(F) Prospective newbie NY

Here are the guidelines today for acquiring a cdl. New stricter guidelines for cdl training and DOT physical.
Training Provider Registry
Transportation - FMCSA National Registry

 

Once you complete the above, plenty of good companies will hire you.
Here's just one of several. This one runs 48 states.
Home - Leonards
Recent CDL A Graduates have a home at Leonard’s Express!
Leonard’s offers a cdl school tuition reimbursement program up to 10K!

 

The only way two ways I know how to accomplish all of that is to get lucky and accidentally work at a company or do research until you find the company where you can work the way you want, not allows every driver to drive whatever way they want, but the company required work life is the work life you also want. To find that company you have to talk to current working drivers at companies until the answers they give you are the answers you need. Some companies like CR England are terrible for almost everyone, and other trucking companies are good for some drivers and bad for other drivers.

While I never signed a contract to work for a trucking company in exchange for a "free CDL" there is nothing wrong with signing such a contract ONCE YOU KNOW THAT IS WHERE YOU WANT TO WORK.

GO TO CDL SCHOOL ONLY AFTER YOU FIND THE TRUCKING COMPANY TO WORK FOR. Stay ate your current job and take the time necessary to find that first trucking company. Going to CDL school first will inevitably make you rush to get a job, which will almost certainly cause you to work for the wrong company. IMO there is no real reason to pick which CDL school to attend, or decide between private CDL school, community college/Vo-Tech, and company CDL school until you have decided where you are going to work. That choice dictates everything else. The only real purpose of CDL school is to have a valid CDL in your pocket. NO CDL SCHOOL is going to give you enough instruction to make you significantly better prepeared to do this job for the next 5 years than any random 3-week CDL school. No matter which CDL school you attend, 90% of your learning will happen at your first company as you ride with your company trainer for weeks or months. CDL school is NOT like high school or college. While I would vehemently advise you to avoid ever pulling refrigerated "reefer" freight, the one company giving first-class training is Prime, Inc. They combine the CDL school and "first company/trainer" into one LONG period. It seems their start-to-solo training is sufficient. However, many of us consider that time spent riding and learning with a trainer in the truck to be the most difficult period in our career. It's very hard to share such a tiny space for so long with another person. That time at Prime could be 3 months. I would have taken hostages if I had been forced to share a truck, which meant almost no sleep during my training, for that long.

Lastly, I beg you not to adopt the "well, you have to start somewhere so I might as well start with this crappy company telling me what I want to hear." The job is hard no matter where you work, but the difference between the companies that treat you poorly, expect you to leave ASAP, and the companies that treat you better so you will stay is significant. Many times is the difference between starting a new career and starting and ending that career within 12 months, like 80% of newbies. The results you achieve depends greatly on how well you research the company you start with.

 

You're off to a good start with a new career.
Start applying for jobs on the first day of school; don't have to wait until you graduate.
Job offers will be contingent on successfully completing cdl school and having any required endorsements.
Which town are you in or near?
You posted to want to travel and see the country, so Leonard's Express has that. There's other choices also. Let us know.