SAGE at Isothermal Community College, Spindale NC...my journal

Discussion in 'Trucking Schools and CDL Training Forum' started by BioDiesel, Jul 1, 2010.

  1. BioDiesel

    BioDiesel Bobtail Member

    14
    5
    Jun 27, 2010
    Asheville, NC
    0
    I wanted to start a journal thread for my beginning to my journey of attaining my CDL through SAGE schools at Isothermal Community College in Spindale, NC. Just about an hour south of Asheville, NC (where I live), and 1.5 hours northwest of Charlotte.

    I met with the director of the school today, Mr. Van Bridges. Great guy, we spent a bit over an hour in his office talking about what the school offers and the benefits of coming to a SAGE school versus a company sponsored school or even a less expensive community college class.

    My situation:
    I am 27 years old, ex-IT professional. I worked for 4 years as a Systems Administrator, multiple Microsoft and Cisco certifications. Have a B.S. in Computer Sciences. The company I worked for shut down it's North Carolina operations where I worked (Wilmington, NC) and had a mass layoff of over 1,000 employees. The wife and I moved to Asheville, NC for a better quality of life, and were just sure that we would be able to find work out here. Neither of us have had much luck with getting interviews, let alone job offers. All that changed a month ago when I was offered a fantastic job as a Sys Admin in a relaxed corporate environment. After 5 interviews, weeks of background/credit checks and lots of patience, I signed the job offer and got the go ahead. Got a call the day before starting from my recruiter, and was told the contract for the job was pulled and that the funds allocated for the 4 IT employees being hired (myself included) were no longer available...and that I was pretty much SOL. :biggrin_25510:

    After much thought about all of this, and pretty much being fed up at the tender age of 27 with the corporate world, I decided to be a truck driver! I know...completely out of left field right? Well....

    When I was 23 years old in the middle of attending college in California, I spent the summer looking for "work" to pay the bills. I thought about taking some time off of school to pursue trucking for a little while to help with the student debt, and to just do something completely out of the ordinary. After much debate with my family (thankfully I moved out of the house many years prior) I decided to do it! Called around, and got the offer to come to Central Refrigerated at their Colton, CA location for school. Drove down there and attended. Got as far as my CDL permit with them after about a week's worth of studying and some yard time...got as far as parallel parking the 53' dry van, and then got a call about a family emergency. Needless to say I had to leave the school, and never completed my training there. I've always had an itch to drive, and this seems like a good point to switch gears and do a career change. :biggrin_2555:

    I don't know where this will lead, I don't know if I will be doing this for more than a couple of years, I know the turnover rate for drivers is very high. I do know the criteria that I need to be a driver for a company. I don't want to be OTR for 3 weeks at a time (with the exception of the training time with the company I sign on with). I wouldn't mind going out for 5-6 days and home for 1-2 days. I would prefer a regional job, solo, and working for a company that doesn't offer their own training (ie. Prime, Swift, Werner, Central Ref, etc).

    Talking with the director of the academy, he gave me an idea of some of the companies in the area that will be coming in to speak with us during the course, which meet the criteria I'm looking for. So I will go into that with an open mind, and see what works best for me and my family.

    We have a 1yr old at home, so it's understandable to not want to be away from home for 3 weeks at a time, all the time. That would been ok when I was a bachelor, or if I was an empty nester...but just not right now. CDL's offer so many doors and so many options, and I am excited to finally finish the journey to obtaining my CDL...something I wanted to do many years ago and never got to.

    I plan to use this thread to keep a journal of the 5 week course, maybe even throw in some pictures and plenty of details. I would appreciate anybody that wants to follow along in my journey, and hopefully it will add some sort of entertainment (and maybe even educational?) value to someone...sometime.

    Class starts July 19th. Stay tuned.

    Cheers,

    BioDiesel
     
    kickin chicken Thanks this.
  2. Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.

  3. kickin chicken

    kickin chicken Road Train Member

    3,240
    3,284
    Jan 4, 2009
    SC
    0
    Thanks, BioDiesel:)

    We look forward to following you on your journey.

    Best of Luck!!!!
     
  4. ScottLewis

    ScottLewis Bobtail Member

    20
    3
    Jun 30, 2010
    Marshall NC
    0
    OK.

    I talked with Van for a half hour on the phone today.

    I may be joining you in the July class.
     
    kickin chicken Thanks this.
  • Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.