Starting out appreciate advice

Get CDL and protect it. You will always have a job.

Where do you live?

 

Schneider's a good starter company. Get your CDL and then they'll train you.

 

You've got 2 choices basically, [1] pay for you own tuition which is around $3000 then you can choose who you work for, or [2] get your cdl via a transport company they will basically own you till you can pay it all back, i'd go the first choice unless you don't have the up front money.

 

where do you live?

 

First, welcome to trucking. The question you ask has be ask before and will be asked again. The answer is "it depends."

The school you are going to only gets you a license. Once you have a license, then you learn the job. It will take you about 2 years to actually be worth anything to the company that hires you. So what is common is to give you a month of "training" and then put you in to a truck and hope you don't kill anyone before you figure out that driving a truck with a 53 foot trailer following you isn't like parking a station wagon in the garage.

Picking a college to train you will require you to find a job. Recruiters will come and promise you the moon. Your first company is not your last company. Lets face it, you don't want to work for a company that will hire someone as bad at the job as you will be. You are there to learn. Learning takes surviving. Keep you mouth shut unless you have a question. Then ask.

You are going to move on. You need to decide if you believe in the long term approach or the short term. I believe I have worked for and been fired by 15 different companies. Each company gave me some knowledge. Everyone of those companies would be wildly happy with who I am now. Problem is, I don't need them as I have my own authority now.

Having a contract to work for company is a good thing. But you need to understand the first job is not one that will pay you a living wage. You are doing apprenticeship work. With the right attitude you can be a success in this field. Last week, I cleared..... Well lets say that I am making a livable wage now.

 

Sorry Jimmy to put this here but ... they stick you in a truck with someone who is called a trainer and then you drive, not a lot of training going on, you already have your cdl.

 

They show you the ropes. Paperwork, how the company bills, e-logs, how the company does things ect. CDL schools train you to pass the state test, nothing more than that. They figure the company that hires you as a beginner is gonna clean you up. Any company that hired me right after I got my CDL, and then tossed me the keys and said, get after it slick, would have been looney.

 

Find where you want to work BEFORE to go to CDL school. CDL school is a busy time and often pretty short. You will not have enough time to make the most important decision, which company to work for. If you don;t get that decision right you probably won't last 1 year in the industry. CDL school is a formality. Which school doesn't matter nearly as much as where you work your first year. Most of what you will learn you will learn with your first trainer at your first company.