When will people learn that you can't always run from a daunting task?

Seems like anytime I talk with other drivers about getting on with a larger carrier, they laugh and say, "Do something else kid, go back to school."

I look into their suggestion and go to the local, community college over here to get some info in regards to the A/S in Nursing.

Right away, the counselors pretty much do the same thing, tell me the horrors of how many classes you got to take, you can't work full time/if you choose not to get financial aid you're screwed on grades, are you really up to this?., etc

Then they offer up some smaller, certification course that will most likely have a potential employer telling me I've got to have a B/S for the job and tell me to "try something else" again.

I don't know about everyone else, but this tired philosophy will probably end up getting me cell-time if it doesn't stop, or at least reduce itself.

 

There are quite a few careers that require a very high level of determination and dedication to be even remotely successful at,and there are others where the pay is often not equal to the effort or sacrifices made.

Medical professions fall into the first, trucking often into the latter.

In addition to the dedication and determination it takes to get through schooling for nursing, physical therapy, etc there are a very finite spaces available every year in these courses and the failure rate is very high through either students simply quitting or due to poor grades. For these, and other reasons, school counselors tend to paint a tough picture of what it will take to get in and graduate in order to try to weed out those who do not have what it takes from the word go.

 

Don't listen to anyone regarding your future. Figure out what it is you really want to do, then do what it takes to do it. Nobody else can tell you what you're up to doing. You can be honest with yourself. My opinion of what they might be saying is..."there is a waiting list to get into nursing school (I might be speaking out of turn here...but there is a waiting list here and in a lot of other big areas that I know if) so we'd like you to apply for financial aid and then enroll in whatever program we offer you...regardless of what program you want to be in."

Nursing is a good field that does require dedication and it is ALWAYS something you can fall back on in the event your "dream" job(s) fall through.

 

My wife is a nursing student, and sadly I have spent more time in hospitals, clinics and doctor's offices in the past few years than anyone has a right to. Between the two I feel that I am well qualified to say that if nursing is not a person's dream job then don't waste your time, the instructor's time, and burden the patients by going into it. Trucking can be a fall back job, but any job that directly impacts people's lives should never be a fall back.

 

Sure, trucking can be a "Fall Back" job... If you fall back on it within six months of leaving it.

Otherwise, you're like a Polock after a "Coffee Break"...
Ya gotta be RE-TRAINED:eek:

 

Only other reason I consider nursing a good field is due to the fact that work could be found almost anywhere.
You could either work in a big city, or a small town in the middle of BFE.

I'm also told "engineering" is a good field, but then I'd be spending too much money repeating math classes to get better at, get too old, then find out that work is only limited to urban areas.
That and too much, "artistic-creativity" seems to be required for that.

Anywho, I'm still only intending on going for the "Associates of Science, Nursing Degree".
People tell me the Bachelor's is more, worthwhile, but I'm 25, and I just want to get to work quicker.
That and management is something I don't feel like being a part of.

Another career-choice I may consider restarting is law-enforcement.
Except if I keep running into the path of liberal-leaning psychological-interviewers(found out the one who failed me for CDCR graduated UC Berkeley), I may just move to a state where crime & punishment is taken more literally for criminals.

On another note, I personally think giving up my CDL because of one accident, would be a bad idea.

 

It doesn't just have to be nursing, you can be a surgical tech, respiratory therapist or even a radiologist. Nursing is a universal job like you said but just know you will do the grunt work, which is playing with people's poo and other bodily fluids that aren't nice.

Think about it, respiratory is primarily the lungs. Sure that includes muccus and blood, but compared to pee and poo it's a cake walk. Nurses have to work into the job, that includes nursing home internship.Can you say Nightmare?:eek:. Just remember that it's not the nursing jobs you see most often that you will get.

If you're young and fit enough, go for First Responder Paramedic. Similar to nursing but at least you get to feel more masculine. I would even do phlebotomy over nursing, it's not just poking people but getting them on the first poke.

 

Sounds okay, but here in California, you're required to get an EMT-Basic certification and work in that capacity for six months before you're even let into the Community College Paramedic program.
Not to mention you've also got to test for another endorsement, the "Emergency Vehicle:Ambulance" endorsement.

The way I look at it, I actually want to stay in driving due to it being a solitary job.
But, the way the Wackonomy is going right now, I'm wondering if I'll have to sacrifice that philosophy to stay afloat.

I've looked into other careers requiring degrees and they all seem to involve working with a team of some sort.

The nursing aspect seemed okay due to the mentioned aspect of jobs in all areas, so despite what you mentioned truckrswyfe, I'd still take the risk and put money towards it.
I mean, if I could easily pick between moving to a big city, or a small town, then that's all I want to hear.
Not to mention smaller town means, a smaller, likeable team of people to work with.

Engineering and other math-related degrees take alot of time, then once you've got the degree, then it seems as though you're stuck with a 10-30 person team and reside in some urban area for the duration of a project.
After that project is done and you're no longer needed there, moving day awaits.

 

Everything in life involves working with a team to some extent, even driving you are going to have to be able to deal with dispatchers, lumpers, shipping and receiving clerks, fork lift drivers, crane operators. The only way out of that is going to be to hit the powerball and move to the middle of nowhere and even that won't work unless you can be 100% self sufficient, and you really cannot be.

Smaller likeable teams in small town America? Maybe you will find that "small town friendliness" or maybe you will just get treated like an outsider until your family has lived there for 5 generations.

Not sure what kind of engineering you are talking about here, most engineers I know stay with the same company in the same place for years and years and only change jobs by their own choice.

 

Nursing in a small town does not mean you will not have a butt load of headaches at the end of the day. My mom has been a nurse (LVN) in a small town in the middle of nowhere in WY for the last 15 or so years. Everything was alright for her until she decided to go for her RN license so she could be in more of a management position. She is almost done with the program and was set to become the Director of Nursing, but some other nurses who have been there longer but have no drive to do anything else, decided to stab her in the back and got her fired, because they didn't want to work under her. Now she is working at a hospital 45 miles away and hates the commute, especially in the winter.

Small towns tend to leave you with few options as far as places of employment, and god forbid you screw up or do something someone doesn't like, within minutes EVERYONE will know about it.