Every life change has a starting point, and Shoshi Stern-Robbins\u2019 goes like this: One year ago, she was working a corporate computer science job in Cambridge, Mass., creating software for hospital operating rooms. Her days didn\u2019t exactly feel soulless, she says, but she wasn\u2019t passionate about her projects either. The pandemic transition to working from home swiped her routine and made her work feel endless. Then, the tipping point: She lost a friend. She thought to herself, \u201cWhy am I doing anything in my life that makes me unhappy?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, every Monday morning, Stern-Robbins unlocks the driver\u2019s door of her 18-wheeler and climbs in for a week on the road. Upending countless norms, she is a 24-year-old, female, Jewish, queer, liberal trucker. While owning her identity in a career where she\u2019s a minority is empowering, she\u2019s not out to prove anything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, Stern-Robbins drives trucks because she can make a decent wage and be left alone with her thoughts. \u201cI definitely feel a stigma of [not] having an office job,\u201d she says. \u201c[But] I\u2019m paid enough that it wasn\u2019t as ridiculous a career switch as one might initially think.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When she mentions her path to becoming a trucker to acquaintances and relatives, she gets an amalgam of questions: Why are you doing this? Are you writing a book? Are you on a journey to find yourself? Her answer: \u201cNope, I am just driving trucks. There\u2019s not more.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Transporting carpet padding around the United States allows Stern-Robbins to use her time in a way she deems appropriate. During her driving days (which can extend up to 14 hours), she keeps up on her Mandarin with Chinese language podcasts (it was her major, along with computer science) and sings aloud to musical soundtracks. And when the week is over, she\u2019s able to return to her life in Brooklyn, without the stress she used to carry from her previous employment. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot less emails,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Curious what life on the road is like? Stern-\nRobbins sleeps in a cozy bunk in the back of the\ntruck, with string lights overhead. For safety, she\nkeeps mace and a small knife hidden away. When\nit\u2019s time for a shower, she uses truck stop facilities\n(with shower rooms that lock and come with\ntowels and toiletries). Assignments come on short\nnotice \u2014 when she leaves her docking point in\nBridgewater, N.J., on Mondays, she doesn\u2019t know\nwhere she\u2019ll go throughout the week. And, as she\ncontinues in her career, she\u2019ll have more flexibility\nwith her work\/life balance. \u201cI\u2019m getting paid, and\nI\u2019m enjoying my life right now,\u201d she says.\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shoshi Stern-Robbins found work\/life balance when she switched careers from her corporate job to driving a truck. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1222,"featured_media":8721,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[354,703],"coauthors":[168],"class_list":["post-8316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alumni-spotlights","category-alumni-updates","tag-alumni","tag-pandemic"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-2a8","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/02\/111921-ShoshiSternRobbins014Toned.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8316"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8931,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8316\/revisions\/8931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8316"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=8316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}