Hello 1st post.
I am In central Cali, and go to a truck school. The school has 3 types of courses. $$$ 4 & 6 week courses and the financial aid route which is a 600 hour 5 month 20 week program. I'm with the latter. I started early December and went over the Alice Adams trucking books off the main campus (away from the trucks)Many times we didn't even go thru the book. It was 5 or 6 30 minute breaks with a lot of Youtube Prank videos. I and a lot of other students was kind of raising our eyebrows about this, but it was mandatory for the school to get their government money to have us sit through a 300 hour course. All is well I guess and yea got my permit.
4 weeks ago I switched to the "yard" we have 2 peterbuilts and about 4 freightliners. I notice a few things.
Disrespectful Testosterone has-been truckers as instructors. Remember these are diff guys from the Alice Adams Course. This Is not a locker room or the Military. Their is absolutely NO reason for 50 year old men to be "stretching" other grown men. I am 37 and Immediately see red when this guy shouts at me Like My Old Depression Era late Great uncle.
They take as many students as they can get with usually only 1 instructor out on the yard. Yep less time to do skills. Other instructors, get this they hire students as instructors with no real exp in the field after graduation are out on drives with 4 students to 1 truck. WHAT?? The Teacher Ratio to Students is bad.
Switching gears pun intended I listen to all the vets, instructors own stories and eaves drop and seriously, not one has anything good to say about this field. I overheard a teach saying the reason I'm here is cause I'm sick of trucks, the road. Another Lot Lizards cutting Air Lines going teams with a person you will never get along with. Seriously what kind of message Am I getting? After Driving for reals with a instructor IDT I could ever sleep on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere.
I'll stick with it. I'm almost thru. I'll keep posting my dmv test out date is 5/9 but most likely never going OTR. Help me out here talk me out of quitting
I want to Quit Truck School Over 3 months In
Discussion in 'Trucking Schools and CDL Training Forum' started by Neon Cthulhu, Mar 17, 2014.
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Get your tanker hazmat endorsements and make $55K - $65K per year with good benefits.
Go with a good flatbed company, such as Melton Truck Lines or System Transport and make $50K+ per year.
Later, get with a good LTL company and make $60K - $80K per year.
That kind of money in this economy is reason enough to stay.
Edit : The course is much too long; all you need is a 160 hr. course, but hindsight is 20/20.Green-eyed Lady, dennisroc and Skydivedavec Thank this. -
sounds like you are in a crappy program, when you are done who will you be driving for? I have never heard about that school. you need to remember this is just training and poor training at that. You have already invested alot of time and money in this school. I say finish it and then run away fast. starting out as a rookie always stinks but if you stick with it, you will have a lot more options down the road, but again search your heart and do what you want. If you are almost done, I would say finish it out. when you get done do you have to drive for a certain company? are they going to help place you with a company etc? either way good luck.
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listen to chinatown, has been here alot longer then I have. like they said, I have tanker and hazmat, and here in colorado you can easily make over 75k a year. that of course was on the oilfield hauling water or crude oil..... but so many options if you have a CDL...... btw china have you heard anything good about Lone mountain leasing to buy a truck with not so good credit?
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Yep they have a career guy that really pushes covenant swift and werner on ya hard. I don't want to do all the pre hire stuff. I need to focus on getting my license 1st. I don't want to count my chickens kind of thing. My outlook is to get the license then go from their. I did pretty good with pretrip and air brakes but IDK about the hazing and belittling sneering and laughs from instructors. I go out their from 1 to 7 tomorrow and It's a drag now if I aint skills or drives. They have been getting a huge feed of cash paying students lately. Thanks Cranky and China
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If you want to quit, then I'd be inclined to say just do it. Honestly, we don't really care if you do.
But I digress... at the same time, I'd hate it for you if you vested as much as you did into it to end up having it all be for nothing. Bad habit of mine.
If driving a truck is what you want to do, there's going to be hardships... you're at your first hurdle now, and it won't be your last. In the end, it's what you make of it. Nothing is promised in this industry... but you could make something good out of it.
What it is varies to different people. I had no problem moving on to other things. A couple weeks ago, I watched a guy clean out his truck for the last time (he had to hang it up on account of cataracts) and he was in tears at the end of it. The guy loved what he did, and it showed... I had to service his truck immediately afterwards, and you could tell he took pride in what he did.
Maybe this is just a long-winded way of saying "follow your heart" or whatever... I'll be honest... I'm not even sure what exactly I'm getting at here. But I'm getting at something. I think.bigtssa, Swamprat55, tangerineGT and 1 other person Thank this. -
Been there done that! (Read my Bio).
I was in a similar situation at a CDL school (Shipper's Choice -Manassas VA). Luckily I used my GI Bill for my time there and explained to the VA Rep why I was dropping AND WAS ONLY charged 1/4 against my funding. The case was noted as I wasn't the only one who complained about the way the Gov't money was being used. My advice is that you cant quit! You've been there awhile and only have weeks to go. You'd be upset with yourself later if you did. As the other posters said, get the Permit! Its worth more than you know. With the winter were having here in the east DT Drivers are drowning in cash. Your Permit allows you to do more than just OTR. My plan is to get with a company, run my required minimum time to move to companies that require 1-2 yr experience. (UPS, FEDEX, USPS) There are plenty of openings here for those carriers. But I'm moving to Pacific NW in the coming weeks so I'm really looking for WC companies now.Chinatown Thanks this. -
I'll see it through. It's not me just wanting to quit. I feel it's the school and their freaking attitude. I have a daughter to think of and older kids. It's too late to quit I agree. I just want out of the school. I can see me and a few other guys like me maybe taking the instructor out haha. We've heard stories of students calling him on it and it's ugly cause hes pretty high up the food chain and I'll be spending so much time with him these last 2 months, and it's going to be awkward. Well, I'm off to bed. I'll respond and keep this post updated. Thanks!
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oh and also that doesn't mean put up with their crap either..... I would tell these so called instructors that you are paying good money to be trained and they better pay you some dang respect..... I usually don't have a filter.... got me in a jam here and there... but Ill be ###### if anyone disrespects me for their enjoyment.
Bilbirk Thanks this. -
Wow.. well, keep in mind that the CDL schools only teach you what you need to know to get your CDL... and, before there were schools, they use to put drivers in trucks and have them figure it out.. So, even if your school is not the best, all you need from them is your CDL...
Next, dont listen or pay mind to what the drivers are saying... I enjoy it out on the road, I shower daily, my truck is comfortable and clean, I have never slept in my truck in the middle of nowhere... I have tucked myself away somewhere remote.. but by choice.. makes for a nice quite night, the stars are brignt, you dont have all the noice and lights of a truck stop.
And finally, do you really want to be a quitter... do you really want to quit and then in a few mo ths or a hear or so look back and think, dang, what if I had stuck it out, what if I hadn't quit...
You are more than half way through... quitting is habit or pattern that people developed.. if it ks already a pattern for you, nere is your chance to break that pattern...MrBolton88, Redman30 and CCJR76 Thank this.
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