Need Some Opinions Or Just Your Thoughts

Good Morning,

I have the trucking bug and I have pretty much left my corporate desk job. I am scheduled to start with my mentor soon. The problem is that I have been offered another management job with high pay and only about 3mins from my house. I want to drive a truck and I have already planned ahead for the lower pay that comes with the first year rookie status. I was thinking that I could try the other job for a few months just to see if it is something I could do. It's just that every time I see a truck now, I get this warm and fuzzy feeling on the inside. Have any of you ever been through this type of situation. I welcome all opinions and thoughts.

Thanks

Good morning, Guess I’m a bit confused here. Your profile says company driver in training, and you mention getting with a trainer soon. Are you in school?? If so private or company sppnsored??? The wording you use leads me to think you are in a private school still working your original job, but thats just a guess. IF you are already on the books with a company I don’t believe they will look kindly to you leaving so soon after they have invested in you. If not, then you have to decide what is important to you. Is money your driving force? Is a normal life important? Is being in management important too you? We all have to priortize our own life. This is a great career however like other great careers it comes with its own unique challenges. We as human beings are all different, and set different goals for ourselves. If your not already committed to a company then your choice is a bit easier. My opinion is if you are committed to a company then you should honor your committment to them, as I believe they have to you too this point in the relationship. I wish you well in your decision making process

I am going to very honest with you FliteRisk...

Trucking requires 100% commitment. Having a “bug” to drive a rig doesn’t necessarily imply a full commitment to this, as evidenced by your post.

Secondly your CDL is new, fresh. Waiting for 3 or more months will create a gap causing your skills and knowledge to become stale and far less relevant for a prospective employer. Considering that you haven’t completed mentoring yet, you may need a CDL refresher course if you experience a gap in excess of 2-3 months.

You also risk Swift requiring full payment of your schooling at full price. Unless you pay for your schooling, Swift may hold the certificate until payment is received in full. Are you prepared to pay thousands of dollars for your school?

My advice? I think you need to choose and not look back. You seem the be hedging your bet, straddling the middle of the road. Which to me indicates indecision.

Based on your post; I don’t believe you are ready for truck driving. I too was faced with the same exact thing immediately after completion of mentoring. I thought about it for 5 minutes, replaying all of the experiences I had in my previous career; specifically events that originally motivated me to drive a truck in the first place. I respectfully declined the offer.

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum and thinking about diving into the trucking industry. I am so tired of the daily corporate grind. I have thirty employees and just want to be responsible for me. Funny as it may sound, I just don't want to be the boss anymore. Thinking about starting with Swift. Anyone here ever go through this?

That is your first post in the forum, I believe.

What has changed in the corporate world? Why do you think more money closer to home will matter?

As GTown said, if you leave now, it will cause to to be in debt, need retraining, and delay your career in trucking.

You need to decide if you truly want to drive trucks for a living, or be in management and live the corporate life, and don’t look back, whichever you choose.

Good luck.

FliteRisk is a good name for you.

quit swift and rent a box truck from time to time to scratch that itch. you said 2 days ago "I cant wait til i get behind that wheel". i certainly dont want someone on the road with only a CDL , but you can handle a box truck.

You should have taken the job before you went to school, then gone to school after trying the job. you also said its not about money so the job offer shouldnt matter... but hey, life happens.

truth is...you cant be indecisive in trucking. you need to make life and death decisions every day, several times a day in split seconds. i admit, i never understood indecision. i always knew exactly what i wanted and went for it. People romanticize trucking and then cant handle.it. you may be better off having your trucking fantasy from a n office.

only you can decide that.

Its not a question of me wanting to be a truck driver. I definitely want to do this. I guess it's just the life change fear to get over. I have only had one job my entire life and I gave that up after 21 years. I'm ready but nervous I guess. Leaving a world where I controlled everything and was the expert is a little more scary than I thought. I will get over it. I definitely don't miss the other job. Thanks for your comments guys.

I respect the straight forwardness and the truth that I get from you guys.

If its control you want, trucking can be a decent choice. you wont have control until you go solo, but my mom is amazed i stop when i want, shower and sleep whenever, i can drive 600 miles one day and 300 the next and no one cares. if i want extra sleep i get it, and if i want more miles i just ask.

as a trainer i even tell diapatch the route i want for teaching purposes and they find me the load.

of course some things like blow outs weather and accident delays are out of your control, but how you handle it and recover are.