A Thread for the Trainer

dang...................

 

My question is: What are they teaching these guys in school? And who is paying for them to go to school? Good info, I'm a newbie about to step out in a few weeks and hope I get hooked up with an experienced trainer. Someone who, hopefully, knows how to teach as I'm a former teacher and plan to become a trainer myself in a few years.

 

That one is easy to answer: Just enough to pass the skills tests for the CDL..

 

Hello out there... I am praying that my son gets a good trainer . He flies to Indiana in the morning for a driver school. He has a Virginia cdl because he went to the local community college. He passed the test just fine but can't drive without the experience. He will have to work for USA or Pam for a year or pay back $7000. He is afraid of getting fired if he isn't "cut out" to be a driver and will have to pay it. His sence of direction is not real good. Is that a Problem?

 

What, exactly, does that mean - his sense of direction is not good.?

 

I can vouch for that.

My school taught us exactly enough to pass the tests to get our permit, and exactly enough to pass the practical tests.

Nothing less, but then again, nothing more.

But then, the schools are there to enable me to get that Class A license. They are not there to teach me the trucking industry. That is what the 'bottom feeders' are for - to teach me what it really means to be a trucker.


My hope, also, is that I get a decent trainer. I can drive but, like with a car when I was first starting out, I want to be able to handle any situation.

These forums have helped me a lot, but ultimately it will be a combination of the quality of training I get and my own intelligence (and skill) that will let me become a truly qualified driver.

 

He depends on his garmin to get everywhere. Do truckers have one that will route with height restrictions?

 

Many 'truck' GPS's have height info. But, you have to remember to enter your truck dimensions into the system.

Even so, it is not fool-proof. All it takes is a repave of a road to shave a couple inches off the clearance.

 

If he has his CDL why does he need to go through a driver school and spend another 7K? There are companies out there who hire students who have their CDL and no experience and pay them during training not charge them 7K. He will not be able to depend on his GPS to get around he will have to learn to read a map and use it in conjunction with a GPS, as a GPS will get you in trouble if you depend on it completely.

 

I just got done with 4 different trainers and can tell you for sure that if you dont LOVE training, PLEASE DONT DO IT.
There is NOTHING worse than a trainer who thinks thier job is to show you how to live, or to smack you down every time they get a chance.
Trainees arent toys, as one of my trainers found out very clearly - so do all the trainees a favor - if you aint got the balls to tell them ALL of your requirements UP FONT, DONT TRAIN.
It is utter BS to get the list of donts as you go down the street. My 4th trainer thought he was going to TELL me not to curse...well, I'm 51 and somewtimes I curse - if he had told me UP FRONT that he "didnt allow" cursing, I would have walked him in a NY minute.

Oh, and please remember that your only doing your job if you let the "trainee" run the qualcom, ALL QUALCOM OPERATIONS - I did not have one trainer who relinquished this responsibility to me FULLY. It really sucks to find out a bunch of qualcom work was sent while you were sleeping. It does NOT make for full learning experience. The trainee should not haveto pull the qualcom off the trainer - and the trainer should not take the qualcom to bed with him.

I think every would be trainer should try to remember when THEY were a "trainee". This is a job, not a life lesson.