What Did You Do Before Becoming A Truck Driver?

Server Tech at US Department Of Justice.

OK, it's been almost a month since the last update. Here is our community profile for Mid Summer, 2015. (Since I started this 5 months ago, some people have "moved on".)

TOTALS SO FAR Part IV (new totals) It's been 3 months since update #3. Since then, our Trucking Truth community has grown with the following denizens. (I've lumped several careers together into broader categories.) In no particular order:

• IT - 7 → 9
• Teachers - 4 → 4
• Law Enforcement - 6 → 7
• Building Contractors - 11 → 11
• Purchasing - 3 → 3
• Warehouse - 4 → 4
• Auto Repair - 2 → 4
• Trucking from the start - 3 → 4
• Retail - 5 → 5
• Management - 5 → 5
• Manufacturing - 4 → 4
• Sales - 4 → 4
• Firefighter - 2 → 2
• Medical/healthcare - 2 → 4
• Military (lifer) - 2 → 2
• Ground Transport (non trucking) - 2 → 2
• Air Transport - 1 → 1

New Categories:

• Legal (non attorney) - 1
• Conservation Corps - 1
• Restaurant - 2
• Oil Field - 1
• Employed but no “career”‡ - 1
• Bartender - 1
• SIGINT* Analyst - 1 → 2

These singles, I couldn't or didn't want to categorize you:

• Phone System Engineer - 1
• Counselor - 1
• Recording Engineer - 1
• Musician - 1
• Farrier - 1
• Cosmetology - 1
• Rodeo - 1

‡ Several people have more or less 'drifted' from one job to another, so they will be going here.
* I worked in this field in the military, too. Just listen to a radio & figure out what's going on.

I'm a disgruntled ex-salesman. Turns out after 20 yrs of selling everything from exotic yacht vacations to solar panels to real estate to computers to mortgages, I rather dislike people in general. I would rather not have to ever try to persuade another human being to earn a living ever again. I am looking forward to the solitude of the open road.

OK my turn,

I start truck driving school this coming Monday :)

Went to college right out of HS, earned a PhD in Mechanical engineering with a minor in English. Been in my field for 20+ years and I am tried of people and feel I am at the top of my profession and have no where to go, as I type this I am avoiding work. LOL

I'm Paul Campbell "shaggy" to the wrecker industry and Well yall have had interesting "real" jobs...so let me begin my before I was a trucker....

1. In high school worked at bill millers cleaning trays silverware and frying chicken and French fries

2. Met my wife senior year and had my beautiful daughter, started working at discount tire so we could have our own place

3. Hurt my back on the job never quite recovered so answered an add in the newspaper for tow truck driver. Had just turned 21 so I qualified. Drove all kinds of wreckers for the next 10 years from baby one tons to 2.5 ton flatbeds too 50 ton heavy duty recovery units. International twin axles and ken worth twin axles mostly. Driving that ken worth with the sleeper was what really got me interested in OTR work. Now I had this dream since high school to get the kids in college and go OTR with the wifey....bout 9 years pullin wrecks and breakdowns.

4. Wrecker work just wouldn't pay bills and add to the bank account. So I got courages or maybe I had a death wish and went into repossessing collateral for banks and lien holders I ran/managed/partnered with an outfit outta Corpus Christi Texas for the past 3 years made 6-10,000 a month which seems like a lot but the fuel bill was kicking my buuutttooocks😐😐😐 1500 to 2000 a week. That and I got tired of the lowlifes and guns and punches to the face...bout 8 years bein a repoman.

5. I went back to the wrecker industry worked there another six months outta New Braunfels tx working for the police and county sheriffs dept. First 3 months was real good 1,000 to 2,000 a week but then the contract ran out and the new contract required 8 on call companies 2 week assigned rotations with 2 companies on at a time, I got one the other guys got one and so forth. Well as u can imagine the pay fell through the floor and 600.00 a week salary for 12 hr shifts 6 days a Week just wasn't cutting it.

6. I find trucking truth .com and blamo all yall on here gave me the confidence to pursue my OTR career I'm 3 weeks out in my brand new 2016 Mac M8 13 spd livin the dream workin dedicated runs mostly for Jacobson transport. Been working through some self inflicted hiccups but again thanks to yall here at TT.com and your advice I'm gonna do badass!!

I'm 38 now and plan on doing this till I can't shift or climb outta the cab😀😀

Sales / self storage property manager. I'm the guy that sold your stuff like on TV when you didn't pay your bill. Damn if I had a nickel for every time someone asked me "did you ever watch that show on TV".

I guess coming out of my background and going into the trucking industry would be a completely life changing event. I never worked in any big boys jobs (construction, rigging, etc.) I was first an EMT for 2 years and then I worked as a pharmacy technician for about 3 years. Finally I decided I had a enough working in the healthcare industry and wanted to try something new. I've always has a passion for trucks and big rigs. Watching a semi hauling through a highway always catches my attention and respect for those drivers. Most of all, why I want to go into trucking is the opportunity for travel and adventures. Just being out in the open road gives you that freedom and relaxation to enjoy.

Not actually a trucker yet, but I'll post mine anyway.

1. Retail 2. Office intern (by the way, data entry is my nightmare job) 3. Tech support (for Xbox...when the 360 came out) 4. Tech support (for Cingular...during the time when AT&T bought them out) 5. Nanny (I would never do this for anybody other than the people I did it for) 6. Office (glorified, with enough variety to keep me busy) 7. Office Manager (the job that made me realize...I just hate offices)

Right now, I'm still doing random contract work for #6.

Tip of the day: If your phone starts doing weird things, turn it off, leave it for 30 seconds, turn it back on. Fixes 90% of issues. If it keeps doing weird things...yank the battery WHILE THE PHONE IS STILL ON. Leave it out for a few minutes, then pop it back in. Fixes about another 3% of issues. Past that, you're SOL.

Well lets see….

Many years ago I was 18 and graduation was just around the corner and my aunt came to me and asked me what I was going to do for a "Real" job after graduation. I been working most of my life either bucking hay in the summer, fast food during school, and I never thought about having to work year around. What do you mean I don’t get summers off? No Christmas vacation? I thought to myself “This s**t just got real“.

So I thought about college but decided against that, I have a high IQ and never struggled in school but college didn’t appeal to me. I came from a blue collar family and we all worked hard for a living. Since I came from a family with a long line of veterans I decided to go into the Army to sereve my country that I love. I spent the next 11 years as a track vehicle mechanic and specialized in rebuilding the M1 Abrams turbine engine.

After 11 years I decided to get out because life was happening, my wife was pregnant and I decided it was a good time to move on. So I then became a firefighter with a small town in southern New Mexico. I really enjoyed the adrenaline rush of being inside a burning building. After four years of doing that I was offered a job in Law Enforcement where I loved the job and excelled at it and had a great time. After seven years of "chasing the bad guy" I decided to resign because of personal reasons.

I have always been into some type of construction, I was flipping houses on the side where I made tens of thousands of dollars and I also lost my ass on a few of them. But when the market fell out I lost everything. After law enforcememnt I moved to Colorado to help my aging father and I started doing custom high end granite work. For three years I worked rock and made excellent money but i am getting too old to pick up several hundred pounds and carry it into a house up a hill in two feet of snow. This old man needs something different.

Since most of my family either drives big trucks or works on them for a living I decided to get my CDL and go over the road for a few years to see if I like the life style. When i was in high school i would run with my uncle in his extended nose Pete and I loved being on the road and to see what was around the next corner or see where we would wake up the next day. Oh and I found out when i was 18 what a "Lot Lizard" was at a a truck stop called the Tin Lizzy. Yeah my uncle was a little upset but thank God he stopped me before anything happened. HAHA

I have always enjoyed being alone and making decisions on my own. So here we go…. Let the dice roll and see what happens.

I've been a Machinist for about 20 years in Houston, making parts for the Oil Industry. Did pretty well sometime and not so much other times, right now the Industry is completely died. I'm tired of the ups and mostly downs of my present career, I'm 49 years old and need some stability in my life. Trucking looks like exactly like what I'm looking for.