry, but I quit.

Alas.

I think my long-term plans all revolve around getting my expenses down, so I can afford to quit driving. I'd like to go part time, so I just drive when I feel like making a little money, and tell everybody to kiss off when I don't.

Here's hoping I can get to that place, because I don't seem to have any better alternatives. I really don't have any other marketable skills. Skills, sure, but there's no damn market for what I can do, and neither am I interested in the stuff they pay people to do. Web development, web administration, XML, blah blah blah blah blah, where are the keys to my Kenworth again?

I guess it's a self-defeating attitude, or else on some level I'm just addicted to working my ass off for free.

[silvan]

Originally Posted by Rev.Vassago

You can see my work here.

Cool stuff! Not bad for an old freighthauler!

[ben45750]

Originally Posted by Rev.Vassago

I taught myself CorelDraw back in college (1993) in about a week.

Originally Posted by Rev.Vassago

I wish I had the college education to go with my computer experience.

So which is it? You went to college but didn't get an education or you really didn't go to college at all?

[Malaki86]

Originally Posted by ben45750

So which is it? You went to college but didn't get an education or you really didn't go to college at all?

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHHA