The Complete Guide To A Career In Trucking

Truck driver stereotypes and backgrounds:

As the average age of truck drivers in the U.S. is almost 50 years old, many drivers have started their careers after moving on from old ones and come from every type of background imaginable.

Many of the old stereotypes of truck drivers also persist, and unfortunately some of that holds true for the attitude, appearance, and actions of many current drivers.

• Article - A Look In The Mirror

  If each truck driver would be a true professional...dress well, work with pride, talk kindly...the American public would respect us once again. We deserve a tremendous amount of respect after all.

• Article - Stereotypes and Trucking

  In part as well, the industry itself has perpetuated the stereotype of truckers because most companies simply fail at enforcing any Human Resource standard. The fear is the “driver shortage”.

• Article - What Makes a Truck Driver: Dealing With The Stereotype

  Everyone has their own version of what a truck driver looks and acts like (and sometimes what they might smell like). I'm even guilty of having an image of what a truck driver is. Once I became a driver, that all changed.

• Forum - What did you do before becoming a truck driver?

  I had taught middle school math and science for eleven years. Finally I had "had it" with both student attitude and administration pressure to get my students to pass the annual testing. Also, rookie truck drivers earn just about as much as rookie teachers do!

• Forum - Ouch! I just got put down hard

  As always, the conversation started with him saying "are you even old enough to drive a truck boy? You're one of those new 21 year old drivers that shouldn't even be on the road now aren't ya?" (If I had a nickel for every time I've got asked that I would be rich) I told him I was actually almost 24 and I have been driving for just about 3 years now.

• Forum - What Kind Of Truck Driver Are You?

  Not a guy who wears fancy cloths or fancy hats. Not a guy who drives drunk or takes pills. Not a guy who cares nothing about the other driver on the road or the driver who tells automobile drivers they are #1. And not some guy who is just in a truck making a paycheck, because, I can get by with shifting gears and turning a steering wheel.

Changes in life, changes in careers:

It's not uncommon for people to change careers several times during their lives, as the era of retiring from your first job after high school is long past. Many people who have retired from their careers in their 50's and 60's have entered trucking as a second career, a supplement to their income, or as a way to travel the country while still earning.

The challenge of a unique career:

Truck driving is a career like no other, and takes an exceptional amount of patience, perseverance, and hard work, but for the right person, provides an exciting and rewarding career. More than just a paycheck, it requires embracing a whole new "lifestyle" in order to be successful.

Sight-seeing and traveling the country:

While most of your time on the road will be spoken for, successful and experienced drivers will learn how to manage their time to find ways to get out and actually see this great country in a more tourist-y fashion. Especially in this digital age, drivers should have no problem finding things to occupy what little time they have left over.

The freedom of the road:

As a driver, you will still have incredible amounts of responsibility, and your movements will still be tracked and dictated by whatever company you are working for. That said, you will still be the captain of your own ship, and the "how's" of doing your job will be largely left up to you and your experience, on the road alone.

Will I enjoy truck driving?

If you look at truck driving as simply a "job" that you can check-in and check-out of, and compare it to 9-5 hourly wage jobs, then no, you probably won't enjoy it, or be successful at it.

The more that you understand that trucking is a "lifestyle", and something that you "live", rather than just "do", the more you will be able to embrace it as a rewarding career, or realize that it just isn't right for you. It isn't right for everyone, and there is never any shame in admitting that.

Will I get rich driving truck for a living?

The short answer is "No", you probably won't get rich as a truck driver. However, drivers who run hard and run smart can do very well financially in this industry.

First year drivers can expect to make between $35-40,000, the average salary industry-wide was around $42,000 in 2014, and top earners can pull in $80-100,000. For instance WalMart, whose driving jobs are among the most sought-after in the industry, starts its drivers at around $82,000 annually.

You get out of it what you put into it:

If you are unprepared to work hard, listen more than you talk, and treat truck driving as a "lifestyle" rather than a job, then trucking is going to give you a hard time.

Successful and fulfilled drivers realize that most aspects of the truck driver's day-to-day are the responsibility of the driver himself. Learning to plan ahead, anticipating when things could go wrong, making sure they get fixed, and having the patience and flexibility to adjust to things going wrong, are all part of the learning process of a successful driver.