Starting with Schneider on Monday

Yes. yes I did lol

 

Day 3:
It was a pretty eventful day. First thing in the morning was out with your trainer working either backing or the simulator. Now a word on the trainers; they come in all levels off "willingness" to teach you. We have 22 people in this class, and five trainers. I was a lucky one and ended up in a group of two of us with a trainer (me and another guy), but there is a catch. I'm not saying he's a terrible trainer but I get the vibe he got pulled into it at the last minute. His heart wasn't in it. Besides, he had the day off today so we had to play musical trainers and get shuffled around the yard with various groups. Some trainers however are great at what they do. I got to spend some time with a few today and it was a great experience. Even if you get a bad trainer, they still have 10+ years of experience and can answer pretty much any question you throw at them and i have yet to experience one that will look down on you for asking questions. If there is a take away from this, let it be that. For God sakes ask if you have a question otherwise you'll never get an answer.
Now, in our time at the facility today here is what got accomplished:

• Setup direct deposit
• Fill out W-4 info (both took about 5 minutes)
• Quick simulator run (about 20 minutes)
• 45 minutes of road practice
• 4 45 degree backing attempts
• Log book entries (another 5 minutes)
  
• 1 hour lunch

That's it. In the 11 hours I spent there that is all we did. The rest of the time was spent standing around, sitting in the cafeteria, or riding along as others drove. I understand there is a limited amount of trainers and practice trucks but I came back to the hotel thinking "hmm didn't do a whole lot today." Now tomorrow we are supposed to be tested so they can determine whether we need another week of training or we can leave OTR with our TE.

So that is another day here at Schneider. Be safe out there and let me know if you have a question about something

 

Day 4:
Today was a pretty straight forward day. Either you get it or you don't. Testing day. First thing in the morning was a short driving test. Well, by first thing i mean at about 10am because our trainers truck had to get in the shop because the trailer lights took a complete dump... And still don't work 100% of the time. Anyway, after that was your backing test. You have to get the trailer in the hole from a 45 degree angle in less than 15 minutes. For example, I took two pull-ups and did it in 7 minutes. No if your in school and reading this, make sure your backing is on point. Whatever maneuvers you do make sure that you get the concept of backing because that is what is tripping up most of the guys out here, including me. I was top of my class in school and it took me 4 tries before I could get it at any kind of reasonable way. Backing is what will also get you held back, along with shifting.

After lunch was coupling/uncoupling practice "the Schneider way" which honestly isn't a whole lot different than what I was taught in school except some things are done in a different order and there is a lot more inspecting the trailer. Which is all understandable because you sure as hell do not want to drop a trailer.

After all this practice out on the range, we had to come in and do "CBT's" or Computer Based Training. No that is the worst part of this whole thing. Oh lordy is it boring. You sit and watch basic slides while someone lectures about the topic. You have to complete all of the modules and they range from 15 minute to 1 hour each, and there are bout 20 of them. And if you have to stop mid way through one, it will NOT save your place and if you are logged in for more than 90 minutes it will delete ALL of your progress from that session. Don't ask me how or why on earth it happens, but trust me it does. We had a guy that it happened to and he was pissed, and I would be too.

We also got our fuel cards and Pilot rewards card and learned about how all that works with paychecks and cash advances and stuff, other than that, that was about our whole day. Some people found out who their TE is and some even left today to go home because their TE will pick them up. I personally haven't been assigned yet so I anticipate finding that out tomorrow.