Anyone here got their CDL and got hired on without school?

I think it'd be hard for them to uphold that. They'd have to offer FAFSA for the schooling.

 

Yes, it can be done, but it is not easy. I was lucky, I took my class A in a borrowed dump truck and equipment trailer, used my aunt's school bus to add passenger and school bus, then went looking for work. I had driven non-cdl tow truck since I was 16, found a local garage where I could work as a mechanic and got some driving experience that was cdl required, drove school bus part time, some dump truck work for cash, pretty much anything so I could gain experience. I interviewed for a local tanker position the day I turned 21, landed the job and it was good for 6 months until the company went belly up, applied for a car haul job without ever actually driving a tractor trailer before the day I took and passed their road test, got hired (purely by luck I believe) and never looked back! Since then I have bounced around from owner operator, company driver, heavy duty tow truck driver, garage owner, even worked as an electrician and a foreman for a railroad transload facility. As for all who say you have to go to cdl school and "pay your dues" as an OTR driver for a year or two first, I say b.s., I did not drive over the road until I had been driving over 10 years already, most of my driving jobs have been local, home daily jobs right from the start.

 

I drove 3 ton dump trucks for a construction company (no CDL needed), then 7 ton single axle dump, again no CDL needed. Then around 1991 I was working with a couple carpenters doing labor work and we rebuilt a garage at the auto auction I now work for. The owner of the auction liked me and my work ethic so he asked me to work for him doing whatever needed done around the auction. While I was doing that they needed someone to run a wrecker about 30 miles to bring a car in and they asked me to do it. It wasn't but a couple months of doing things like this and one of the regular 4 car rollback drivers quit and of course they asked me if I was interested. I actually drove on my permit for a couple months, (yes illegally) then passed my B test. after 2 years of driving with my B license they said the bucket trucks we were towing you needed an A license because they were over 10,001 lbs so I took my class A test with a 4 car rollback with a bucket truck on the wheel lift and got my A license. A few years later, and a lot of complaining about driving under powered trucks, they bought a brand new 9 car stinger and asked me if I wanted to drive it. I was excited and scared at the same time but away I went and I now have been hauling cars in one way or another since 1992. So, other than a few tips from friends and trial and error, this is how I got to where I am with no truck school and never OTR. I always did wish I had got some kind of training back then and I wouldn't really advise someone doing it without getting trained properly but that is not to say you have to go to the big carriers and be their slave for a year or 2.

 

The FMCSA was looking at establishing laws for minimum training requirements for entry level drivers as part of their MAP-21 initiative. This proposed legislation was supported by some members of the ATA. Not sure if this would eliminate people getting their CDL outside of schools, but it would regulate training companies to meet minimum training criteria.

https://www.federalregister.gov/art...ivers-of-commercial-motor-vehicles-negotiated

 

Maverick out of Little Rock Ar his drivers that have their class A without experience.

 

I was grandfatherd in. Yeah I'm that old.

 

I arrived(legal immigration) USA in 1999. I could read, write and speak english a little. After 1 mount of readings I passed the test at Cali dmv. Then my friend took me with him few to trip to east cost and back. About one mount I was driving with him. After 1 mount I was able to drive and do backups. Passed the driving test by driving my friend's truck. I found a job when my license was 2-3 mount old. The company(small fleet of 13 trucks, American owned) hired me after test drive and I was running between Los Angeles and Denver. I was hauling reefers and worked for them 3 years. They were paying me $800-850 per trip that time.
Now if you really know how to drive a truck you will find a job( no megafleets). just keep looking for it.

 

No "driving school" for me....Started out working the loading docks for a manufacturer that hauled its own products, then became a voluntary "yard switcher" for the road drivers upon their return......Learned how to "back up" before I ever drove down the highway...Must have proved myself as reliable and ambitious, even at 20 y.o, because after a bit I gained the approval of the T.M. and with the support of some of the drivers scheduled a road test....Passed that and when the next driver opening came along I was in, even though I was only 21....That was back about circa '82...Since then I've driven just about every make of tractor and have pulled reefers, dry vans, and flats.....I've driven local and OTR, and been paid by the mile & by percentage.....I believe the best driving jobs are with carriers that never have to advertise, and by manufacturers that haul their own products.....Things now sure aren't like they used to be, but I wish you all the best......