Starting at TDI Indianapolis

Job search update: I talked to US Xpress on Wednesday because they have local jobs for new drivers who live within 50 miles of Auburn, IN. All I have to do is call and set up orientation if I want to work with them. I also re-applied for a position with Schneider - it's a dedicated Aurora Parts regional position, but they extended the hiring range to within 115 miles of Indianapolis, Cincinnati, or Louisville. If I get that job, I won't have to switch accounts when I move in a couple months. Finally, I talked with Maverick yesterday and found out that because my current job has been a part time job at a school, my work history isn't consistent enough for them, and they can't hire me until I have at least a year of "stable" work history, despite the fact that I've had stable work history for a while. Oh well. Maverick still sounds good and I'll probably reapply later.

As for school, I should be going back this coming week, and then I should be done on Friday!

 

Just a quick update as I have a lot still to do this evening. I came back to school on Monday. I could definitely tell that I had been gone for a week, as my backing was all over the place. I wasn't able to go out on the road Monday due to some technicality with me being gone and coming back, but I did go out on both Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. My driving has gotten a lot better since the first time! My shifting and turning have improved a lot, and I'm even getting downshifts in (smoothly, too)! Now I'm not saying my driving is perfect, but like I said, it's way better than it was 2 weeks ago. My backing is coming along nicely too. This afternoon, I was able to run through all 3 backing maneuvers (straight line, offset, and parallel), only using 3 pull-ups and 2 get-outs, and only hitting one cone (which I didn't realize until the second get-out). I asked one of the instructors how I would have scored if that was the test, and he said I would have gotten 3 points for hitting the cone, and that's it. I would have passed! It makes me so happy to see myself improving!

As far as when I'll be done here and able to test, that's another story. Since I essentially missed an entire week of class, instead of testing this week and graduating tomorrow, they want me to come back next week until at least Wednesday. While I am a little upset about that (another week without a paycheck), I can understand why. But, I'm just ready to get my CDL, graduate, and start working!

 

It's been longer than I thought since I posted here... I want to start this off by letting you all know that I passed the CDL exam and graduated from TDI on Friday! I passed the test on the first try! I'm so glad that school is finally over. Because of various issues, the 3-week course ended up being 5 for me, but it's okay because I'm done! I was hoping to start with Dart tomorrow, but my recruiter never got back in touch with me after I told her that I passed the CDL exam. I'm going to call first thing in the morning (like 7 AM) to see if I can still possibly start orientation tomorrow. Should I start a new thread for my driving adventures, or just continue posting here? Now, to reply to the last couple of posts:

I handled the nerves by realizing that it's okay to make mistakes during road and yard times with instructors. You're there to learn, and it only has to be "good" when you take the CDL test. Don't be afraid to make mistakes, as long as you are doing your best to learn from those mistakes. Another thing that helped me, at least with my backing, was spending an afternoon messing them up on purpose so I could learn/practice how to correct errors and get back where I needed to be.

Thanks! Did you already start with TDI? I look forward to hearing how your experience goes.