What Did You Do Before Becoming A Truck Driver?

actually a driver engineer right now so a firefighter, EMT, and just a fire apparatus driver hoping to be a trucker soon.

English is not my first Language, hope I don't make too many spelling mistakes. I am currently working as a Registered Nurse, and also taking my CDL classes. Just want to do something different when i need time off from Healthcare.

Dave T.,

That's really fascinating, to me !!!!

I learned AutoCAD back in the day, too. Attempted to, would be a better word. Even with my strong math & physics skills, I never really got the '3D' of it all. Stuff like this, is what you did ?!?!?

Yes, I mainly used AUTOCAD to do all of my drafting until Solidworks came out. I spent countless hours behind the yoke with my pencil and paper with all my measuring instruments taking extremely detailed sketches drawing the different instruments. I had to crawl all over those planes and even walked the wings a few times on the big planes or lying on my back under them working upside down 😂. A lot of the time the mechanics, the sheet metal guys and the electricians would just build something from scratch to make it work and then I’d have to go and basically reverse engineer it and turn it into detailed drawings on the computer. It was all hush hush kinda stuff so I can’t go into details but it was pretty awesome stuff.

Not in the industry yet, but really considering it.

Been in IT for 24 year and have worked in the "data space" of the IT world for the last 15 years. This has involved anything from database administration, data movement programmer, business intelligence (reporting) developer etc. Prior to data was doing installs of what we now call content management systems for newspapers and magazines. Traveled 2+ weeks a month and for 9 years really enjoyed it.

Had planned to "retire" or evolve in early 2021, but plans changed (prior to pandemic) which had me not really ready to transition yet to a non-income based lifestyle. August of last year, left previous employer for a new one hoping it would re-kindle some of the passion I had lost working for a large corp....nope.

Have been looking at trucking, but have some obstacles to getting started. Trying to figure out possible solutions, if I do, might make the jump.

Not in the industry yet, but really considering it.

Been in IT for 24 year and have worked in the "data space" of the IT world for the last 15 years. This has involved anything from database administration, data movement programmer, business intelligence (reporting) developer etc. Prior to data was doing installs of what we now call content management systems for newspapers and magazines. Traveled 2+ weeks a month and for 9 years really enjoyed it.

Had planned to "retire" or evolve in early 2021, but plans changed (prior to pandemic) which had me not really ready to transition yet to a non-income based lifestyle. August of last year, left previous employer for a new one hoping it would re-kindle some of the passion I had lost working for a large corp....nope.

Have been looking at trucking, but have some obstacles to getting started. Trying to figure out possible solutions, if I do, might make the jump.

There are quite a few experienced drivers here with many years of experience. They are all pretty good about being completely honest as to the possibility of being able to navigate obstacles and how to do so, if possible. If you start a thread of your own and state what obstacles you have, those experienced drivers are likely to chime in with solid feedback.

Not in the industry yet, but really considering it.

Been in IT for 24 year and have worked in the "data space" of the IT world for the last 15 years. This has involved anything from database administration, data movement programmer, business intelligence (reporting) developer etc. Prior to data was doing installs of what we now call content management systems for newspapers and magazines. Traveled 2+ weeks a month and for 9 years really enjoyed it.

Had planned to "retire" or evolve in early 2021, but plans changed (prior to pandemic) which had me not really ready to transition yet to a non-income based lifestyle. August of last year, left previous employer for a new one hoping it would re-kindle some of the passion I had lost working for a large corp....nope.

Have been looking at trucking, but have some obstacles to getting started. Trying to figure out possible solutions, if I do, might make the jump.

Howdy, D.N. !

Welcome to Trucking Truth; and please feel free to start your own thread!!!! Share your journey, ask questions about the industry, etc...as you care to. There's no 'minimum' membership, haha!

My husband got into trucking the exact same way; had about the same as you; 15 years in iT (all kinds) .... and pretty much got R.I.F.'d himself. He's now been driving for 19 years, and does rather well for himself and our family (for an old guy, haha!)

We'll be here to help when you're ready to jump; look at some goodreads, in the meantime:

• Truck Driver's Career Guide
• Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
• High Road CDL Training Program
• CDL Practice Tests

See you back soon; welcome!

~ Anne & Tom ~

I was a 911 Dispatcher. It was something I thought I'd retire from, and the best job ever for me, until it wasn't. Trucking is something I dreamed about as a kid like most, and thanks to the guidance of this site, I am finally making a go of it. I'm in the very-rookie stage but thanks to having as much a realistic expectation as I can from reading experiences here, I'm surviving for now. What I love about this industry is there's so many facets to it, there's a home for everybody if you can find it and have the experience for it. I don't know what I want to do long-term but I know I want to drive something for a living and learn as much as I can during my initial year OTR and will go from there.

I was an RF Specialist for Spectrum and other Internet companies in Kentucky. Once Spectrum took over Time Warner, I pretty much had enough with the corporate mentalities of these companies who micro manage like nothing I have ever seen before. I decided then it was time to move on to something I could retire from that is far less micro managing...and besides, I have always wanted to be a Truck Driver ever since I was a little kid, after riding out with my grandfather and uncle and after watching Smokey and the Bandit. So now, here I am, driving for Trade Winds Transit for 6 months now and still rolling.

Worked 20+ years at a nutritional plant for a major brand, that's in hot water as of now, and retired out when the plandemic hit bc they were coercing me to take the fake PCR test every week or lose my job.

Started work at a garbage disposal company as a satellite driver, where I drove a 3/4 pickup and drove 10-12 hours a day picking up trash. That lead to getting a class B CDL and driving a garbage truck. Did that for 6 months and transitioned into getting a class A CDL and driving the big truck.

I read here that many people looked forward to driving a big rig from a young age, but that wasn't at all the case for me; really didn't think about it. But the good Lord showed me the way and so thankful for the job.

Drug Test Collector. Urine, hair, saliva, breathalyzer testing.

Met a lot of truckers in this position, most coming in for being randomly selected by their company. Some as part of a post accident, new hires, or RTD/FU/SAP testing.

Talked to enough truck drivers that I got the crazy idea that I could do it. Currently in trucking school. I have my 160 hours, just waiting for them to give me my final test date.