Rookies training Rookies

Let alone six months.

 

If its to much info to learn in one year, how do you expect to learn it at all? Are you saying all the drivers are slow and they should be getting an associates degree in truck driving? I mean, you can't do it in one year and get an associates. That to me, is an absurd statement.

At 1 years or 2 year, you know what you're doing or you don't. Your either smart, or you're a dumb you know what. What if you got a trainer that had 2 years of experience, but it was the Werner trainer who pooped himself in his sleep? Sorry, but you can't ask for another trainer, because he has 2 years of experience.

EXPERIENCE means nothing when the person who is giving you the info has poop for brains. There are drivers that have 2 years that can't even tell you what kind of engine they have under the hood. There are some drivers who stop on the shoulder of the road to check under the hood when a check engine light comes on. The check engine light does not mean to CHECK THE ENGINE, it means you have trouble and it has nothing to do with oil or coolant.

Frankly, not to be rude, but I wouldn't want to train someone like yourself. You wouldn't want to listen or believe what I said. I've got the experience, you're trying to learn as you have none, but you think someone with 2 years will know more? If you were learning welding as a trade, I could say that would be a fair argument, or if you were learning to be an accountant and doing taxes, then yes. But for Pete's sake, its trucking driving. It is NOT ROCKET SCIENCE.

 

excellent post!!

 

When I first got my CDL in 2009 I got on and trained by an O/O.. it had its pros and cons.. I did get some good training bjt had to put up with a bunch of crap and BS... got off the truck and took a break from truck driving..

When I returned to trucking last year I had the whole refresher course thing to contend with.. but, got on with a small company who put me with an experienced driver.. had 20 years of driving... that was horrendous, he was a freak with many mental issues.. the company was aware of it to... he had a complete melt down in Texas and the police put him in the hospital.. the company had to recover the truck... he was in there for two weeks..

I didnt know any of that when I got on the truck with him.. but it became evident within a few days that he was a bit off.. did t know how much of a wacko he was.. but, he just kept getting wierder and wierder.. I talkedto the company about it.. but they never took me off the truck...

Then we were out and he was really going down hill fast.. he flipped his lid when I was driving through rush hour traffic in St. Louis MO... he was freaking out, yelling and screaming abojt bodies all over the highway, abojt me bei g part of the conspiracy, he was hitting window and all sorts of wacko ####..

I got through traffic pulled over at a safe place and called the company.. they talked to him over the phone.. and then called me and said they needed me to get the load delivered.. and then bring the truck back and the wacko driver too, to the terminal... which I did.. I delivered the load in SD and headed to their terminal... there was no wah I could sleep with that wacko in the truck... when I got to the termianal they fired him and assigned the truck to me..

I needed 11 more days to give me 3 months... which I did.. then quit that company.

I started with Werner the first of tne year... they had me do 140 hour of training, cause the company i was with had such a bad CSA score... my first trainer was not the best.. but, better then what i nad with the O/O and the small company and the case... But, i talked to my SDM and they routed us to tne terminal rignt away and i got on with a new trainer the next day.. my last trainer was awesome... he really was.. now, he was an ex Marine, experienced driver, had been with Werner for years,is a million miler and an O/O.... he taugbt me a lot.. not just about driving, but about the industry, about living on the road, how to be effecient and successful. .

I have no interest in training... I have just about a year of recent expeience and about 2 and 1/2 combined.. yeah, I guess I could train a new driver all that I have learned in my expeience. .. but, what I cant train or teach them is what I havent yet learned or expeienced...

 

How true, although I got quite a laugh out of the way you presented the bottom line.

 

I see what your saying every trainer is different but someone with a year experience isn't gunna run into everything a 10 plus year experience is going to run into. I'm not saying a 2 year is any better, just saying 1 year or less is not enough. I understand the books and regs fine.just would like someone that's been around in it for few more years that can teach me the tricks of making life easier be a trucker.

 

notsonewb say " can't teach what you don't know " , I do however agree that some people are never going to be a GOOD trainer even with 20 years experience , and also keep in mind some things change over time also , so some aspects from 20 years ago may not be relevant today , Guess when I trained others I felt that explaining and demonstrating things like low speed maneuvering down hill braking , backing set up ect was really what they needed , for a fact I know a guy who had several years expierence who didn't know how to use Jake brake , thought the hand valve was how to slow the truck while descending , his "experience" didn't mean squat, if he had been instructing , well you do the math , just my .02

 

Notsonewb, I agree everyone is diffrent no one thinks the same. With how things are done now a days and how they use to be done is completely different at times. I guess I just want a trainer that can explain and show me the ropes that will make my life easier and be a safe professional driver.

 

After thinking about it a bit... I realized something... the one thing that all the bad trainers I had, the first three, had in common was that they were not successful. . They each were struggling.. where my last trainer was successful. .. he was making good money... he wasnt training for the money.. and he was selective in the students he accepted. . He took beaks between students as well... he hadnt taken a student for a few months when he took me.. and he didnt take another student for awhile after I got off his truck..

If you need to be a trainer to make enough money.. then you havent learned how to be successful in truckng and so hoh certainly cant teach others how to make a living or good career in trucking..

 

No winter months =NO WAY.

If he wasn't going to be my trainer during winter months I wouldn't have a problem though.