I have my first official face-to-face interview with Union Pacific Railroad on Thursday. I must say, that I’m not nervous at all. I feel a little excited but that’s it. I know I’m going to be hired. I was born to be a railroader.

The hours and the lifestyle suit me perfectly. As a railroader, you are on call 24/7. You never have a set schedule. You might go to work at 7am, you might go to work at 3pm–you just never know when you’re going to get that call. Since I’m such an insomniac and can’t sleep anyway, this won’t bother me. I hate a set schedule anyway. The 9 to 5 day in, day out grind is definitely not for me. I’ve lived that life before and hated it.

I’ll most likely be working out of Roseville, CA. Which brings us to the best part about the RR–I don’t stay in one place. The train’s gotta keep-on movin’, and so will I. From my home base in Roseville, I’ll go to places like Dunsmuir, Portola, Sparks, Oakland, and Fresno regularly. During the slow season I’ll be asked to work out of places like San Luis Obispo, Long Beach, and San Diego. If I’m feeling REALLY adventurous I can ask to work in places like Salt Lake City or Denver. I love that I won’t be going to the same building and sitting at the same desk for the rest of my life. I’ve worked that corporate humdrum life before, and it’s definitely not for me.

I’ll work close to a 12 hour shift each time I go to work. If I’m away from home I’ll get at the least 8 hours of rest before they can call me back. If I’m home it will be more like 12 hours off. Once I learn the system and pass my probationary period of 3 months, I can start to finagle time off. My buddy Scott estimates that he got at least 16 weeks off last year. Doesn’t sound so bad to me…

The money will be great too. As a newbie trainman I’ll probably work a lot in the beginning. My first year I’ll make around $50,000. Last year Scott made between $65-70,000. Some guys who stay marked up to work all the time made close to $100,000. It all depends on how much you want to work.

So why don’t more people work for the railroad if it’s so great? Well, lots of reasons. Most people can’t hack the screwy hours. It won’t be uncommon for me to be up for 24 hours straight, just because of the wacky hours. Also, when I go to work I won’t be coming home–I’ll be spending the night in a hotel room. Also, when I go to work, I can expect to be gone for about 36 hours. Since I’m a single guy that’s never been married and doesn’t have any kids this lifestyle isn’t a problem. And, the job is very dangerous. Trains are huge, heavy slabs of steel. Shit happens.

So cross your fingers and wish me luck. I can’t remember ever wanting a job this badly. In the immortal words of Josephus (Gregory Hines) in History of the World part I, “[I was] Born to do it!”