As we always want to provide value to our audience on Truckers Training, we are excited to introduce a series of interviews with people who have careers in the trucking industry. With these interviews, we want to convey the reality of being a truck driver, and give you an insider’s perspective of this industry, which hopefully will help you in your career decisions.
Our first interview is with Todd McCann who has been a truck driver for almost 20 years. He has a podcast/blog called: Trucker Dump, where he humorously describes his life as a trucker, and where he often refers to his wife as “The Evil Overlord”.
1. How did you decide to become a truck driver?
I became a truck driver because I wanted to go to school to be an architect. No, I haven’t been sniffing Crazy Glue! The Evil Overlord (wife and ex-codriver) and I had a lot of debt and was told that I wouldn’t be able to work full-time while I was doing the Architecture Program. With that, we decided to drive a truck as a team for a few years, pay off our debt, and go back college. That was in 1997. The Evil Overlord got out in 2010, but I’m still trucking. It’s less out of love than it is not being able to find a respectable paying local job.
2. What schooling, training, or license did you get to become a truck driver?
The Evil Overlord and I went to a 6-week driving school at a technical college. She went first while I worked, then she worked while I went. We got hired by one of the recruiters that visited the school. We also got government assistance so I think we paid like $700 each for the school. I wish I could tell you what government program it was, but that was a long time ago and me and my brain are old. LOL
3. What are the top 3 pros as a trucker?
4. What are the top 3 cons as a trucker?
5. What advice would you give to someone considering a career as a trucker?
Make sure you know what you’re getting into. Don’t glamorize the trucking life because there isn’t anything glamorous about it. Unless you consider whizzing in a milk jug and skipping showers glamorous! Learn everything about the trucking life that you can BEFORE you go to driving school! And make sure your family is on board with you being gone for a few weeks at a time. No job is worth a divorce!
We hope you enjoyed this interview. Todd tells it like it is, and you should heed his advice on doing a thorough research before jumping into a career as a trucker. Any career in the trucking industry isn’t glamorous at all, however, you can make a decent income without needing a college degree. As well, trucking jobs are fruitful, and because of the demand for drivers, one can easily get a job right out of school.
By the way, if you want to get a hold of Todd, you can follow him on Twitter.
Geoff is a freelance writer at TruckersTraining.com with 20+ years of experience driving trucks and buses, dispatching, supervising, and training commercial driving teams. His expertise is writing topics on the transportation and trucking industry, and information technology trends.