kgf1980

I bought and worked through Let’s Go by Alex Edwards and found it really good and re-use lots of the code ideas and structure in other projects - link (no affiliate) https://lets-go.alexedwards.net/

I’m not a coder day-to-day (I was in the past, mainly C#) but I still write toy stuff to make my life easier, and the stuff I write in Go I’m more likely to be able to return to a year later and be able to quickly understand what I was doing, why I was doing it and fix/enhance what I need to.

I left tech (C# developer for a partner reselling/customising the MS XRM/Dynamics CRM platform in the UK a few years ago to get my HGV (CDL in the US?) license and drive trucks.

Honestly, I love it, generally I talk to the office to get my route/keys at the start of the shift and I won’t talk to them again until the end of my shift.

Money wise I’m earning more (but working longer/more “antisocial” hours) and I like when I drop my keys off I don’t have to think about work until my next shift, no emails while I’m off with “just one quick thing” I can genuinely enjoy not working.

Made the change probably 2 years ago now, and lucked into a decent company who take on new drivers (most places want 1-2 years experience for insurance purposes) who I’ve been with since I started.

As a current UK HGV driver (currently on my break at services in a max 44t unit+trailer) a range of 375miles would just about cover the longest shift I do but some range anxiety would set in.

Longest shift is London->Birmingham->London with 3 collections and 2 deliveries on the route, and comes in at 275miles (if there’s closures/diversions it could be 300+) and the longest I’m stopped at any one place is about 45minutes so unless everywhere had fast chargers on their bays so you could charge while being loaded/unloaded, it wouldn’t get charged, plus at our company the units are basically handed over to the next driver at the end of our shift, they don’t sit around the yard for hours as they’re not earning if they are.

Interested to see how this would work in practice, I think for a lot of hauliers electric for their fleet just isn’t going to work right now.

I’ve tried Factorio and could never get into it … Satisfactory on the other hand is a game where I can look at the time and realise I should of had lunch two hours ago

Love the UI and much faster than JustWatch, _but_ checked a film I watched this weekend and it says it’s not available (whereas JustWatch lists the streaming platform it’s on)

For me it’s the fact I hand my keys in at the end of a shift, and I don’t have to think about work until I go in for my next shift - liberating after years of checking work emails from the sofa at night.

I’d guesstimate if you were in a high-demand/niche role with a high hourly rate, plus you can max out your hours each week, probably around £65k?

Surpringly the shortage of drivers is not actually a thing anymore (during Covid perhaps) but the large number of people who got their HGV license when the government changed the rules during Covid has actually caused pay rates to drastically fall due to their being more drivers looking for work than work available.

Yes, work is covered under both the Working Time Directive (which I’ve opted out of the night work limit and the 48hr working week) and the EU Drivers Hours rules - work are hot on infringements for exceeding working hours but more so on breaches of driving hours or insufficient rest hours.

I don’t do nights out or away, so I’m home every night (morning as I work 3pm until I’m done, generally 1-2am, sometimes 5am)

No spouse or kids which probably helps and is why I don’t mind picking up overtime and extra shifts

I’ve not had any issues with vibrations but I’ve not been driving perhaps long enough?

That said, the newer generation of trucks are so smooth I don’t think that’s as much of an issue as it may have been in previous generations.

Wage wise, working as a developer in the UK (working for small consultancies, not startups etc) my wage topped out at around 38k - last year driving I earnt 46k and this year with promotion (from rigid to articulated vehicles) and annual payrise, plus assuming I work a similar amount of hours I’m estimating 52-55k (all before tax)

It takes surprisingly little time to get used to the size - that said I’m more confident I the rigid vehicles than the artics in terms of tighter manoeuvring. Most of my work is trunking however so distribution centre to distribution centre, generally at most 5miles from a motorway, for customer deliveries I do have to take some smaller country roads, which are nerve-racking at first but now I’ll take much more confidently.

I enjoy being left alone with podcasts for the first 4-6hours of my shift and music for the rest, I tend to talk to the office 3 times a shift - once when I get my keys, once to find out what (if anything) is getting loaded for a second run and finally to hand my keys in - all in all 10mins interaction with “management” over a 10hr shift suits me fine.

Time wise, taking my Thursday shift - I’m booked at Heathrow airport to deliver at 7pm, if I’m 30-45mins late there’s no issues, but I generally leave to get there at 1840 so even if roads are bad I’m still “on-time” - after that I have a collection (anytime after 1900) which has to be at the customer (2hrs drive) by 0200 and I’m generally there by 2200 - I am lucky in the company I work for leave plenty of time for everything including breaks, I know other places run you around and try to get 10hrs work done in 8.

In terms of time for license, I had 4 days training for my rigid (anything over 7.5T with a trailer upto 750kg) with test on the last day which I passed first time, I then drove them for 6 months for my current employer and then again had 4 days training and test on the 5th for artics (anything over 7.5T with a trailer over 750kg) which I passed first time (thanks in part to driving rigids for 6months and being generally confident with the size etc of the vehicle)

I think for me it’s not having a time pressure - if it takes me 2 weeks spending 2 hours a day to implement something there’s no issue when it’s just projects for myself (I’ve basically written a PWA for tracking my pay, hours, rest time etc which I use every day, and implement a new feature I decide would be useful when it comes up, so kind of the ultimate dog-fooding)

I went the opposite way (in the UK) and moved from development (mainly C#) to lorry driving (everything from 12T rigids to 44T artics) however in my free time I’m enjoying developing (some RoR, some Golang) more than when I was paid to do it.

Although I’m working more hours (average 50-52 hours a week compared to 38-40), I’m also much better compensated doing HGV driving than I ever was as a developer (although that may reflect more on my skills/level as a developer than anything else)

Nothing public, but I’ve moved from tech into driving trucks, and I wrote a small website I use daily to track my working hours, rest, payslips, mileage and weight - so far it’s been about 3 months since I’ve had to make any code changes

Were you by any chance listening to Rewinder on BBC R4 just now as well?

I’ve gone the other way - I used to work in tech (although I used to work in more traditional LOB development roles rather than VC/startup based) and I now work as a HGV (truck) driver.

I’m based in the UK, and to be honest I prefer driving.

I’m working probably slightly longer hours (45-55 hours a week compared to 40, but that’s because I choose to pick up extra runs at work, I’m not required to do it) but I finish my shift and I’m done - working tech (and also being home based in them) I never really felt I could fully “shut off” at the end of the day, now I can.

Plus, as it’s a more physical role (unloading pallets at locations) my health is much better, I’ve lost a lot of weight and I’m on the same if not slightly higher wages (my last role as a developer was 37.5k, this year I’m looking at 40-45k depending on what overtime I pick up)

All in all, for me I’m much happier having moved out of tech and into a more “low-skill” area, though I try and keep up and am also writing an app on my rest days, which is just for me to track my hours, pay and everything “life” related.

The vans and trucks I drive at work (not Amazon) have had similar driver-facing cameras installed recently - the first time out in one, on the motorway I picked up my travel mug and the screen on the camera flashed/beeped with a generic “coffee cup” image with a red X through it, so yes, these do have some level of AI/ML to determine what you’re doing