Profile For Patrick M.

Hello everyone. I'm a he, 23, and I live in Tennessee. Due to certain circumstances in life this will be my first real job - if I make it that far. I wasn't really sure this would be the best option but due to pressure from other sources and the fact that I live in a rural area between Nash and Chatt with few career opportunities, I decided to give this a go.

In January I went on a run to Kansas City with a friend who's been trucking for a few years (he drives Star). I went to get a general feel of what it would be like, the conditions, etc. It wasn't like anything I'd experienced before (first time being in an 18 wheeler). He had Automatic and a nice sleeper. It was an overnight run so I just slept in the truck for one day. It took me a while to get to sleep, what with the vibration and noises, but I realized I could do it.

I took a few months to think about it and realized I may as well give it a go. (Plus, it took a while to jump through hoops with talking to various people and entities). 23, no degree, but I want to make decent money now. Why not trucking? I got a WIOA grant due to my financial situation and haven't had to pay hardly anything out of pocket, which is good, since I don't have anything. I'm in the Nashville area going to a school to get my class A CDL right now, I just passed the permit test yesterday and will start actually driving in the range today. Everything's sorta been up in the air what with Corona, but I decided to go ahead and get this over with.

Here's my situation. I live with my girlfriend's parents, my gf and I have been together about 9 months now, and we want to get married and start a life together as soon as I have enough saved up to make it feasible financially. I never was very serious about school, a job, any of that until recently, now I'm determined to get on the fast track. I don't want to go back to school. I was in college for two semesters (failed the first, went back and failed the second) only because, at the time, I had no motivation and didn't like school. But that was before me and her were serious. Bottom line is within, say, a year I'd like to be able to: 1. Buy a relatively cheap used car 2. Rent or buy a cheap house out in the country (could be a shack or barn for all I care) 3. Get good benefits (health insurance for eyes, ears, specialists, dentist) 4. Good insurance overall 5. Engagement ring and possibly others

I figured McDonald's wouldn't cut it so here I am trying to get into trucking. Basically, my options are limited, but the time for dillydally is overwith and I want to have a job that allows me to make $40-$60k this first year (I feel like that's realistic, and any less than that is not really an option anyway), but in order to support a family with her, have kids, move into a larger home with property I'd like to within a few years be making $70-$100k+. I'm trying to stay grounded, keep my expectations realistic, but I really believe I can do it if I keep myself motivated and working hard. Trying to without a degree, in the country, is tough - but that's why I looked into this, knowing it will be hard on me, my girlfriend, everybody.

I was looking at working for Star/Covenant, mostly because that's one that this school I'm in works with, and because the guy I went on run with works there. But I looked up numbers for average annual salary and was a bit disheartened. Basically y'all get the gist, I'm just trying to maximize lack of experience and be paid as much as I can so that my girlfriend and I can move out and start a life together. I have no particular interest in trucking and wouldn't choose it if I had other options, although I have always loved to travel and drive. What do you guys recommend? Certain company you'd recommend? One class of license over another? Knowing there are mostly unknowns right now with corona, will pay increase because of the demand or decrease because of the lockdowns? I won't actually finish with training till early Summer though, if I go with Covenant.

Also, my girlfriend just dropped out of college, no degree, and is looking for a job, we've thought about going into trucking together, if we both did we'd be making a lot more and could potentially even drive together after a year or so?

There's basically nothing tying us down at the moment. Thanks!