Expectations
You might be surprised but the bloggers who tell about their life as truck drivers are extremely popular on YouTube, that’s true.
They tell you how cool (and difficult too) it is to travel the country while earning money by doing what you actually love.
Is this really so?
Every day, every minute and second someone is ordering something online and the large delivery companies are packing it to make sure the customer receives it on time.
Truck drivers are very important persons in this chain.
They are not limited to delivery services, but they are devoted to the numerous industries, that you can only imagine.
We can assure you that, as a truck driver, you will get what you are expecting to.
Nevertheless, you should consider both the positive and negative sides of your truck driver profession.
Reality
When you are ready to call yourself a truck driver, be also ready to acknowledge the following:
- often traveling for several weeks at a time;
- being far from your family and all around the job;
- being unable to go to a pub, cinema, concert, or your son’s football match.
To start your first year as a truck driver, you will have to take courses that last for a month or two.
Then you will get a special CDL document which is an abbreviation for commercial driver’s license.
When you take this non-expensive CDL course, you get specialized training and can start full-time driving after only a few months.
Besides, your salary will be equal to that of the college graduate’s.
But you should really love your job.
You should be mentally ready to spend more than half a day on the road and often at night, and weekends.
When choosing the right job for yourself, pay attention to the work schedule to make sure that the shifts are not too long and you have enough breaks to rest and get to work again.
Experience
Your first few out of 365 days in the truck driver’s seat might not feel absolutely fantastic.
As a matter of fact, newcomers are often assigned worse routes and destinations than the experienced truck drivers get.
For instance, you can go to some distant places like Canada or Mexico.
Moreover, you may have a very exhausting schedule.
The companies do so to give you the chance to prove that you are a skilled and devoted driver who is also reliable and able to provide good services.
When you come in time, and deliver goods in a professional manner, you will gain a brilliant reputation with happy clients and customers.
Day after day, your managers will start giving you better destinations and more reasonable assignments.
If earlier you were given less studied roads and directions, now you will be assigned easier ways.
From the anthropologists’ point of view, the truck driver’s work is a great way to discover the lands.
These are kind of positive sides of the work since you will be able to feel that special connection with the road and nature.
As for the connection with your family, we live in an era of high technologies, so you can talk to your family during a break.
Anyway, you must always be available on the phone with your delivery company or any other company that you work for since the job you are doing is extremely important to numerous people at once.
OTR drivers usually spend much time with their families during the so-called Hometime, and this is really important because it gives you the inspiration for your future departures.
Future
Do you mind us saying that future is money?
As a truck driver who is CDL certified, you will gain a reasonable amount of money.
Namely, you will be able to make the middle-class wage right away.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics makes it clear that this figure is something around $37,770 or a little bit more than $18 per hour.
If you are physically strong, mentally healthy, and have obtained the CDL license to drive a truck, feel free to enter the job market.
There are plenty of jobs for you.
We promise that if you choose the life of a truck driver, your family will be comfortable with their life.
Even though they will not see you often, you can spend much time together during days off or Hometime, and they will definitely have money for everything they need.
The salary of a truck driver is doubled compared to the federal minimum level of earnings.
Also, as a professional and experienced truck driver, you will have many benefits from your company.
If you want to check whether the career of a truck driver is something you were always willing to try, then go for it.
Obtain the CDL license, take long haul load for a year and go ahead.
