Truck Driving Jobs

bentstrider · #1 04-16-2008, 03:00 PM

Seeing as how my accident is affecting myself in getting any driving work at the moment, I've been thinking about this for the last month.

Since it's obvious that you're pretty much, on your own, I feel it would be a plus to have some knowledge of how to fix your own truck.
Secondly, I've happened upon some local, O/O companies in this area that do alot of container hauling.

Now, the reason I want to get into this is the fact that it seems to be the only thing I have any interest in doing right now.
All other, non-driving careers seem too unappealing to me, and a waste of money as far as the degree requirements go.
Since a Diesel certificate at the local, community college will only set me back $800-$1000(tools, units, books) and take shorter time(12-18 months at most), I figure I could easily couple this with owning my own tractor and at least feel good about what I'm doing.

rank · #2 04-17-2008, 02:13 AM

Go for it. Only problem I see is that you will be making so much money and have so much freedom as a mechanic, you won't want to drop the coin on a truck to be a o/o.

#3 04-17-2008, 06:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rank

Only problem I see is that you will be making so much money and have so much freedom as a mechanic, you won't want to drop the coin on a truck to be a o/o.

Aint that the truth. you'll probably start out at $40k per year and then after 2 years can get probably $50-55k per year and be home every night.

Mackmechanic · #4 04-18-2008, 06:32 AM

I dont know where you guys live... but around here, good luck with those salary figures :cry:

Doghouse · #5 04-18-2008, 12:08 PM

Thats a great idea,..information is power,..the more you know about your truck,..the better off you are.
You will save mucho $$$ if you don't allow yourself to be scammed by mechanics. You will also have a skill to fall back on if you decide to get out of driving. I was going to do the same thing, but decided that I already know everything anyway :lol: .
Good luck

bentstrider · #6 04-19-2008, 05:23 AM

Thanks for the all the suggestions.
I'm definitely going to go through with it.
However, the "being home every night" part is kind of useless to me.

heavyhaulerss · #7 04-19-2008, 03:53 PM

you'll do just fine. very good to get educated as much as you can about the field your going into. imo- the most mistales folks make in trucking are too numerous to mention but 95 % are stupid avoidable common sense mistakes where you knew better from the start. imo. :lol:

Bandit102 · #8 04-19-2008, 04:34 PM

I worked on these things for a living for years and years. Grew up working in grandpa's truck shop. If you're good, you can make a damn comfortable living doing it. My last tech position was as a Fleet Manager at a large electrical contrator. We had trucks, equipment, pickups, you name it. Paid me $75k. Decided its easier to drive em than work on em, which it is, but not sure if the pay is worth it. lol. Thing is, I've just reached a point in life that I don't really care to get my hands dirty too much any more, so I'll stay with truckin 'till some bad broker puts me out of business!

bentstrider · #9 04-19-2008, 11:57 PM

I figure education-wise, this would probably be an easier feat to accomplish than deal with the, liter(b)al politics of an instructor teaching a strict, academic course.
In addition, I may also go for a 20 unit, welding certification as well.
Get these while I'm still, relatively young, then focus on the academic portion in baby-steps, I guess.
You figure during the ages of 24-25, I complete the Diesel-tech certification.
25-28, get back into driving somehow and put in 2-3 years.
Then from 28-32/33ish, work towards a Business Admin/Accounting(math always seems funner when working with supply/money numbers, to me at least), all while working as a tech, or driving locally and maintaining my own rig.
In the first post, the local, container-pull option seems like a healthy choice to pay for school and make decent money, part-timing it.