Career Choices
Posted on Sep 08, 2008 - 6:35pm by Wayne Weisser in Lifestyle
We’ve mentioned in several posts and even devoted an entire podcast to the career choices open to truckers. There are only a few choices within a trucking company for a driver or o/o to get off the road. Of course there’s dispatcher or in larger companies maybe a fleet manager or in the safety department. If you just want to be home at night, there are local driver positions that are sometimes available.
Sometimes you have to think a little more outside the box. My neighbor retired as a driver and now goes around to trucking, limo and cab companies setting up safety programs. He does safety and company audits to prepare companies for DOT inspections and audits.
There are schools that advertise in the driver mags about becoming a freight broker and there are drivers that broker their own freight.
Get Out of the Box
Or think completely out of the transportation box and change careers entirely, which may require some of us to go back to school. My wife went back to school to finish her degree for a new position and I’m just beginning my road to higher education and we’re both 50. Now that people are living longer, a lot of older adults are going back to school or changing careers late in life. There are a lot of people that quit or get layed off from office positions that are starting trucking careers that are in their late 40’s or 50’s.
Community Colleges
For those drivers and owners that aren’t falling for the recruiter’s hype and are wondering how to change careers when trucking is all they’ve known for years, there are alternatives out there. Personally, I checked out my local community college and was shocked to see a lot of their classes are completely online. If you haven’t decided exactly what to do, a community college is a good place to start. Several not only have academic classes, but vocational classes as well. A local choice is great if you plan on continuing college you’re credits will be easily transferable.
There are hundreds of trade schools available online too. My wife’s sister and brother-in-law took online courses to be a home appraiser and a home inspectors while they worked full time. After completing their courses they quit their jobs then trained under someone for a year and now have been on their own for a few years.
Everything Completely Online
There are thousands of online schools and universities. I would check out something available locally first so that if you have to actually take some time off and take a class you’ll be able to. I’m taking three classes online right now and the only interaction I have with the instructor is email. I even registered online and ordered a textbook from Amazon, I did go to the college bookstore for the other one. (Two classes use the same book, in case you’re counting). Most textbooks are available either at Amazon or the online version of the college bookstore.
Assignments, quizzes, mid-terms, finals are all online and graded as soon as you’re finished. Even lectures are watched online at your convenience. I have access to the computer and networking labs whenever I’m in town. And there are forums and chat clients for classroom discussions online. If I really need to talk to an instructor I can setup an appointment when I’m home but so far haven’t had a need to.
Hey! Why don’t you take a Writing and an English class so you can learn how to write!
Maybe later, right now I’m busy with computer classes that are actually prep classes for A+ and Network+ certificate tests, above and beyond the normal college credits and the tuition is partial credit for the test fee.
Trucking is a hard lifestyle and for those getting older and may want something else, there is life after trucking. Drivers and owners have skills that they take for granted, such as
- attention to details
- patience
- the ability to adapt
- the drive to get the job done, no matter what
- Some drivers actually know what customer service is
A lot of drivers say they couldn’t work in an office, but there are hundreds of jobs that don’t have an office or a cubicle. There are even jobs that require travel where you can work independently. You may still have to answer to someone, but how is that different from driving? Even complete independents answer to a broker or a customer.
The bottom line is, there are a ton of choices. You can keep driving and find ways to make the best out of your own situation or move to another position within the industry or try a completely different industry altogether.
The Recent Downturn in the Economy and Layoffs
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Wayne, did you hear that 50 is the new 35? I read a piece yesterday in The Wall St. Journal about one of their writers that is being transferred from Dallas to NYC. He needed some place to live. NJ seemed nice and the house location was right on the train line into the city. I guess he sold his former residence in TX. After some back and forth, he bid on and got the house he and his wife wanted – for $650,000! It seems he was pre-approved for a $500K mortgage. Now that’s the (writing) job I want. I want to bring the 50 ies “experience” to the world writing while never having to cross a scale or fill out another log book. I’ve had enough of school and the read’n, writ’n and useless math, enough of corporate life with its politics, two faced wannabees and absurd rules. I don’t want to retire at 70 – if I live that long – and work at HEB,Albertson’s or Publix packing groceries to supplement my social security while writing the trailer park blog site. There is a “dream” job out there for us “seniors.” It just has to be mined out. Maybe I’ll move to China and work there.
I hear ya. That’s the goal. Hopefully companies are realizing that people at 50 still have 15 to 20 years to give them in a career.
Go to Chinesepod.com to start learning your Chinese.
Glad to see you are continuing your education! I received my bachelor’s via a distance program. I would go to campus for the return (to see the instructors, get coursework, get books) which was nice because I got to actually see them (and interact with others taking the same courses as I was) and I am actually attending the same college now working on my graduate degree doing the same thing. I go to the campus once a semester. It makes for a nice break from everything. And I have to tell you – I have seen women in their late 80’s graduate from this college so I know if these little “old” ladies can do it – anyone can!
There is a huge demand for truck drivers and other heavy machinery operators and dump truck drivers in Australia. You obviously need to spend a few 1000 getting local licenses etc but a dump truck driver on a shift fly in fly out to a capital city can pull A$200k easy – and although the days are long on site – you then get days off at home