College Or Truck Driving.

I'm telling you right now, the ruthless pursuit of the dollar is the only thing in life that makes sense.

How sure of that are you?

I'm exaggerating, of course, but I think my point is clear. Try finding love and respect when you can't make ends meet.

If you honestly believe love and respect are based on your income or even your ability to pay your bills, it explains a lot of your problems. I don't even have any way of knowing the depth of your issues, but you've left a decent bit of evidence here in our forum to let us in on some of them.

I'll tell you this much about my own life experiences... There was a terribly difficult time in my life that lasted for well over a full year where my wife and children were almost left to be homeless and on the streets. They never lost their love and respect for me, though many factors of the situation could have allowed them to do so.

I have my bachelor's degree. Worked hard to get that piece of paper, all for a major that I realized wasn't for me when it was too late to change. I applied for jobs in my field, got a few interviews but never landed a job, not even an internship. Got depressed over it, wondering if I was stuck in a dead end retail job the rest of my life. Eventually I get my license, move, and do Uber as a side gig to my retail job to make some extra $. Uber helped me realize I really like driving. In the apartment complex I moved in to, a couple guys had there CDLs and drove truck. That got me thinking that since I love driving, traveling, and that I'm not very talkative, truck driving would be perfect for me. The only thing I worried about was an at fault accident on my record. I start researching truck driving schools and how to pay for it. Turned out since I was making so little money, I was able to get truck driving school paid for by the government with the Wioa program. I took the optional class at the school to get my CLP since I heard it was a good way to decide if this is really what you want to do. After taking that class, it was. Today I drive for Prime making triple-quadruple what I was in retail.

The point of telling my story was that I went the college route first and for a while I struggled with what I want to do in life. Heck, I still struggle with it. I know I don't want to do OTR forever. If you do decide to pursue a CDL and realize it's not for you, college will always be waiting for you, plus you'll have some money to pay for it. Remember, you are never too old to get an education.

David,

I was in your situation 26 years ago. I wanted to drive a truck rather than go to college but my parents and my conscience told me I should go to school and get a degree. I was engaged when I graduated with a Civil Engineering degree and thought again about driving truck at that time. My fiancé was very supportive and said if you are going to do it, do it before we have kids. I ended up getting an Engineering job that has served be very well and I now make over $100k a year. I look back on it and truly believe I did the right thing. My wife and I wanted a family and I did not want to be stuck on the road somewhere while my kids were growing up. My oldest son just graduated high school and I can count on one hand the number of ball games and track meets I have missed during his middle and high school career. It truly depends on what you want in life. Do I still want to drive a truck? Absolutely. And I will when the time is right. I have over 20 years in as a civil engineer, with about 10 years until I can retire. I will be 55 at retirement and plan on starting my new career in trucking at that time. The thing is you need to think about what it is you want in life and shape your career around that. But whatever you decide to do, don't ever second guess yourself. Do it with confidence and do it to the best of your abilities and you will be successful at what ever you decide to do.

Wow, what a great variety of responses!

Like Brett, I was a bit of a prodigy as a teenager. I was always great at taking tests, and was a National Merit Finalist and some other stuff I've forgotten now. I won statewide math contests in high school, and even beat a guy from my school who has gone on to work at Lawrence Livermore National Lab and to co-author papers about how their team of Americans and Russians discovered new elements.

Also like what Brett described, I love to acquire new skills, but unlike Brett and many others, I've never been ambitious, at least not in the sense of building a business or discovering new chemical elements.

Financially, I have been everywhere from "upper homeless" (crashing at friends' places) to a comfortable middle class homeowner. I have friends from college who come from similar backgrounds and whose net worth now is in 7- and 8-figures. Though some may not believe me because of their own biases, I am not jealous, but rather actually genuinely happy for their success, because I watched them work their butts off to get there.

I graduated from college. That piece of paper did help me to get some jobs that I would not have gotten without it, but none of those jobs particularly impress me. They were a way of putting food on the table and paying the rent.

I have hired and trained a lot of supervisors and managers over the years. Most of those jobs technically required degrees, but I hired people who I thought could do the job who didn't have degrees whenever I could get away with it. And I interviewed a lot of people who had degrees whom I did not hire, and managed quite a few who were pretty useless despite their degrees.

I personally think we would be much better off with a system similar to Germany's where internships and trade schools help people start careers in areas they already have an interest in, and college is reserved for those who have both the talent and desire to pursue some area of knowledge where it makes sense to go that route.

Engineering is one of those areas, but there are a lot of additional crap courses that American universities force engineering students (for example) to take when it really has nothing whatever to do with their career goals. Plus, the debt upon graduation has become staggering just in the last 25 years. I can't recommend college to most people.

So, what would I recommend to you personally? Since you've said that college isn't appealing right now, I would work and save money (or at least stay debt-free) for a year or two, then re-evaluate. A lot of times the issue isn't talent or ability as much as it is maturity. By that, I mean having the maturity and experience to know what you really want to do.

Spend some time getting to know yourself by trying some different things so you can figure out what it is you really like to do. (I don't have a sense that you really know that yet.) Once you do, do what it takes to get there.

For me, that came late. (I actually think I would have been happiest had I gotten a degree in electronic engineering, but I didn't figure that out until I was in my mid-30s with a wife, a kid, a mortgage, etc. Nope, not going back to college.) Try to accelerate that process so you're not in your mid-30s before you figure it out; mid-20s is much better.

I'll reiterate what seems to be a common theme here. College isn't that golden ticket to financial security / prosperity like it used to be. It's been like that for over 20 years. At one point, a general BA degree held more weight than it does now. You have to really specialize in something that will pay off, much like a field you've showed interest in. Liberal arts degrees are a safe way to guarantee flunky jobs and accumulating school debt with interest that can't be paid off with wages that are slightly above min wage. Vocational schools that teach trades, generally speaking, are much better institutions for preparing most people for a career they can become established with and raise a family.

College as a means for edification is an expensive luxury. Library cards are cheaper.

I have a degree in Philosophy. At one point I was a dual major in German and Philosophy. I might as well have studied library science and became a ski lift operator at a winter resort somewhere in the Rockies. I chose not to go to graduate school.

I have a trucking job with an LTL company as a linehaul driver where I usually make 78-90k a year, depending on the run I take, and I'm home everyday and have weekends off. If you're looking at trucking as a means for an income, and not just an extravagant OTR adventure or 'lifestyle,' look into LTL. LTL pays more than truckload. There are other local opportunities for more home time and earning potential as well.

I don't regret my higher education, then again, I didn't pay for most of it. In my twenties, I wish I would've lived that grand OTR adventure, using the truck as my residence, and gathered money while I gathered my traveling experiences. Then again, my past has contributed to who I am today, and regret can sometimes unjustly taint the past with the present.

Here's some links that discuss trucking beyond OTR.

LTL Trucking: My linehaul job

The Local Thread

The Old Philosopher says

I have a degree in Philosophy.

I'm not surprised.

I bet you know how to pronounce Nietzsche.

The Old Philosopher says

I have a degree in Philosophy.

I'm not surprised.

I bet you know how to pronounce Nietzsche.

Nee-cha.

And he's actually one of my favorites. I always preferred the Continental school of philosophy to the Analytical school. The latter tends to become entangled in linguistics and all sorts of un-romantic distractions.

Hey everyone, we have another new episode of our podcast "The Road Home" and it's titled:

Episode 16: A College Education Versus Truck Driving: Not As Simple As You May Think

It's a common question we get, "Should I go to college or become a truck driver?" To some that seems like a rather naive and obvious choice. Who would choose trucking over college? Well it turns out I did, and so did a lot of incredibly happy truck drivers. But the road is far more difficult than you might imagine, and it does mean giving up a lot of great opportunities. Here I will share my personal life experiences and explain how I feel you should make that decision for yourself.

Enjoy!

Episode 16: A College Education Versus Truck Driving: Not As Simple As You May Think

And by the way, I'm supposed to ask you guys to please, please subscribe to our podcast and give it a rating on iTunes and Google Play. At least that's what everyone else asks people to do, so there you have it. You can click on either of the links above to view it in iTunes or Google Play.

Enjoy!