6 hrs $750 and a CDL in hand... NOW WHAT?

Truck-driving school, as I've come to know it, is a misnomer. It's not even really a school, per se; it's just a means to get a CDL. The most valuable service they provide isn't teaching.

If you had a cousin who owned a truck you could use to take your test, you'd be just as well off, probably better in many cases.

Grab one of those free state-published CDL manuals at the DMV, and you already have all of the study materials you'll need. Hell, at least in Pennsylvania, you could probably pass all (of the written variety) but the hazmat test on common sense alone.

Having worked for Werner, I'm actually surprised they require a 180-hour course. I took one before getting hired, but about 160 of those hours were spent standing around a lot watching eightyish students try to share two yard trucks. I do remember hearing that the requirements for so-called "accredited" trucking schools were going to be raised sometime after I graduated, though, so who knows?

In any case, you're not really going to learn what you're doing (unless you have the aforementioned cousin) until you're hired somewhere. Some of it you may learn from on-the-job training. Some of it you'll have to pick up on your own.

Sad as trucking schools are, and as much as I complain about them, I don't think any school experience can truly prepare you for the trucking lifestyle.

If you've (the original poster) got your heart set on going forward with your $750 CDL, then I guess your best bet is to find a smaller, probably local, company. Most people probably understand that you aren't significantly less prepared than your average trucking-school graduate, no matter how long the course was. It's just a matter of finding a company that: A) Is looking to hire (hard), and B) isn't so wrapped up in policy entanglements that they can't make an exception.

 

I'm glad I was able to amuse you. HOWEVER, I'm talking about NOW, not then. Of course you got experience by driving and not by class 10+ years ago but that's not the way it is today, is it?

Times change, and I don't think many people are grandfathered in these days. Not being able to get a job could be the first clue, eh?