smokinbarrels:
I would seriously try both, don’t give up on all that hard work just to become a trucker, you’ll regret it later in life. Pursue a job using your university qualifications and use the money to fund your licences and try a bit of part-time work, that way your keeping both avenues open.
A good point, as your uni degree opens a door that won’t stay open more than a couple of years, if that… Yet the door to becoming a lorry driver will be there all your working life (As long as it hasn’t fallen off its hinges!)
I did mechanical/aeronautical engineering. I got my licence. Just becuase you have a degree doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go for yours. A few of my friends had high paying jobs working for airbus in broughton cheshire. They too ■■■■■■ it off and got their C+E. Depends what you want to do. At least with your degree, you always have it to fall back on
Hey, don’t worry about doing a degree and then going on to be a truck driver - I did fine art at uni, and have worked for a right big name in his modern art studio, and the pay was less than what some of you are making, so having a degree, even a specialist one, doesn’t guarantee you a well-paid job. And it’s better than the other option to a lot of us art degree bachelors, which is flipping burgers!
Then again, I’m talking from the perspective of having graduated all the way back in '96, if I’d known then what I know now, hindsight and all that, I’d have probably got into trucking a lot earlier (still not actually in it, just looking to get started)!
sarahtheclarke:
Thanks for all the advice and encouragement, it is really appreciated.
I know it sounds strange that I am about to graduate University and want to become a truck driver, but it is my dream job and I feel I am at a point where I can follow my dream. If it doesn’t work out then I have my degree-based career prospects to fall back on.
Go for it. Your university experience will come in to its own in the future, if you decide to set up a company yourself or be self-employed…
As others have said, finding a job you love is like gold dust - and if you love it, it’s not a job.
Sarah if your query is genuine then my advice is forget it. Driving a truck is not glamorous and it is one of the lowest jobs there is. I have had a career in IT for 20 years and left that todo other things but end up truck driving to see me out. It is not a career but a dead end job that pays peanuts. People talk to you like you are something they scraped off their shoe. There are some women driving trucks yes but god knows why. You can forget relationships as they wont last and definately forget about starting a family. Why don’t you consider being a bus driver? Better still go and get a real job, this game is for mugs if you are young. Most of us are late 50’s kids gone, mortgage paid and just want to work at our pace for a few quid. Lots of army, police and firemen doing this as an easy job to supplement their wages/pension. That never used to happen much as the job was hard, roping and sheeting, hard to drive trucks, no sat nav, no niceties. It was a real game then but now a child could drive these and worse foreingers who walk in and dont even speak English. Then you have agencies and middlemen taking the pee. Forget it Sarah, go get a real career yby doing the work now at uni and you can have a decent salary, a family, good work hours and decent benefits. You could always do your test anyway and do a couple og weeke ds for poundworld et al. That will soon make you realise how silly you have been. Anyway good luck
alder:
Sarah if your query is genuine then my advice is forget it. Driving a truck is not glamorous and it is one of the lowest jobs there is. I have had a career in IT for 20 years and left that todo other things but end up truck driving to see me out. It is not a career but a dead end job that pays peanuts. People talk to you like you are something they scraped off their shoe. There are some women driving trucks yes but god knows why. You can forget relationships as they wont last and definately forget about starting a family. Why don’t you consider being a bus driver? Better still go and get a real job, this game is for mugs if you are young. Most of us are late 50’s kids gone, mortgage paid and just want to work at our pace for a few quid. Lots of army, police and firemen doing this as an easy job to supplement their wages/pension. That never used to happen much as the job was hard, roping and sheeting, hard to drive trucks, no sat nav, no niceties. It was a real game then but now a child could drive these and worse foreingers who walk in and dont even speak English. Then you have agencies and middlemen taking the pee. Forget it Sarah, go get a real career yby doing the work now at uni and you can have a decent salary, a family, good work hours and decent benefits. You could always do your test anyway and do a couple og weeke ds for poundworld et al. That will soon make you realise how silly you have been. Anyway good luck
alder:
Sarah if your query is genuine then my advice is forget it. Driving a truck is not glamorous and it is one of the lowest jobs there is. I have had a career in IT for 20 years and left that todo other things but end up truck driving to see me out. It is not a career but a dead end job that pays peanuts. People talk to you like you are something they scraped off their shoe. There are some women driving trucks yes but god knows why. You can forget relationships as they wont last and definately forget about starting a family. Why don’t you consider being a bus driver? Better still go and get a real job, this game is for mugs if you are young. Most of us are late 50’s kids gone, mortgage paid and just want to work at our pace for a few quid. Lots of army, police and firemen doing this as an easy job to supplement their wages/pension. That never used to happen much as the job was hard, roping and sheeting, hard to drive trucks, no sat nav, no niceties. It was a real game then but now a child could drive these and worse foreingers who walk in and dont even speak English. Then you have agencies and middlemen taking the pee. Forget it Sarah, go get a real career yby doing the work now at uni and you can have a decent salary, a family, good work hours and decent benefits. You could always do your test anyway and do a couple og weeke ds for poundworld et al. That will soon make you realise how silly you have been. Anyway good luck
Good way of ■■■■■■■■ all over some people’s chosen careers!
Thanks for the replies. I have got the impression that opinion that the job is cr@p and that I am being an idiot for doing a degree then deciding I want to go for my dream job.
There is an old saying that dreams are meant to be crushed and this has certainly proved that it is ture.
sarahtheclarke:
Thanks for the replies. I have got the impression that opinion that the job is cr@p and that I am being an idiot for doing a degree then deciding I want to go for my dream job.
There is an old saying that dreams are meant to be crushed and this has certainly proved that it is ture.
The OP asked for advice, I gave it as honestly as I could. However if you don’t tell them what they want to hear they go into attack mode I did suggest that Sarah could still pursue a worthwhile career and try her fantasy out on weekends to get rid of the novelty value.
Endgame your comment is typical of a good majority of lorry drivers which is why people outside this business treat us the way they do and why many opinions of lorry drivers are that we are thick, ignorant and even stupid. Some people treat us like we are morons dribbling from the side of our mouths and a vacant slot in the skull where a brain should reside. It is no wonder I come across signs with pictures informing us how to climb the steps to get into the cab, Why there are markings where our wheels should be and why when you pull up anywhere 9 times out of 10 the person on the gate has a look of despair on seeing another driver role up to have the instructions carefully explained to him. As a person with a degree and having dealt with people on steering committees, executives and leaders of industry it amazes me why there are not more simplified written procedures to speed queues up when waiting for a load or to be tipped. The reason is that the management of these places have such a low opinion of lorry drivers and view us all as being unable to read a simple document, so they have to draw pictures for us and leave it to the security gate and crane drivers to explain it over and over again
Sarah, you will do what you want anyway but you asked the question and obviously wanted sanction to follow your pathetic dream over doing a degree and following a real profession. I suspect with your attitude you are already failing in that and have not got the conviction to follow that through. This is why you want to join a merry band of people who can do a simply driving test, follow a sat nav and play their music for pocket money. Being a young person with a life ahead of you I can tell you that I have given you the very best advice for YOU not me as my life is nearly over If you pursue this fantasy my words will haunt you later in life and you will realise what a chance you had in your grip. You said “bye” but I know people like you will come back and read this. I wonder if your family and friends have advised similar to me and that’s why you came on a forum full of lorry drivers who kid themselves that they are in a worthwhile career and that they are in professions akin to an engineer or mechanic?
alder:
a forum full of lorry drivers who kid themselves that they are in a worthwhile career and that they are in professions akin to an engineer or mechanic?
Not really sure what you’re getting at with the mechanics reference? Mechanics is [zb] money, and definitely not a worthwhile career. Ripping an engine apart in the winter months isn’t exactly fun or rewarding. The same goes for panel beating, jig work and spraying.
I don’t think Alder said anything wrong, Sarah came here looking for opinions and got some.
Most were on the side of going for it, and a few other opinions to not.
The acid test is, would I recommend lorry driving to my Son as a way to earn his living? No chance unless all other jobs available to him were wòrse,
Sarah seems to have opportunities well above this lark. Why not take them?
Life is hard enough without aiming at the 2 where you are good enough to hit the 10.
If you don’t think calling somebody pathetic, using lines such as " people like you ", calling them silly etc is wrong, then you have just as many problems as that negative, unpleasant, patronising self opiniated knobhead.
eagerbeaver:
If you don’t think calling somebody pathetic, using lines such as " people like you ", calling them silly etc is wrong, then you have just as many problems as that negative, unpleasant, patronising self opiniated knobhead.
Hey up eagerbeaver,click on alders old posts,hes a agency man ffs,hes only talking on behalf of all the numptys he mingles with,to the OP,for what its worth i earn ■■■■ good money working for a good firm and love the job,non of this agency bollox with all them with 3 heads who cant get propper jobs
I did suggest that Sarah could still pursue a worthwhile career and try her fantasy out on weekends to get rid of the novelty value.