Hello from Central NJ

Hello to all the fellow truckers and trucker wannabe like myself. I stumbled upon this website by exploring the avenues in trucking. A little about myself, i am 25 year young working a steady 9-5 office job and pt as a fedex ground package handler. i work anywhere from 60-65 hours/week and still not bringing home $700 a week after taxes. i have been looking at various job boards and many advertise about truck driving jobs with a sign on bonus anywhere from $500 to $8000.

Every chance that i get i have been researching and trying to learn as much as possible about possibly becoming a truck driver and making a decent living. I have no commercial driving experience at all. Last week i visited Smith and Soloman in Linden, NJ. Very respectable school and they have different program you can choose from along with job placement, however nothing is guarenteed. i am leaning more towards company paid CDL training because it already pre-qaulifies me for a job. And of course the good and the bad that comes with it. Ideally, i would like to be home on weekends and would not mind traveling on weekdays. So, the big question/s are:
what companies in the nj area hire recent grads with weekend off?
will i be able to bring home at least $600/week after taxes and work my way up the pay scale?(no insurance coverage)
(knock on wood) i do not mind working for a "bad" company as long as i have weekends off.

The reason why i am so desperate for weekends off is that i am a part time certified flight instructor. But i still wanna do trucking during weekdays and drive those intimidating 18-wheel beasts on the road. Well, i want to say thank you to whover read this post and looking to forward to your comments. Drive safe.

 

Around nj, usually the pier have good outfits

 

Thank you all for the warm welcoming.