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Which is a better job and why.
Truck driving is nice because you need so many of them and they are paid like $50k starting out.
Welding is nice because you can live in one area, not travel around so much, if you like that.
Also need a lot of welders.
Truck driving school is only 3 weeks long. Welding is 9 months - 1 year, possibly 2 years depending on program.
I would do welding but I'm not sure I'd find a job as a welder while as a truck driver I think most graduates of the schooling find work.
Also I don't want to get burned as a welder. But truck drivers can also crash so I don't know.
But I'm a pretty safe driver.
Which is a better job and why.
Truck driving is nice because you need so many of them and they are paid like $50k starting out.
Welding is nice because you can live in one area, not travel around so much, if you like that.
Also need a lot of welders.
Truck driving school is only 3 weeks long. Welding is 9 months - 1 year, possibly 2 years depending on program.
I would do welding but I'm not sure I'd find a job as a welder while as a truck driver I think most graduates of the schooling find work.
Also I don't want to get burned as a welder. But truck drivers can also crash so I don't know.
But I'm a pretty safe driver.
#1. Not true and those who are just starting out do not have enough experience to make that wage.
#2. Graduating in 3 weeks gives you no real life experience to speak of and it is not a profession that is for anyone who has a family, wants a family or has a wife/girlfriend who is dependent, needy and jealous.
#3. Not as many find work as you are told by the schools. They are *for profit* schools and they will tell you what you want to hear to get your money for that training. You also have zero real life experience, documents, or endorsements federally required for many driving positions.
#4. It is not your driving that is the biggest issue and if you do not understand why you do not really need to be in a big truck.
I had a friend when I was young in WA state, who was an underwater welder. He worked on boats in the PNW, and mainly in Alaska. Made a ton of money. It's dangerous, but pays extremely well.
If you were good about saving your money, you could just do it for a short period of time and retire young.
The money's there, but most of it is short-haul/local gigs.
Those typically require going through 1-3 years of irregular route, over-the-road type jobs where you're consistently at risk for crashes and time delays due to consistent, unfamiliarity with routes.
I went through a few crashes and quite a few, undesirable jobs.
I feel I've hit the point in the career where the money's as good as it's going to get and the hours are too long even for my relatively young age.
Welding is more of a skilled trade that will take longer to learn and see the full financial rewards from, but could be a better way to go if you want to be a stable guy who is around every day.
Trucking...can be trained and making so-so money within a much shorter time frame but probably not as ultimately lucrative as welding unless you get into the upper echelons of the profession, which means you have to put your time in and prove yourself. There are lots of crappy and mid-tier trucking jobs readily available anywhere you look that will ask you to make major lifestyle sacrifices for no benefits and so-so paychecks. The guys making good money without having to kill themselves for it are usually owner operators who have low overhead and work for themselves. High paid company guys do exist but my general observation is that it's hard to make the big bucks working for somebody else, and you're never more than 1 or 2 serious enough traffic accidents away from being sent packing, especially if you work for a large, imprersonal company like UPS or something.
I've been both. I was a welder but have many scars from the burns. I hated it but it paid decently. I've also driven a truck before but unless you get in with a good company or drive local, it's not a good move. "OTR" truck driving is the worst job you can imagine. Who the hell wants to live in a truck and work 70 hours a week?
My DH is a local truck driver. He does make good money, but he also has a hazmat endoresment and a lot of years under his belt. He also is a safe driver and has never had an accident. However, it isn't yourself you need to worry about, it is every other idiot driver on the road that you need to watch out for.
You can't even begin to imagine the sh** drivers will pull around a semi. He said he would never go OTR. He values his family way too much to do that.
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