Still feel dumb/stupid after graduated from a truck driving school

YES!! The learning process starts when you start...and won't quit untill you do. The best friend you got is common sense. Use it and don't ignore it. If it don't feel good don't do it.
If you decide you like the proffesion, then give it all you got and don't look back. Give it time though(like 2 years and them some)before you say "it aint for me". Pretty soon you'll have the "white line fever"(Merl Haggard) like the rest of the chicken haulers.
Your gonna run into some scary s#$t along the way but someday you'll look at the scary stuff as a challenge.
Respect others and they will respect you and help when your in need. Just remember to use YOUR head first and always welcome the opinion of others but go with your gutt.
1.Respect of your machine
2.Respect of others
3.Common sense

4. A good g#d D@#n banker (after the addiction sets in)

 

you can do eet.

 

Threw school and training I only learned a few viable things, and that is to be an independent problem solver, learning/ gaining the ability to seek and find answers on my own.

Hindsight looking at the process i went threw, a crappy mega carrier school who I stayed on with way to long, to awsum small trucking company where hopefully i will be for a long time to come thinking what i learned the most was most unexpected. The crengland school i went to was a joke, my first phase trainer never let me drive or do anything, my second phase was a drunk just bad experience, but in the end I learned what I was sposed to. I got my CDL no problem, I learned to be a proffesional independent and self reliant problem solver. Not having a real teacher, I had to teach myself and be my own teacher. The process was perhaps harder, but being harder was good. By learning everything the hard way it made me stronger than if I was babysit. This is a hard prosess with much unknown, much fear, a lot of mistakes and regrets and wondering if I would make it threw the day, or threw the task. More than my fair share of humiliation when I went solo having almost zero backing experience and spending what seemed like hours trying to back my truck into docks the rest of the truckers were just jaming them into, plenty of people laughing at me ets.. Being ##### pizzed as hell at them! Made me determined, now I can slide my rig into tight spots smoother than nine tenths of the drivers out there, a lot who have more driving experience than I, the list of achievements is endless.

Another thing I learned as queere as it sounds is to pat yourself on the back every time you accomplish something or made it threw a hard spot. Reflect on it and mentally stroke yourself; Dam! I did friggen awsum today, slid it right in that tight dock, look at that looser over there struggling he even got more space to put it into that I did what a putz I am so much better than those guys ets.... Patting yourself on the back is important, becouse nobody knows the hurtles you go threw, or would understand or care if you told them, so in another act of self reliance you must also reward yourself for all the good you do, become your employer really wont care about your hurtles ets, your friends or family wont understand, wont care or will eventually get tired of hearing you do nothing but talking about your stupid trucker job.

This was my ride from a noob flunky to a somewhat experienced driver. This same ride, is a ride all new truckers have experienced in some form or another, as will you. Determination, self reliance, self confidence, and constantly striving to better yourself for every shift, dock, and unexpected corner of the road. The willingness and ability to solve problems on your own, and not rely on a babysitter.

What I said aint as pretty as what the other posters wrote, but its a lot more real. Best wishes to ya bud.

 

Don't sweat it. You will get your REAL training when you get in a truck with a trainer. I got my CDL when I was 19, but didn't use it till I was 21. That first day in the truck went ok, and that was after being out of a truck for 2 years. I will admit, it took about a week before I could back worth a crap. It took about a month or so until I was comfortable backing into holes in truck stops in the dark.

Your CDL school was really just to get the basics as to how the truck handles and operates. When you get a job with a company and a trainer is when you refine those skills to become a professional. Being a professional isn't all about experience either. It is mostly about attitude. Million milers still learn something new everyday.

Good Luck.

 

I wish you the best of luck. You seem like a very down to earth person. Keep up the good work.

 

Like many have said, you've made it past the school part. Alot of people can't do that. So congratulations on overcoming that hurdle. Now it is time for your learning process to begin. The company you choose to go with can either make you love this career or hate it. Read the reviews on most of the company's (if you haven't already) and make a wise decision. Just know, you will learn something new everyday.

I hope to be joining you on the road some day driver. But for now best of luck to ya.

 

Extremely wise words! At a bad company that jerks you around and makes your life miserable this job really sucks I mean really sucks! And as much as it sucks the worst part of it is some like crengland, swift, crst, covenant ets.. ets.. turn students into endentured slaves, if you fall for there bogus lease promises and sighn a lease you just become a flat out slave. Been there. So now you are being treated like sheet, and not getting paid sheet for it, if you sighn a lease you may not be getting paid at all for it, just flat out slavery.

As lantern said do your homework as far as which company you start off with, do not rush into it. I was with crengland which is same maby little worse than swift, crst ets.... hated life, now with small company making good checks being treated like a real human, not just a real human, but a respected and appreciated human as well. Big fast killer truck, freedom from all the qcom spam and bs, free from elogs and gps tracking my every movement (I can go potty and nobody knows about it, yay!) free from all the bogus crap that crengland and swift ets..throws at everybody. I went from hating it, to finding this to actually be a somewhat enjoyable carreer.

The reason a lot not all but a lot of posters post bad things about all the same companys you see burried in bad post is to try to help other people not make the same mistakes they made, so they might avoid the pain, suffering ets they went threw and hopefully those reading those post could use them to make better decisions for themselves and there families they support. There are other options out there you just have to look harder for them, its worth the effort.

 

Schools basically just show you how to pass your CDL test. You learn the real things about this industry once you go out on your own.