Company training wouldn't hurt. The more training time you can get before you get out on your own, the better off you'll be as a solo driver. Being that you didn't 'graduate' from your mill, I personally don't know if you can use that school as a reference. You MIGHT have to start over from scratch at a different school.
Sounds to me like maintaining your focus is your biggest problem. Have to keep on top of what you are doing at that moment in time.
Don't give up, dude. None of that stuff makes you a bad candidate. It's probably just your nerves. I wish I could take you on the road for a week.......
One option at this point is to hire a "CDL in a Day" truck. These are companies that provide trucks at the DMV for day rental. In California the cost is about $800 for them to walk you through a pretrip inspection on the truck and give you a quick drive to learn the feel of the truck before your appointed test time. This way you get your CDL if you pass the test. The downside is that some companies will ask what school you graduated from, but you can simply be honest and tell them how you got your CDL. The CDL is the key. I recently got back into trucking after letting my CDL lapse many years ago. Fortunately my brother is an O/O, so I trained with him and used his truck for the drive test. I failed three times before finally passing on the 4th try. 1st two failures were pretrip because the examiner was looking for specific words like "inflation" when I was mentioning "tire pressure". Third failure was skills test in the middle of a dust storm so bad the cones were falling over and we were down to 20-30 foot visibility at times. Had to retake the written test in order to go back for the 4th and final successful drive test. Hang in there and get your CDL. The mistakes you've made so far in the drive test are minimal, just relax and pass the test. Then apply to several companies and see how fast you get employed.
StartsMonday: I was thinking the same thing, but they are they have their standards and I didn't meet them, so I am where I am because of that. Ghost Ryder: I didn't think I would be able to use them. Starting over is what I was planning on doing as that is the easiest route, just sucks that I have to. I really want to do this. It is my dream and I am not about to give up just yet. If Michael Jordan gave up when he was cut from his first basketball team he knew would have been where he is right now. KMac: Yeah, that is what I have been told. I was just so nervous, and like I said I have never driven a stick, I have the shifting down and I can get through all the gears, but coming to a stoplight and preparing for take off and actually getting the truck to roll was something I had always struggled with but had managed to get it under control recently (or so I thought).
school zones are 20 mph in my experience My house of 30 years in a school zone, here's a link, http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/man_and_woman_killed_when_car.html maybe demolition a better career?
Keep after your dream Catfish23....I wish you the best of luck. With that "I'm not giving up" attitude I'm sure you'll see your dream come into being.
Lepton: Thanks. I will check into that. StartsMonday: I appreicate that. I wish I could be out there with you all. I will get my cdl.
Bubbavirus: They are 25 in Indianapolis. At least that is what the big giant sqaure saying 25mph school zone between 7:30 am and 4:30 pm all school days say. It is 20 where I am from too, though, in Cincinnati.
