F-reds:
m1cks:
F-reds:
Was Master Scuba Diver Trainer in another life, and quite good at it too. But that was HARD work, you truck drivers don’t even know what moaning is.
Always liked the idea of being a commercial diver despite only ever having dived once on holiday in Egypt. Some serious money in it.
There is less and less money in commercial diving. Rate cutting is not only prevalent in the haulage industry sadly.
As for dealing with boat loads of tourists like I did, that was proper work 
I was a commercial diver for 5 years, inshore air diving rather than offshore. Packed it in 12 years ago. Money was crap, usually my day rate was less than £70 and I remember when they put me on a particular civil engineering job at £8.24/hr I thought I was raking it in but that was because it was 7 days a week for 15/16 hours a day. I could have lived like a gypsy and moved from job to job around the country chasing bigger money like some lads did but I stayed full time with a couple of small companies. On one job we were underwater welding in a small harbour and a 17 year old lad was employed by the civil engineering company to make sure our compressor and welding generator always had fuel in them. He sat in a hut reading FHM and smoking ■■■■ in between fuel top ups and was on more money than us because it was a Sunday and he was on triple time while we stayed on our flat rate. The money in diving is in saturation diving and back then you needed to have a family member already in the offshore game to get a start.
LowRange:
I was a commercial diver for 5 years, inshore air diving rather than offshore. Packed it in 12 years ago. Money was crap, usually my day rate was less than £70 and I remember when they put me on a particular civil engineering job at £8.24/hr I thought I was raking it in but that was because it was 7 days a week for 15/16 hours a day. I could have lived like a gypsy and moved from job to job around the country chasing bigger money like some lads did but I stayed full time with a couple of small companies. On one job we were underwater welding in a small harbour and a 17 year old lad was employed by the civil engineering company to make sure our compressor and welding generator always had fuel in them. He sat in a hut reading FHM and smoking ■■■■ in between fuel top ups and was on more money than us because it was a Sunday and he was on triple time while we stayed on our flat rate. The money in diving is in saturation diving and back then you needed to have a family member already in the offshore game to get a start.
Yeah I’ve got mates in the commercial game, and just like in driving some jobs are well paid and others are terrible. I know one who is working as a commercial diver for an oil company, one month on and one month off, earns enough to live like a king on his month off, screws and drinks himself to death basically. Another guy I know can barely scratch enough together at his commercial job to afford the mortgage on a $50000 dollar property in Canada.
I always said you had to be a nutter to be a commercial snorkeler
SIA Close Protection.
Middle East mainly up until 2yr ago
earns enough to live like a king on his month off, screws and drinks himself to death basically
Yep, that’s why most folk go and do their diving tickets I reckon 
The reality paints a bit of a different picture. Like climbing into a frozen drysuit that’s been hung up in the back of a transit van overnight during winter before jumping in the sea. Or climbing up a ladder on a pier covered in ‘bog roll confetti’. Oh how I miss those days…
Looks like axletramp shares some common ground with me. As my username suggests i am a butcher. Well not a practising one anymore.
But time served from 1978 onwards. Hold an advanced meat display qualification, an advanced food hygeine certificate and am experienced in all aspects of butchering. (Apart from slaughtering).
A real delight is putting on a display or window dressing. Also worked at management level for a leading supermarket. All very skilful and can command as many hours as truck driving. But guess what■■? The pay is worse than trucking and you are often treated with disdain and disrespect by the public. (A bit like trucking) . And as i said the hours are more than shop opening hours. Lots of prep and planning involved. I left it in 2002 to start driving trucks. By 2008 i got bored and was persuaded to return to butchering. I thought “ok. Home each night. No Sundays” And i was only 5 mins from home.
Guess what? After 3 days i remembered why I’d packed it in in the first place. I was suffering 4 wall syndrome!! So it took me a year to get back to my old job and Will never return to my “other skill”
Spent two years as a farm labourer after college (great job but ■■■■■ pay), a year working in a factory in Willenhall (■■■■■ pay, ■■■■■ job), twelve years military (great job, great pay, but got in the way of the family), seven years civi police (usually a great job, pay not so bad but the govt ■■■■■■ it all up). Part time landlord (pension investment).
Before I decided to start driving for a living I looked at going back into farming. Trouble is, like anything now, you need a certificate for everything! Back in the day, you just got a quick brief from one of the other lads on how the gear worked, and off you went.
My military job was quite niche, so I could set up privately in that field as I have the transferable skills. But it would be stressful, confrontational, and take me away from the family a lot. I don’t need any of that, and I actually enjoy driving. Simples.
now my hgv is my fall back but if not that
I have a bsc in sports science (not really much use)
worked as a teaching assistant (loved the job crap money)
have quite a lot of sales experience (mix of car and recruitment)
I also despite how poor my typing skills are now hold a 70wpm certificate from my time on a young thicky scheme (so maybe an office based role).
personally if teaching paid more either as an assistant or teacher with less rules I would jump over to that.
I went to uni, got a degree in web design/development which I did for a while. Sounds good but it’s a totally saturated market these days, I’m making more money driving and have non of the stress of pressure & hassle from clients. Didn’t enjoy it.
I know a lot of guys in this game pine after the 9-5 35 hour week dream, but to earn good money in those jobs I don’t think most drivers have the fest clue how much stress and/or out of hours unpaid work goes with it. I’d honestly rather do 55 hours and be totally chilled out all the time like I am & never have to worry about work at home.
Other way round for me, C+E is a back up when my current contract finishes. (Quality control in engineering)
I am also qualified to teach dinghy sailing, paddlesport, first aid, climbing and have PSV entitlement.
If you want minimum cash, try working in outdoor pursuits… £12k pa full time and live away from home?
Cheers
Paul
i’m a time served bricklayer-
bloody hell I hate it with a passion.serious money now too.still not enough to temp me back though…
I have also done a lot of laying tarmac for civil engineering/utilities industry.i still do the odd day on the tarmac where I work now just to help them out from time to time.wouldnt want to go back to it full time though 
Worked in various offices through my twenties in London. Loved th lifestyle though would have drunk myself to death had I stayed then wanted a change of pace so ran a shop in N. Wales for a year or so, didn’t work and became a driving instructor. Again enjoyed the job and got great satisfaction from it but the money was too unreliable so got my HGV licences and I love it. Earn more money than I’ve ever done before and enjoy my time at work, once I’m out of the yard that is.
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I’m a qualified personal fitness trainer. Love fitness but it doesn’t pay well!
Butcher:
Looks like axletramp shares some common ground with me. As my username suggests i am a butcher. Well not a practising one anymore.
But time served from 1978 onwards. Hold an advanced meat display qualification, an advanced food hygeine certificate and am experienced in all aspects of butchering. (Apart from slaughtering).
A real delight is putting on a display or window dressing. Also worked at management level for a leading supermarket. All very skilful and can command as many hours as truck driving. But guess what■■? The pay is worse than trucking and you are often treated with disdain and disrespect by the public. (A bit like trucking) . And as i said the hours are more than shop opening hours. Lots of prep and planning involved. I left it in 2002 to start driving trucks. By 2008 i got bored and was persuaded to return to butchering. I thought “ok. Home each night. No Sundays” And i was only 5 mins from home.
Guess what? After 3 days i remembered why I’d packed it in in the first place. I was suffering 4 wall syndrome!! So it took me a year to get back to my old job and Will never return to my “other skill”
I’m fairly sure when I started work in the pork shop (1971) there were no apprenticeships.
Hence no qualifications.
In fact at both the shops I worked in I was only taught the jobs I was required to do.
I can’t believe it took me nearly 5 years to realise it was akin to slave labour.
At 21 my weekly wage for 5 1/2 days was £19. 
My first week driving (for National Carriers) paid me £45!
Even so, I soon left for a better paid driving job. 
Until 3 years ago I worked as a Senior Project Architect with 16 years post qualification experience (after 7 years studying for 2 degrees and professional entrance exams). Drove a near 100mile daily commute into Birmingham (rush hour M6). I earn around £500 a month less now (for more hours), driving Class 1 fridges but don’t spend the £350ish a month that I did commuting. Far less stressed …
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It seems from reading posts on this thread that lots of us are worse off now than we were.There are so many Mickey Mouse qualifications that you cant work without.Builders have to have all sorts of tickets School kids used to go out rouqueing barley and potatoes ,not now as the qualification has to be gained first.I was shown how to operate the fork lift about 40 years ago to day I cant touch one as I havent been trained by a trainer.
I’ve got a 1st class degree in psychology, I’ve written articles for truck magazines, yet I prefer driving artics for a living as it’s less stressful and better paid.
There i had just a Boring Life.
Got my Degree as HGV Mechanic. just all around it. service,Repair,preparing for MOT. Rebuilding if a Customer needed anything,if Longer,Shorter,Stronger,fit in a Wandler or fit a MAN 304 Engine in a Leyland. Building Bodies,Trailers,repairing them,Spray painting them,operating 360 and Gradall,Forklift and Auto Crane.
But may rather retire then useing any of them anymore.
Right now just doing lazy. Repair my Computer and Mobile myself,and like seating in the Cafe,watching the World passing by.
I used to work as a model, I’m still registered at the modelling agency, so if the balaclava ever comes back in fashion I’ll make a fortune.
I’m also a tiler, I used to specialize in those fancy Victorian geometric floors and Art Deco stuff, good money in that game, but hard on the knees and back.
I have my transport journalism experience too, I still have a monthly column in a Canadian trucking magazine, so that would most likely be the area I would pursue if I hung up the keys.
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