There is a shortage of qualified truck drivers in Germany, so if you feel like spending lots of time on the famed German autobahns and get paid for it, start looking for a job.
Being a professional trucker in Europe has some challenges that in part contribute to the shortage of drivers.
For starters, you will undergo a physical every five years and take mandatory training courses. Kind of like for a pilot's licence without the fear of heights part. The other significant aspect is the level of regulation of the industry. You will get a personal chip card that records all times behind the wheel and all breaks for the last four weeks. The card is read out at one of the many check points, which means that the fifteen minutes by which you exceeded your behind the wheel time, say, three weeks ago, will you bite you in the wallet just as you thought you were almost in the clear.
Full GPS tracking in real time from the dispatch office may, in some cases mean your cell phone will go off just as you pulled off into a parking area because the freeway ahead is closed due to a major accident or due to snow.
These are all fairly new technical and procedural considerations. In addition, there are some quaint regulations left over from the pre European Union days. If you cross an international border over here, which is really easy to do in tiny Europe, you can only take a route filed at the start of the trip. A bit like a mandatory flight plan but not as easily deviated from.
On the upside, there are fewer robberies, and the freeway parking areas are being outfitted with digital capacity signs, like inner city parking spaces that tell you how many unoccupied spaces are available ahead.
In case you cannot for the life of you sign up for affordable health care, your employer will do that on your behalf in Europe.
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