CDL School vs Self Taught...

This is 2017. The fact is that the vast majority of carriers are not run by anyone who has ever been in a truck. This means that the people who run the companies don't even seem to like experienced people that much. So they have to hire based on a criteria that will defend them somewhat from litigation. So they follow the insurance companies protocol on what constitutes training. (This doesn't mean that they are any good or even experienced) They can go to court and say that the driver was trained in X,Y or Z and there for they (the company) is not guilty of hiring and placing on the road, a driver that was not trained.. I have seen both and will continue to see both There are potentially some ###### good drivers out there who have never stepped one wet foot in a school.. they will only be better (more training in topics they may have never thought of) and more employable due to them having certified training.. in the long run. The driving is the easy part.. its all the other stuff that hangs drivers or allows them to hang themselves.

 

Many companies reimburse the tuition though, directly back to the driver in monthly installments.

 

Problem with self taught companies don't see that as training and you won't get hired.

 

I learned a 4 wheeled cat 936 front end loader with a 3 inch manual from the factory with particulars about the machine, what the hearts of it etc is. Specs and limits and so on. 3 minutes of pointing to this that and younder was enough to get moving. Rock then sand back to rock feeding a mill.

I got really really good at it and was feeling that it was play time over at the end of day to go home. For me that was perfect time to pass life while making money doing something FUN.

But... I tell you something else that is fun. 18 wheelers. I never really lost the fun. Ive been through too much to really think it's fun fun anymore but I would do it all over again with certain changes. The first one being no stupid dispatchers. All they do is pound table and yell in the phone. You yell back. Then you get good at it saving up the stress of GWB of NYC then yell at em at dinner time in profane language that eases stress. And you wonder why there is such... fun in this work.

I don't yell anymore. My last crew as a boss, 20 people doing what they can while I serve them quietly without yelling. If they need to take off, they go. And within a short time they make a very strong crew not afraid of me. But there has been difficult days where I have had to yell at them and then yell about the yelling not being personal.

Ive had police chiefs so mad they lose command of elementary English. And it comes out mixed gobbledygook with one syllable words generally either red or stop or stupid mixed in.
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THat's FUN. In the telling to the kids years later. Not during the potential arrest etc.

What does all this have to do with learning on own? Or school? Well I'll say this.

If YOU are doing good, instructor does not yell or hit. In fact they MIGHT praise you. Then hit you so you don't swellup or puff with pride. Most of the time they yell and hit. If they were not yelling and hitting you about that stupid rail track marked exempt you screwed up on... you are not learning.

It's considered abusive today. But in those days it was very effective. I am a product of my time. I do not do well in today's over sanitized PC correct situations. I need to be with others of my kind which seem to pass on more as the months go by.

What's worse. A monkey can learn a truck. Why we humans bother with it at all now that computers are fixing to do it for us.... that's no fun.

 

The school I am going to. Companies call the teacher for a reference on drivers. That means alot in getting a job.
I passed my B with no experience whatsoever. Five minutes after sitting in a bus for the first time in my life. I parallel parked that 45 foot bus in a 55 foot spot.
I have everything for class. All endorsements. Last time I was at the DMV, she told me the only thing I have left to get there is School Bus.
I am definitely looking forward to school. That gives me six weeks of practice with a tractor trailer. And a guy experienced, who shares that experience. Someone I want to be hard on me. I want to get everything down, pat.

 

Schneider reimburses up to $7000.00 tuition directly to the driver in monthly installments. They even pay for private cdl school if you agree to work for them for 12 months.
The big companies don't want any experience to train with them. If you can pass a physical, they will train you.
Next question!

 

You seem smarter than everyone else,
So go get your cdl and start driving a truck.

debate over.

 

Schooling for a CDL license is a bureaucracy and cover your butt thing. More paper work ie. school diploma, PTDI certification etc is easier to justify the hiring to higher ups that have never driven a commercial vehicle. Remember the purpose of the bureaucracy is to protect themselves.

 

Please let me know if you still have his contact information. Thanks!

 

REInhardt has a 6 month waiting list for a driver associate or driver trainee.

Luckily they don’t send their driver associates to the same trucking school that is scamming me.