Hi drivers! I’m a 34 year old guy from Manchester. Always been in the IT game, worked my way up the career ladder to a Network Engineer, earning £55k… but I’m miserable, depressed, hate my career. I’ve moved and moved to try and find somewhere I’m happy, but eventually I end up right back where I were. Hating my career. Fell completely out of love with IT. Not interested in it whatsoever.
I’ve always wanted to be a driver. I attempted my class 2 back somewhere around 2013, failed twice on two silly little reasons.
But feel it’s time to try again and get out!
I’m preparing for a pay cut initially. If I do get my license, (don’t want to run before I can walk) but I would like to get as many certs as possible HAIB/ADR, and take on the crap jobs to get the pay up.
Can’t wait to get driving and finally do something I love! Driving!
Any tips or advice?
I know there will be some experienced guys who would advise against this career move! But it’s a fresh start for me!
I’ve no kids, settled with a girlfriend of 7 years in a house we have a mortgage on! Think some long haul trips would be fine for me!
Absolutely and most definitely…and there is a bloody good reason for that.
When I was a young lad I was the keenest wide eyed lad you could wish to meet.
(Too) Many years of experience have knocked that right out of me.
In those days it was a much different job, definirtely more freedom which was part of the attraction.
No way in hell I’d be starting off today, the job has changed beyond recognition, and it must be bloody awful to be the new boy at it today.
Try a job on a van with a car licence as a taster until you get it out of your system.
Good advice…take it or leave it.
Sorry to hear that you are hating your career so much.
As Rob said, I would recommend a van driving job to begin with, even if just on weekends. This will give you a taster of what you can expect (with less traffic) and you’ll save £3k or whatever it costs nowadays if it’s not for you.
I am perhaps a little bit more positive about the job than Rob (I’m 34 myself so I have to be ) but he’s right.
You’d be hard pushed to get anywhere near 55k without a lot of luck and even then you’d most likely be working silly hours, so it’d be a permanent pay cut (per hour) as opposed to a temporary one.
After dreaming of a job driving lorries from a young age (thanks to my father taking me to work with him!), I quit an office job of 11 years to take up driving back at the end of 2023 after doing class 1 work on an ad-hoc basis for a couple of years, with some brewery van experience before that helping to pay for my Class 2 and Class 1 training. My office job paid half of what yours does, so my decision was probably easier, but I still did the van work along with the ad-hoc Class 1 work to make sure it was a switch I was happy to make.
I am now working for 2 agencies around 2/3 days per week total and doing 2 days childcare (3 year old boy) and am earning an amount that works for me at the moment.
I will say that there are very few permanent jobs advertised on Indeed that I am seeing with the hourly rate I’m getting from either agency, but I am in South Wales so rates are lower than most of the UK.
So all in all, I’d say go for it if it’s something you want to do, but maybe take it gradually with van work to start with, and don’t expect the privileges, or the salary that your current job provides.
Just guessing here
IT worker hours worked for week 39
Driver nearer to 60 hours
IT Starting times 8.00 to 09.00
Driver depending could be anytime
IT wages 55k
Driver nearly same for over 60 hours
That’s the tip of the iceberg but if you need to get it out of your system then go do it.
The extra certs don’t increase the wages that much, its more about the choice of work you want
As long as you can go back to IT then go for it and see for yourself
I get it at your level can be stressful and it might be long hours. i looked at doing an mcse or ccna and have a friend that has left the field to go into teaching (although he had different reasons).
Please dont think that you will walk into a job at any level as many will attest on here you wont. You will see plenty of jobs on the usual websites promising £20+ an hour and new passes welcome but the agency will never ring you back.
When you do get a start it will probably be for a company that is micro managed with lots of hassle from the office. doing their job for them. They will be your best friend while you are helping them out to get the hours in but the second the slightest thing goes wrong they will get shot. what im trying to say is if you dislike the office politics in your job now you wont like it anymore when driving a lorry as you will be seen as dirt on their shoe.
All this said if you can pay your mortgage and bills on one salary while you train and get some experience under your belt then go for it. However dont expect to walk into a job the minuet you pass it will more than likely be months unless you are very lucky
If you don’t go for it, you’ll probably spend years wondering what might have been and regretting not trying a move to driving. We generally regret not trying summat more than trying it, and finding out is isn’t for us. But go into it with your eyes open, rather than hoping for a great job from day one, and being disappointed from the off.
Driving is not what it was…neither is anything else of course! There is more micro-management and less of the freedoms than there once was. Same as everywhere of course.
There are fewer long distance jobs out there, and more trailer swap jobs etc. There are well paid jobs out there, but most are just about average pay. Hours are mostly long, and often unsocial.
You will hear about those who do well and get into a good job quite quickly. Those who get into an average pay job, work bank holidays for little or no extra pay as part of a rota, sit in grey waiting rooms for hours on end, drive in the snow, and swop trailers in muddy, cold, unlit yards, are not those shouting the loudest, but they are the majority.
Having said all that…go for it. You will regret it if you don’t.
Good Luck!
Absolutely, over 60 years ago I couldn’t believe my luck when I went to see a small haulier and he said ‘there’s your wagon, it’s already loaded, notes are in the cab, set off early Monday morning and when you are empty find your own loads around the country and we’ll see you next Saturday when you can wash down, get your pay and details of the next load outward bound on Monday.’
I was hooked and loved every minute of it. Times changed but I managed to move with the times and have regretted very little of it.
Take the above advice, start small and, if you still like it, work your way up. Best of luck.
stupid question here but how did you “find your own loads” was it a case of ringing round firms and seeing if they wanted something moving?? and how was it billed
Think long and hard about it. I get the impression you’re looking at driving (with the VERY EXPENSIVE add on tickets) through ‘rose tinted glasses’. It’s not like that these days, it’s regulated to hell, the conditions on the road are appalling, you’re ‘on the end of a phone’ every minute you’re out there.
A lot of us old lads were lucky, we did our 40/50 year shift when it was a decent career choice, it isn’t now. I had a good working life on the road, enjoyed (most) of it, but I have absolutely no desire to go back.
Think long and hard.
There was a well established number of ‘clearing houses’ in all major cities and some in smaller ones too. Some were just one enterprising bloke with an office and a telephone, others were indeed haulage companies who off loaded excess work for a percentage.
All had small ads in the lorry drivers magazine, Headlight, which carried loads ( ) of them along with an equal number of drivers’ digs. Usually middle aged ladies with a couple of rooms to spare, or perhaps an extension of the profit earning use of upstairs rooms at transport cafes. All specialised in drivers because they were willing to be up early in the morning to provide breakfast. Dinner the night before was included, when I started, D,B and B, cost around 10 bob (50p). Some were really good, some just good, OK or bloody awful. We got to know which was which which is why many drivers slept at the ‘3 pedals’, both seats build up to the level of the engine top and a sleeping bag across the lot.
Sorry, got distracted for a moment, lost in misty nostalgia. Anyway the loads we got suited us, always with a mind as to where they were going to be best for the next one and we got 10% of the revenue on top of our wages, the billing was from our own firm from the tickets that we were given. I loved it.
Headlight still had loads of load adverts in the 70’s when I started, but I never had to do that myself as a driver. I did know of one driver who sometimes managed to get in a quick local personal load as well as load back for the company. His load was for cash, the company load, organised by our office, went through the books. The office thought he was a bit slow, but he was far from that.
That’s the thing though…In my case, after all this time I actually still enjoy driving and my actual soecific job.
If I was doing crap like beans and bog rolls to Asda on days everyday, I’d be bored sh.less.
But I have a bit of a niche job which I just about enjoy as much as my Euro days.
What I am totally pi55ed off with is all the corporate b/s that goes on in the background, all the general aggravation that lands on you from above like bird sh.
The criteria of treatment to all drivers irrespective of experience, based on the antics and performance of the most useless ‘‘driver’’ on the firm…the lowest common denominator.
I can usuallly deal with it in different ways, but even I am getting sick and thinking of calling it a day, even though as I say I love the job I do…which is a shame.
The fact that with personal f.ups with pensions means at the moment financially I need to carry on sucking it up for the future a bit longer.
Way I see it is any newbie today is like a lamb to the slaughter, an experienced guy can metaphorically tell them to f.off, and win by beating them with their own stick, but a newbie tends to,.and needs to bend over and take it all.
So way I see it if matey has a far superior job atm, why put himself under all that crap and hardship.
If he’s sick now, then after 6 months of dealing with a load of sharks and up their own arse f/wits in non jobs in this game, he’ll find out what it’s really like to be SICK.
He says he wants ‘Long Haul’ trips, it wont be a case of '‘Just get the keys to that V8 it’s to go down to Spain’…it’ll be the bog rolls to Asda in the poverty spec Craptros that is a complete sh pit that everybody in the firm and their Dad has abused
And it’s ok saying …‘Give it a go or you will regret it’’ and the like,… but it’s the ridiculous high cost of geting started for a pi55 poor return on your outlay to do so…
I still say have a go on a van first and get a taster.
A fortnight delivering for the likes of Amazon should be enough to sicken him.
i cant comment on the old days as i didnt do it then. i got my class 2 end of 2019. Before that i was in the warehouses and absolutely hated it. I hated the people the bosses and every thing about it. there was a definite them and us atmosphere and that was between the people on the floor. I just wanted to go in and do the job to the best of my ability.
Yes i have had driving jobs that they decided to take the mick a little too much and i dealt with them in my own style. However i havent had a job driving yet where people wernt willing to help regardless of age experience gender or race. If they office cant be bothered to organise the load to be ready when i turn up for my shift im quite happy watching youtube or what ever on my phone. i get paid which ever way.
Working for Amazon cannot be compared to Class 1 driving. I refuse to accept it. I am reading the positives and negatives … but your negative might be my positive. I’m thinking, if I get my license, stick out the IT job, and get some day jobs here and there, book a few holidays off at my IT job and get some experience under my belt on a contracting day rate here and there… think that’s possible? Open to the floor on that question
Please yourself mate…as I said in my post to you ‘Take it or leave it’.
Makes no odds to me whatsoever, you asked advice from people who know what they are talking about.
I gave you mine, to save you some money and a lot of disappointments, it’s entirely up to you.
Cheers.
) but he’s right.
) of them along with an equal number of drivers’ digs. Usually middle aged ladies with a couple of rooms to spare, or perhaps an extension of the profit earning use of upstairs rooms at transport cafes. All specialised in drivers because they were willing to be up early in the morning to provide breakfast. Dinner the night before was included, when I started, D,B and B, cost around 10 bob (50p). Some were really good, some just good, OK or bloody awful. We got to know which was which which is why many drivers slept at the ‘3 pedals’, both seats build up to the level of the engine top and a sleeping bag across the lot. 
Anyway the loads we got suited us, always with a mind as to where they were going to be best for the next one and we got 10% of the revenue on top of our wages, the billing was from our own firm from the tickets that we were given. I loved it. 
