Need Professional Advice and Input - Please help a Wannabe out!

Greetings! First and foremost I would like to thank anyone who replies to this message. I appreciate your help and and information will go a long way in ensuring I am successful.

Ok, now onto the actual grit here. I do not have my CDL, I repeat DO NOT HAVE MY CDL. I have my license, and I do not have any marks against my license. But that is all I have. I am looking into getting into the oil fields, but it seems as though the best jobs I have found seem to be the jobs where people have Class A licenses and HAZMAT endorsements. I asked several companies about the vehicles that they drive and found that a majority of the time they just need people to fit into varying positions and sometimes driving is necessary but they expressed to me that in their opinion most entry level drivers spend 10% or less of their time actually driving and the rest is labor. After inquiring more with several of the larger companies in the areas that (when I say larger companies I am specifically looking at work for multinational companies that may need my skills later in foreign countries later on) I am researching, mainly North Dakota and Texas, I have discovered through talking with their recruiters that experience is not required and to me it seems as though a majority of the reasoning behind a desire for Class A HAZMAT endorsed drivers is insurance premiums being lower than for someone without it.

So I have done some research, and have come to the conclusion that if I want to be able to wedge myself into this money than I have to have certain things. I need a CDL Class A and several endorsements the most important being HAZMAT. From what Ihave read online, I can pass the federal checks for HAZMAT and I can pass the physical from the DOT. For the written test I have found software, books, and the most important CDL Manual at the DMV. I assume I can study for the written test without much difficulty as repetition and memorization can carry me there. The questions and the area I feel weakest I suppose would be in the area of the skills test, where I may be able to do enough research to succeed in the various checks and methods/procedures to ensure a safe vehicle is being used I am not so sure I can actually drive one without the experience of actually being behind the wheel of one before that point. I have experience with manual transmissions, and I am technically apt enough to understand components to the vehicle and what purpose they server.

Can I avoid the costs of paying for some obviously scammish college education and get my CDL + endorsements without having to fork over a ridiculously large sum of money for something that seems fairly simple to learn over the course of several days?

I understand that obviously the colleges and the ....psuedo..... colleges have their place, and they wouldn't be around if they didn't serve a purpose. However I am fairly well educated, a quick learner, and a driven person who desires to get to work as fast as possible in these fields before this money dries up or is regulated away. So can it be done? Can I get my CDL + endorsements through research, memorization, and maybe a day or so in interning with someone who has a truck? I know people who are CDL holders that drive trucks, and they have expressed interest in allowing me to learn from them, but I want to know if that would be enough coupled with my self taught training to pass the tests?

TL;DR: (Too long? Didn't Read?) - Hey, I'm a wannabe truck driver/oil field worker. I've talked to companies who have said that if I have a Class A CDL and HAZMAT endorsement I can get a job no problem assuming I'm there to work! Is it possible to teach myself everything assuming I'm a good learner and get an opportunity to drive a truck with a friend? Do I need to pay for a drawn out college course or can I learn it myself with enough hard work? What's the fastest way to get your CDL and not be a danger on the road? Can I pass the skills test with basic knowledge of mechanics, physics, and minimal time in a truck before?


Thank you for your help!

 

I'm sorry, but even at minimum wage " 14 hours a day 5 days a week and only brought home 400-450 a week" is incorrect unless your being garnished for something or being held accountable for child support. That's 30 hours of overtime my friend and 40 regular hours.

7.25*40=290.00
7.25*1.5*30=326.25
total before tax income at minimum wage (btw, if you took a job at minimum wage driving a hazmat tanker I am sorry but you are an idiot...) = 616.25
lets just put you at the top tax bracket of 33% = 406.73 take home a week.

406.73*4(weeks)*12(months)= 19,523.04 after tax pay based on highest possible tax obligation a year at your current job.

If you went to college, got your cdl for 2300 dollars (btw that 5.5 weeks at your 70 a week schedule and pay just to pay that off) and make less than a person in Santa Fe NM does for flipping burgers for two places for 70 hours a week NO overtime

Santa Fe NM Burger Flipper) 10.29*70=720.3*4(weeks in a month btw that's 2881.20 a month before tax)*12(months)=34574.40 a year.
Lets have them pay the same rate of tax you apparently do and the yearly total is
22819.10 dollars a year after taxes for flipping burgers and working just as many hours as you do for multiple companies without getting overtime pay.

I hope you switch career paths because I'm 27 with an AA degree and I've never made in my entire working life less that 24 thousand a year after taxes (this includes the times a worked before I got my AA) so you are either full of crap or absolutely one of the dumbest working american's I have ever met. I'm sorry but I am leaning towards option 2 so if I was you I'd move to santa fe and flip burgers for a couple places and move up in the world.

Let me clarify my questions if possible. Can an educated person be better off, assuming the expectations of the employer are low and not concerned with experience, studying and minimizing personal financial expenditure towards the acquisition of a Class A CDL + endorsements given that he has a persons vehicle to perhaps perform a rudimentary skills test in. Is it possible that it is better or more efficient to pursue this course as opposed to paying for a course at a college or school to learn many of the same things one can learn from manuals readily available to the public?

 

I can rent the type of vehicle to take the test in for 150 dollars insured but I don't have as much knowledge about this PTDI certified endorsement. Given that the expectations of my potential employer do not require experience just the license itself plus endorsement is that PTDI certified education necessary?

 

Obviously you failed to read my entire message, either the first part or the broken down TL;DR: portion. You neither answered my question or were informative, given what you expressed in your post I felt that you saying "As far as you learning this industry over a few day period it aint gunna happen!" was inflammatory and effectively attempted to undermine my intelligence. I am looking for information about the likely-hood of being able to pass a skills test with minimal personal time or money expenditure. Can this be done? Can a person who is intelligent enough to pick it up quick, be able to pass a skills test or are the requirements above and beyond that introductory level to an extreme that is not achievable?

As for my AA, I got that on uncle sam's dollar after exiting the USARNG in an attempt to set myself up for teaching people how to read and write english in high school. An AA is not an ALL MIGHTY COLLEGE DEGREE and to let you know the risk/reward time/money earned right now for certain positions in the field of trucking are far more lucrative than many other jobs at the moment if you have the knowledge and the drive to pursue them. It's all about the money.