What Did You Do Before Becoming A Truck Driver?

I was an Airbrush Artist for 22 years.....did T-Shirts..Banners...signs.. Wall Murals Etc...Did alot of custom work including painting wildlife on Turkey Feathers Painted all over the country in Places like Gatlinburg Tn...Cherokee N.C...Seattle....etc

Have never had a 8-5 type job...Got divorced 2 years ago and decided to change careers....now i just drive around the country with my dog and spend free time working on my jeep :)

I'm 34 and starting school at the Swift Academy in Memphis in 2 weeks. I thought about and wanted to become a truck driver for many years.

My first career choice was being a cook in a restaurant and started at 16. Worked in several different restaurants ranging from family style through five star fine dining.

Had an incredible opportunity to run my stepmom's business and left the restaurant field, went to school to become a pet groomer and ran her business for several years. (That was for you Errol...). Working for family and living with them was not the best of ideas....

I thought my calling was back in the restaurant field, and went back to work for a family style chain as a manager and ended up also becoming a corporate trainer opening 28 stores across the country.

One of my family members became ill and I quit and moved in with my relatives and became their caregiver for several years.

And that brings me to where I am now. I have spent the last three and a half years driving an Isuzu cabover through the city and country setting of northeast Ohio selling and delivering frozen food and ice cream to people's homes.

(If you happen to be in NE Ohio over the next couple weeks and see a yellow Isuzu cabover with a freezer box on the back bouncing across I-80, don't be afraid to pull up alongside and wave...)

This job has further solidified my love of driving and his actually really pushed me to take this next step. I can't wait!

Body guard and event security. It's not as fun as it sounds...

10 years US Army. MEDVAC Crewchief and 60-TI

I was a Cosmetologist for almost 10 years. haha From hair to trucking. Talk about a life style change.

Well my fave thread so far. I worked fast food in high school and went to culinary school.1989. Worked as a chef until 2005 and went to driving school. Drove otr for a year and after a rough trip involving a near fight w my team driver, a friend called and asked if I wanted to help him open a restaurant. Left trucking and let Cdl lapse in 2010. Suffering from severe career burnout. Cooked a meal for the residents of the retirement home the other day and they loved it. Best gourmet meal ever, on and on about it. I honestly could care less. Over the food industry. So I'm looking to get Cdl again.

I went to college straight out of high school (1985). Played around for a few years on my parents’ money before deciding to drop out and get married. Once I really stepped out into that adult world, I did lab work for 10 years off and on – lab technician at a wastewater plant, chemist at Baxter Inc., biologist at McGuire Nuclear Station. Marriage began to go bad, I had two kids and realized that I needed my college degree, so I went back to school and finished my BS in Biology with a minor in chemistry in 1997. After 10 years of an abusive marriage, I left with my boys and embarked on a new stage of life as a single mom. I spent the next two years working in Environmental Health & Safety for a lithographic printing plate company until I was laid off and had to decide what to do with myself. Teaching seemed like a good option given my degree, experience and the shortage of science teachers. I started teaching high school science in 2002 and have been doing that ever since. This year and last, I have been at a K-12 school in a small, rural county in GA where I have been teaching 6th grade science in addition to my high schoolers. I love teaching…but the politics and the lack of accountability for students has driven me to my breaking point. So, after 14 years, I am setting off on a new career path again. My contract ends June 2nd, so in the meantime, I’m studying the material here at TT and working on making sure my health is a priority…fighting high blood pressure that is probably due to my job stress. My plan is to start school in June with Prime as my first choice. So glad to have found this community of people. I’ve learned so much and am more encouraged than ever that I CAN do this!

I taught middle school math for 11 years. Been there, dive that.

Plan accordingly: if you get paychecks through the summer, you'll have an income while you're in truck school. Good luck!

I grew up on a ranch/farm, I currently have a small farm. I am 45 years old and went in the U.S. Navy after High School for 4 years, when I got out I did some machinist work and work on the family farm. After 911 I joined the Navy again for a couple more years. I have been a residential alarm technician for the last 18 years until an injury forced me to change careers, so I decided to do what I always wanted to and that is, become a truck driver. I just started my second week of cdl school.

I was in Germany in the Army, fighting for freedom while deployed and drinking good German beer when back home...out

Some people were chiming in on Laura T.'s "I hate Nursing" topic about what they did before they became interested in trucking. I put the question in the title for others to tell what they did "before".

I taught middle school math and science for eleven years. Finally I "had it" with both student attitude and administration pressure to get my students to pass the annual testing.

Also, rookie truckers make just about as much as rookie teachers do, without all that college!

So, what did you do in your "previous life"?