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Should You Become a Truck Driver?

should-you-become-a-truck-driver
Written by Miranda Pennington

Whether you’re contemplating a career change or are in the midst of a trucking program and having second thoughts, Smart-Trucking.com has some helpful advice to help you make your decision!

Freedom of the Road

A crucial factor in whether you’ll enjoy trucking is where you’re able to drive—try to sign on with a company that has routes where you want to go! The truckers who blog over at Smart-Trucking still appreciate the scenery and beauty of our landscape. You also enjoy independence—checking in with your dispatcher or a family member may be all the talking you do in a day. And hey, for some, that’s exactly the right amount.

Long Haul Skills

When you’re on the road for a long haul, there’s pretty much no choice but to develop your driving skills, adapt to weather and other challenging conditions, and get proficient in basic servicing for your vehicle. Maintaining your truck and your own sense of professionalism boost self-respect and can even translate to other career fields down the road.

Residential Flexibility

As long as the place you call home is on your route, you can live wherever you’d like as a trucker. This may be particularly compelling if you love small towns but know there’s not enough work to sustain you there. You won’t have to relocate or worry about your commute because the job is the commute!

I hope this perspective helped clarify your stance. Is trucking the right career for you? Anything you’d do differently, if you had it to do over again?

About the author

Miranda Pennington

Miranda K. Pennington is a freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared on The Toast, The American Scholar, and the Ploughshares Writing Blog. She currently teaches creative nonfiction for Uptown Stories, a Morningside Heights nonprofit organization. She has an MFA from Columbia University, where she has also taught in the University Writing program and consulted in the Writing Center.