Another redundant newbie question thread..........

Praxair - Bakersfield
Qualifications

• Have at least two years driving experience OR have completed a course of instruction from a truck driver training school that operates equipment similar to Praxair's.
• • Must be able to work 1st shift (6:00a.m. to 2:30p.m.)
  
  Primary Location California-Bakersfield
  Schedule Full-time
• Praxair Distribution, Inc., a subsidiary of Praxair, Inc., a Fortune 300 company that supplies atmospheric, process, specialty gases, high-performance coatings, and related services & technologies is seeking a Truck Driver (CDL A) to join our team located in Bakersfield, CA.
  
  Truck Drivers are responsible for safely and efficiently operating a local route delivery vehicle to deliver hard goods, cylinder gas and associated products to customer locations. This Truck Driver opportunity is 1st shift and Truck Drivers are home nights and weekends.
• 

 

@Powder Joints probably has some ideas.

Start contacting companies now; it's not too early. Some students have several job offers by the first day of cdl school.

 

System Transport - flatbed and has regional or OTR; take your pick. Hire Bakersfield drivers and new cdl grads.

 

W.W. Transport Inc. - www.wwtransportinc.com
Not sure they hire in Bakersfield, but worth a phone call. They do hire new cdl grads and have great paychecks.

 

Gemini Transport - hires new cdl grads and several new grads that post on here were hired by Gemini to deliver diesel & DEF to Love's Truck Stops.

 

You should be able to get a job hauling milk right away. Get your hazmat for sure if you want to get into tankers. Also look into asphalt.

LEARN TO DRIVE A MANUAL IN SCHOOL!

 

It's not so much "Paying dues" but rather risk management and expense management. Building savings one load a time. No matter how small or big it pays.

Trucking is brutal to newbies because some companies will simply throw them away for cutting a tire while docking. That's like 500 dollars retail for one new tire. Never mind whatever else or who you tapped. It's ruled a preventable. Eventually enough piles up and you are told fired or dismissed. Sometimes to find your own way home. (That's where savings come into play)

School will teach you enough to pass the State Test. But your real educating will begin when hired. God help you. lol.

Trucking is not shift work, it's not flipping burgers. You are literally in one tiny cog in the Gears of the USA keeping the Nation and our way of life rolling. The more you learn, the time it might be valuable during a moment of crisis or what to do? When nothing you ever learned presents itself a few moments for you to decide how to resolve it.

100 people wanna be a trucker. Well... 50 wont make it past the requirements for a variety of reasons Population wide. In 3 months I say around 30 has made it. in a year maybe 20. In 5 about 12. Beyond 10? Well. I expect half disabled and half dead with a handful still going.

I don't know where you are in your years, but one old instructor who taught God himself how to drive (Figure of speech...) said to us we are young most of us in that school. 21 or so give or take a few. We can expect maybe 56 years before something or other breaks on our bodies.

Mine started breaking enough in the mid 40's to stop OTR. But catastrophic medical issues really showed up in my 50's But Im not here to talk about me. Ive done enough of that here.

What you eat, do and how you manage your trip planning etc. Endurance needs to be built up, learning to sleep possibly with a trainer who may or may not meet your ideal. Dealing with places you might never have seen before is fun, and sometimes seriously dangerous to you depending on your race and attitudes even the color of your clothes at night. If you are down here in the Rock at night looking like a Vice Lord wearing sports gear. Guess what.... bang bang. Because they don't know you on sight.

That's just a example. You are about to embark on something that has since 9-11 in spite of the really hardened security measures and drug testing among other things like Felons not able to access Canada etc. (Learn yourself some metric (example bridge 4.99 meters high = 16 feet and maybe 4 inches roughly plenty for your 13'6" tractor trailer.) a touch of french and spanish among other languages can get you by.

Good luck. Oh by the way backing training in trucking school is not 5 students taking turns doing a pull up straight and straight back. Keep that in mind.

 

If you've never ever driven trucks before your taking a big leap by trying to haul tankers, specially if your doing hazmat i've been driving for over 20 years and i've only just started doing tanker, personally it'd be easier learning to reverse by doing dock work that's how you get the hang of things with tanker you won't reverse as much, when i do fuel deliveries everything's designed so you have to reverse as little as possible its all a big safety issue with fuel, the only time i have to reverse is at the depot to park it up for the next shift. Anyway the key is first passing your driving test the rest will come with experience.