A Midwest Truck Driving School Podcast

YOU WANT A STABLE CAREER THAT PAYS WELL.
BUT YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START.

Built in the Midwest sits down with the people behind the trades — truck drivers, linemen, heavy equipment operators, and the employers who hire them. Real conversations about what the work is actually like.

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Every conversation, every story — from the people who build, move, and power the Midwest.

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E{emum} | Opportunity Doesn’t Wait for the Perfect Time

This episode is for the kid being told he has one option. It’s for the apprentice trying to figure out if going local is worth the pay cut. It’s for the lineman wondering if the side hustle is real. Mike’s career didn’t follow a plan. It followed a series of decisions — and the ones...
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E{emum} | The Invisible Barrier Every Trade Student Faces | BTS episode

Quick heads up before you press play: we recorded this one inside a moving training truck during an active class day, so the audio gets scratchy in spots. We cleaned up what we could — some of it just is what it is when you record on the road. Bear with us. The conversation makes...
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E{emum} | Trade School Is The Door, Not The Destination

A high school CTE director drives a busload of students two hours each way to spend a day at a CDL school. Why? Because somewhere along the way, he figured out something most people building career pathways for young people miss — and it changes how you should think about every trade school you’ve ever...
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E{emum} | College Enrollment Is Collapsing for a Reason

Nine years ago, the average truck driving school student was 50. Today, they’re 18-20. Why are high schoolers and career changers walking away from college and choosing skilled trades careers — truck driving, lineman work, heavy equipment operation — instead? In Episode 11 of Built in the Midwest, we sit down with Kyle Barron, Director...
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E{emum} | 50 Years and a Few Million Miles Driving Heavy Haul

Dan started hauling 140,000-pound chip trucks through the UP woods at 17. Fifty years and a few million miles later, he sits down with Josh to talk about what trucking was, what it is now, and what every new driver needs to know. 🔑 KEY TOPICS — 50 years of trucking experience across van lines,...
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E{emum} | The Real Cost of Being Unprepared After High School

A math tutor who works with trade students says the bar for a high school diploma has never been lower — and he’s watching the consequences walk into apprenticeship programs every week. Our guest this week, Kent King, has taught public school, run GED prep in a county jail, and now tutors math for our...
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http://Eemum%20|%20Why%20Most%20CDL%20Applicants%20Never%20Get%20Hired%20|%20Roehl%20Transport%20Recruiter

E{emum} | Why Most CDL Applicants Never Get Hired | Roehl Transport Recruiter

David spent ten years recruiting for the U.S. Army before he ever recruited a single truck driver. Now he travels the Midwest sitting down with CDL students and soldiers transitioning out — and he’s blunt about what most of them get wrong before they ever sign an application. WHAT WE GET INTO The thing every...
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E{emum} | The Trade That Keeps Every Other Trade Running

Every truck on the road, every piece of heavy equipment on a job site, every log truck bouncing through the woods at 160,000 pounds — someone has to keep all of it running. That someone is AJ. He started as a diesel tech and worked his way to managing a shop that serves everyone from...
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E{emum} | The Future of Heavy Equipment Operation Is Insane

Donnie walked into the largest heavy equipment show in North America and watched someone operate a real excavator in Germany — from a console in Las Vegas. That moment changed how he thinks about what’s coming for the industry. And what he’s bringing back to his students. WHAT WE GET INTO The ConExpo experience —...
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About the Show
WHAT DO THE PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY DO THE WORK WISH THEY KNEW BEFORE THEY STARTED?

Built in the Midwest is where we have real conversations about careers in the skilled trades — with the people who do the work and the people who hire for it.

We talk about how people got started. What the work is actually like. What employers are looking for. The hard days, the turning points, and the things nobody told them before they got started.

Hosted from Escanaba, Michigan by Midwest Truck Driving School.

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