My salary is based on the jobs and terminals I get assigned, but if they pan out as expected, I could potentially make $100,000 a year or more [after I get done with my training].
I just graduated from the University of Minnesota and served two deployments to Iraq as a medic. Yet, I somehow landed a job that requires just a GED or high school diploma and pays over $100,000 in some areas.
I'm used to a tough lifestyle and am good at working away from home and at all hours -- and that's why the railroad pays you so much. You could get called up any time to work. Like today, if I wanted to go to a bar and have a drink, I couldn't because if I was called and I showed up after having a drink, I would be fired on the spot.
I've done five shifts so far, and four of them were 12-hour shifts. As a conductor, you're responsible for the whole train -- the cars, communicating with the dispatcher and making sure everything is set up and in order. You're the one out there making sure you have the right-of-way on a track, so that two trains coming at each other don't hit.
So far, it's going alright. I'm really tired, but I make enough to support myself. I grew up in a neighborhood where everyone's pretty well off, so a lot of my friends went for doctor degrees and whatnot. And I'm out here making more money than any of them.
From sleeping in offices to following senior citizens to restaurants in order to find the best "early bird specials," these people will do almost anything to save a buck.
