A few questions about starting a career in the trucking industry.

first thing you should know, DO NOT go with a companies training school. these can be very tricky and lock you into an unwanted commitment. your best bet is to go to in outside truck driver training school. 2 things good about that route. 1 you can pick any company to work for that hires student drivers and 2 most companies will reimburse you the cost of your school. examples are Roehl transport, knight transportation, covenant transport, Schneider national, prime inc, werner enterprises etc. next, beware that recruiters are like salesmen, they will promise you the world and make it sound like a magical wonderland full of money joy. the reality is it is hard work and it take a certain mindset to make it in this industry. they will tell you things like out for 2 week and home for 2 days. that is possible with some companies but most it's more like out for 8+ weeks and home for 5 days. most companies will only let you take 7 days off in a row MAX! if you want to be home every 2-3 weeks, go work for burger king because you won't make money that way and you won't be happy. I worked for a company that allowed me to get home every 2 weeks and it cost me ALOT. to make good money you need to be out for 6-8 weeks minimum. keep in mind that's how it's going to be for your first 2-3 years. until you can get more experience to move up to a better paying company. there are many other driver on here that have been doing it a lot longer than I have and most of them will agree with me. in a nutshell, don't bank anything on what recruiters say, keep in open mind, stay away from company schools and DO NOT LET ANY COMPANY ROPE YOU INTO A LEASE PURCHASE, it may sound appealing but they are designed to make the companies money.

 

Your age is not a problem; many companies hire at 21 so your 2 years above that already. Here's some companies to check with little to no money needed up front for CDL training. My first 2 choices would be Prime Inc. flatbed or tanker.

Prime Inc.
JBS Carriers
Knight
Swift
Central Refrigerated

 

Most schools have financing and you could even apply for gov grant.

 

No problem josh.

 

Hey Josh. I've been driving for about 3 years now, and I can tell you that I will work at Walmart during the day and McDonalds in the evening before I ever go OTR again. If you figure the amount of money you bring home every week vs the amount of hours worked in an OTR job, you'll likely find that you'll make just as much if you just get a couple McJobs. You won't have to worry about the DOT trying to take your livelihood, idiot drivers, crappy trucking companies / dispatchers / shippers / receivers / etc, and you'll get to come home every night.

The only route I would personally recommend is going for a water hauling gig in the Bakken oilfield. Companies like Missouri Basin (MBI) hire drivers right out of driving school, and you can make $80-$100k per year if you play your cards right. Once you've hauled water for a while, you can move to higher paying oil, hydrovac, etc gigs. There are a lot of sobering realities to working in this industry, but it's a decision I'm definitely glad I made.