17, wanting to start asap

Have you graduated from high school yet? That is the most important first step to consider.

 

Okay then, the teacher in me is satisfied. I had thought you had to be 21 for the CDL and then 23 to drive out of state, but I don't know for sure. Does your father have specific reasons for his opposition, or is he just being a typical parent?

 

As a trucker and a father i once told my son i would break his arms if ever caught him in a truck. Well he is now out with a trainer after i paid his way threw a trucking school and he is 21 so it can be done. As fathers we always want better for our kids than we had. He tried allot of thing but like you he always wanted to drive so now he is. What ever makes you happy is what you have to go with. As far as driving at 18 you can get your CDL at 18 and like you said drive local for some small company and even haul rock or logs. But it will not count when it come to over the road the big companies want hire you till you go to a school anymore no matter how much local experience you have. My advise is if you get your CDL get with a local lumber yard or something like that and start doing local deliveries or a local cartidge company. it will at least give you a chance to get some experience at driving and save your money for the school you will eventually have to go to get hired by the over the road companies.

 

way too young-you will not like being away from your friends,girlfriend(s),parties you'll miss,etc.unless this is something you truly want to do and all that other stuff is not important-you'll get a bad taste of living on the road.alot of the old-timers will not respect you either as we tend to get annoyed at some of the things youngsters do out on the road-such as playing your music over the CB,trash talking on the radio,thinking you're god's gift to trucking & women and professing it at all times.operating a truck is a very serious job,just because you can grab a few gears means nothing.knowing what to do in icy situations,high winds,being surrounded by dangerous drivers THAT WILL piss you off.can you temper yourself not to react to when some fool cuts you off and just let him go,knowing that sooner or later his actions will catch up to him,or will you get that "i'll show him mentality" that may get someone hurt.most youngsters i know are way to quick to fight,lash out at someone whom they disagree,or get a severe attitude when things don't go their way.in trucking,thing rarely go your way,people disrepect you often(not just on the road),say things to you just to ruffle your feathers,in general there will be lots of times things will piss you off...can you handle that without making a fist or acting out on your anger?

 

I would take a look in the yellow pages,local paper or ride around town where you live,before i started,upon going to an auto mechanic school in a voational high school,I had a job maintaning and greasing trucks.Try to find yourself a local company to start with,even if you have to clean the floors put tools away or wash and wax trucks,they might sponsor you and pay for your schooling,I started driving dump trucks after getting home from vietnam and tha army.Dump trucks and trailers are a great experience and alot of fun to get you started.Good luck to you.

 

Unfortunately the other drivers here are correct on many points.

Experience: Local really only counts for local companies, however these are also the companies that many in the OTR game are trying to get into. So if you can find a good local company to work for, you may want to stick with them, it's the best balance of income and life away from work.

Schooling: You may still want to consider some college. This doesn't have to be a 4yr degree in banking or anything. Just something to round out your resume when you get older. You never know when that urge to settle down will come up and bite you. Don't make the same mistake I did. If I had grown up enough to understand the importance of that diploma I would have gone on to college and gotten a job in some big corporation fixing their computers rather than driving after failing at business ownership in that field.

The OTR switch: If you decide that OTR is for you after working for those guys then you will almost deffinitely need to go back to driving school, at least for a refresher, and sign a contract. The only real way out of this is to go to work for another small company, but that can be the worst move when starting out over the road.

Anyway, I wish you luck, and hope you find something that fits.