4 Things About the Trucker Lifestyle that Might Appeal to You

There are many things you can do to make a living. Some of them sound pretty unappealing, like working in the sewers or as a mortician. What you have to realize, though, is that there are all kinds of people in the world, so it follows that there will be individuals willing to do just about any job.

Let’s consider commercial truck driving. Maybe that’s not something that would appeal to you the first time you think about it. However, as it turns out, truck driving has a lot going for it that might not occur to you at first.

We’ll talk about truck driving in a little more detail in this article. More specifically, we’ll discuss some reasons why this profession might sound better to you the more you hear about what it entails.

You Don’t Need a College Degree to Become a Truck Driver

You have probably heard for years how a four-year college degree can open doors for you. While that is true, it ignores a great many jobs you can do for which you don’t need that four-year degree. To be a truck driver, all you need to do is go to trucking school right out of high school to learn how to maneuver one of these massive machines.

It’s true that there are unqualified truck drivers out there who never demonstrated any aptitude for handling a commercial vehicle of that size. The average commercial trucking company, though, will make sure that you have a commercial trucker’s license, which you need to get before you can legally get into this profession. You’ll need to study to learn all the rules governing interstate trucking, and then you’ll need to learn how to maneuver one of these big rigs before anyone will hire you.

If you dedicate yourself and you’re a responsible driver to begin with, there is no reason why you can’t make this your profession. You can be out on the road driving a commercial truck within a year or two after graduating from high school if you can show an employer you have the skill set and you’re capable of handling the responsibility.

You Will Make Better Money than You Would Flipping Burgers

There are not too many entry-level jobs you can get without graduating from college that will pay you very well. With rents all across the country going up and the minimum wage remaining stagnant, it’s becoming harder and harder to get your own place without roommates anywhere in the United States.

If you want to start on the path toward eventual homeownership, you need to do a lot better than minimum wage, but that’s a real challenge without a college degree. One way you can get there is by getting a commercial trucker’s license and getting into this profession.

You will probably start out making in the $38-40,000 per year range, but if you show you’re good at the job, your salary should go up from there. You can often make twice that much within five years. If you live frugally, you may have enough to put a down payment on a house in an inexpensive part of the country within five years or so, well before you reach age 30.

You Don’t Have to See Your Boss Every Day

Maybe you crave autonomy in your job. You don’t like the thought that you’ll have to sit behind a desk every day, typing on a computer or pushing papers. The idea of fast-food work does not appeal to you, nor does retail.

Those are most of the sorts of jobs you can expect without a great deal of education to pad your resume. You might have no issue going to college, except that you don’t have the money for it. Even if you get into an accredited university, you will probably have to go into significant debt to do so.

If you get a commercial trucker’s license and enter this profession, you will not have to see your boss every day, nor will you have to spend a lot of time dealing with coworkers who you might not like very much. Most of the time, you will be out on the road, enjoying no one’s company but your own.

Many people find that to be a very appealing thought. You can sit there alone in your truck, watching tv by using wifi for truckers, far from a micromanaging boss who’s constantly looking over your shoulder or coworkers who like to steal your lunch out of the break room fridge.

You Can See the Country for Free

Some truckers stay within one state and never venture outside of it. Others travel all across the country, though.

Many truckers have what they call wanderlust. It’s the notion that you want to get out there and see the world, or at least different parts of the US. You can do that if you become a trucker. You might travel from coast to coast as part of your job.

You can see the natural wonders that make up America, from the bayou to the desert, the mountains to the great barren plains. You can travel along California’s coast and see New York City’s lights lit up at night. You might find time to cast your eyes on Mount Rushmore or the Grand Canyon as part of your job.

It’s exciting to think that you can explore the variety of sights this majestic country offers as part of a job for which a company is paying you well. By the time you’re thirty, you might have spent time in nearly all of the fifty states. There are hardly any other jobs where you could say the same.  

Trucking is certainly not for everyone, but if you take the time to think it over, it might have a lot more appeal than you first imagined. It’s at least worth thinking about if you’re going to enter the working world.