Curious about Watkins & Shepard 10 day training program

I'm currently about to begin the 14th of an 18 week truck driving school program at AIT in Fontana, CA. Naturally, I'm looking at all sorts of companies, it's been suggested that I might want to give Watkins & Shepard a look, so I was on their website and they got my curiosity a little. I noticed that in the Careers section of their site, under 'Recent Graduates' it talks about some sort of a 10 day training program. So I was just wondering if anybody who has gone through this or has extensive knowledge of it could tell me...well pretty much everything you possibly can about it?

For one thing I noticed that right off it says $250 down. Well why would I have to give them any sort of a down payment? What would I be paying for if I already have my license and all my endorsements? So it's not as though I'm paying them to train me to acquire those materials. What's the $250 for in other words?

I did call up a recruiter already to try to ask her a few things, but she was sounding like she was in a hurry and didn't have time to answer my questions, so I didn't get much of anything out of her. What she did tell me was that they'd put me on a Greyhound out to Montana, and then as opposed to going out on the road with a trainer, I would spend 10 days training and driving around locally. I think she said around Missoula, but I don't remember for sure which Montana city she said. Then after we complete it, we're guaranteed a job with W&S, and we get to solo out.

I know from common sense that with other companies, the OTR training is mostly designed to provide you with real world experience, picking up and delivering loads, dealing with customers, learning how to handle life on the road, etc, etc. So how does Watkins & Shepard's training program compare? I'm guessing it sounds an awful lot like more of the same type thing that I'm doing in school right now...not to make an assumption, but I don't have much here to go off of. So if it's not real world driving experience, does it still do the job to help prepare you to go out and start driving on your own? Not to sound like an insecure b**** here, but I do want to make sure I know what I'm doing with customers, at the truck stops, etc, before I go solo out and attempt to tackle this all on my own.

I also noticed how they say they provide tuition reimbursement for up to $3,600. If this is roughly about the amount that I would need to get reimbursed by an employer, then about how long would it take to get that paid off working for W&S? Or how much do they reimburse you at a time, since I know most companies will pay off so much per check, so long as you stay with them, until paid off in full?

Like I said in the beginning, if you could just please provided me with ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING you could possibly think of to tell me about this 10 day training program of theirs, that would be great and much appreciated! Thank you!

 

Well out of the 18 week I'm taking right now, so far I'm in my fourth week of actual driving (and backing, air brake test practice, pre-trip, etc), or as they call it - Road Range. The first 10 weeks were all classroom.

I've been catching on very quickly, my instructors tell me I'm one of the fastest they've ever worked with, and I quite frankly could probably pass my CDL exam on my first try if I were to go test out for it tomorrow, but they won't send me to the DMV for that until the beginning of my last week.

My backing has been going good so far. We're in California, which means that at our DMV our skills test consists of Straight Line, Alley Dock, and Parallel Park...no Offset Backing like how other DMV's require you to perform in other states (I don't remember which other skill that would be in place of). It took me a little while to get the Parallel Park down, but I've got it all figured out now, figured out the Alley Dock right away, and of course there's nothing to the Straight Line - I just sometimes have trouble picking up on exactly where the end of my trailer is when I'm straight, but that's the only trouble that sometimes comes up with that.

On the road, my shifting has been coming along just fine. As has my turning, space management, and everything else. Only thing that I have a small amount of trouble with sometimes is multitasking when I get into high traffic areas. There's a ton of things to stay on top of all at once, as we all know, and I do okay with it, but once in a great while I get a little bit flustered.

What kind of tranny are their trucks equipped with just out of curiosity? Right now we're training on a simple 10 speed. When you say they will let you go if you're not fluent with your shifting, is that as in if you miss a shift or two on a single drive, do they consider you to be falling short of expectations?

Hitting objects isn't a problem for me, as I am always careful enough and in control enough to avoid something stupid like that. Even though we're not allowed to G.O.A.L. (get out and look) when we're doing our skills, because supposedly the CA DMV will not allow us to at all, I'm still handling the rig well enough to keep it from going where I don't want it to.

Basically let me just ask you this about their course...what do they consider to be the cutting line? How much room for error or will they allow you, and to still stay on board? If they see that you're getting it and are able to do what you're supposed to do...but although maybe not without a small hiccup here and there, although not causing damage to the equipment or to anything else, will they still keep you around?

Thanks for the info! I will get around to the "Running With W&S" thread on here probably later on, I've just been super busy lately and still waiting for some downtime to dig into that monster thread

 

Well I'm an honest guy, and my last post reflects that. Like I was saying...am I doing pretty well in class so far? Yeah I think so. Am I doing perfectly in class? Far from it! . I'm not the kind of guy who would ever go into something, full of themselves, thinking I have nothing left to learn and only plenty to show off...although I have met more than enough of those types of people in my time. I know that anybody who really cares about what they do for a living is absolutely never finished learning! I guess if I were to go to W&S today with my driving as it is, I might not make the cut...or then again maybe I would be close enough. But I think by the time I finish up school, at the rate I'm going, my driving and skills should be more than polished off enough to cut it with whatever company I go along with.

I will get around to your thread and the Running with W&S in just a little bit, I'll have time in about an hour to catch up on my reading. Thanks again!

 

Thank you Warpdrvr!

 

Yeah I think that's where the recruiter I spoke to told me they would send me out to, Missoula. Thanks.