Anyone here start their driving career after

I'm about 10 years your junior, but I when I went to school 3 years ago, I had never driven anything larger the a Cargo Van. It took a while to get comfortable, but to this day I'm constantly getting out of my truck to walk around the vehicle in tight areas, checking the over head and blind side. I never rush anything and I'm sure I frustrate people waiting on me, but I also have never hit anything. We did have a couple people drop out of school, as they could not get comfortable with the size of the vehicle........like me they had never even been in the cab of a truck before.
I would go to a school and ask them to allow you to sit in the drivers seat and get a feel of the situation. With insurance laws, they may not do this but it might not be a bad idea to ask to go on a ride along with a student, just so you can see what your up against......... shifting (proper gear) cornering, backing, etc.

 

Good Morning to you It's lunch time here in FL! Love the NW though...BEAUTIFUL!
To answer your question, no, I'm not over 50, but 3 people I went to school with (2 women, 1 man) were over 50 and all had never driven anything but a passenger vehicle before. The women did better than the man in my class, but all got their CDL's. I went on to work with 2 of them after school, and they loved it. The man was single, and the woman and her husband drove team (he went to school the class before ours). The other lady went to school to get her CDL because her husband was an Owner Operator and he died and she couldn't sell the truck, so she figured she would learn to drive and continue with his truck. We kept in touch for a few years after and she was still loving it.
Maybe I can't give you the driver's perspective you were hoping for, but maybe this helps.
FYI, I never drove anything bigger than a ford mustang before I went to school and I didn't think I would be able to drive a truck, but I am still driving after 14 yrs. (9 teaming with my husband, and 5+ on my own driving Southeast region).
Hope this provides some insight if you're looking to get into the industry.
One last thing, don't waste $$ going to the trucking schools, they charge ALOT more than a vo-tech and most cases you will get better training going to your local vo-tech school.
Good Luck

 

Denise,

There are company schools, independant "for profit" schools and Vo-tech state schools. Often the for profit schools are very expensive and quick. I went to a state tech school, the cost was only $1200 and it lasted like 8 weeks ,unlike many for the for profit schools that run 2- 3 weeks. The quality of the education was much better, longer, and a 5th of the price of a for profit school. Plus these Vo-Tech type of schools often attract more woman, and people reiventing themselves later in life. I know for myself its nice to find someone my own age to kinda team up with at school and encourage each other........and I think your chances of finding someone like this is much better at a school like this.

 

OG, I am 55, will be 56 next week. I completed school in July and went to work two weeks ago for Werner. I am in training at the present time. I am doing a video blog on YouTube to document my experience. On YouTube search for lostsoulca and my video should pop up. I'm afraid this first video looks more like a travel log to Reno but, I was feeling out my trainer to see how open he would be to taking a few seconds here and there to document our actions. I am also doing a written blog on my facebook page.

My career started with 23 years in the Air Force. I have a college degree and have spent the 13 years since my retirement in management. I come to truck driving with a different perspective than most drivers. For example, I believe that drivers are the backbone of trucking. I believe that drivers get dumped on by their employers frequently. That being said I also believe that in most cases drivers bring their problems on themselves.

An example of this happened last week. My trainer and I were dispatched to pick up a time sensitive load no later than 14:30. On our way to pick up the load we stopped at about 13:00 for lunch. We were out of the truck for about 30 minutes. Our dispatcher sent a somewhat urgent message while we were eating asking why the truck was not moving and were we going to pick up on time. Once we were back in the truck he answered curtly, we stopped for lunch, and made a remark to me about her unneccessary concern. I told him that he wasn't being fair. She is graded on how many loads meet customer requirements etc. She just wanted to know that we were on track. The easy way to eliminate her concern would have been to communicate to her that we were stopping for a short lunch and would be on time to pick up before we stopped for lunch. Had we taken a few seconds to let her know our intentions her concern would not have been elevated, no urgent message, happy dispatcher, happy truck driver. As this next week begins we are going to try open communication to see how it works.

The real world of truck driving is this... you are on duty 24/7 while you are out. Sure you get your ten hour breaks but the only time they feel like a real ten hour break is while you are under load on a long run. You arrive near a drop four hours early with instructions that you cannot park on the receivers property, you have to find a place to park. The delivery is at 6am meaning you get 3 hours of psuedo rest and have to be up and on the way to deliver on time. You deliver and make yourself available for a load hoping that it will take the dispatcher a few hours to get you a dispatch which instead comes immediately so you have to figure out your hours and make it happen along with getting rest. All the while you are wrestling with the knowledge that you are not making any money unless the wheels are turning so your rest is difficult to obtain at best. I am particularly bad about this because, coming from a management background, it is all about taking one for the team and customer satisfaction.

For those of us that came from handsome incomes, truck driving is as close to slavery as we will ever experience. But, for those of us that came from management it is certainly an eye opening and valuable experience to see things from the other side. It is without a doubt the consumate love-hate relationship. Ruled by testosterone, that big truck and the smell of diesel wins.

I'm going to stop typing now.

 

I just watched your video pretty cool would love to see more i am just now looking attending school trying to find a company to start with , i know good luck with that

 

Lostsoul,
Good post, I can't wait to see what developes over time ! Just curious, it was 2 months from school to job, was there any problem? Looking forward to seeing what happens next !!