Experience when doe's it start?

Doe's school count as experience? Our instructors told us when I was in school last Oct. that school counted as a yrs worth of experience. I find that hard to believe being it was a 5 week course. six days a week. Then I worked for a farmer for a month. My knee's could not handle going up and down the side of the tanker about 25 times a day so I had to quit and now I am with a company thsat gave me 3 weeks of training. My last post was about my first trip what a doozy anyway now we are getting into feb so does that mean I have 4 plus months experience or do I only have 1. petesout

 

Not hardly. A year OTR counts as exp. Some local driving jobs don't even count. Schools will tell you anything. What a school means is that you should be able to start the truck and get it in gear. Most co's want 2 years OTR. Some will take less.

 

I've never heard of school time being accepted as OTR experience with anyone. I know mine wasn't. Like the other guys said, many OTR companies won't even consider the time you've driven if it was local stuff.
Plus, once you get rolling you'll understand why. There is a big difference between driving around with your instructor and driving solo. When you're instructor is there you are confident because he'll tell you things to correct you etc...he's a security blanket of sorts. When you are running solo you only have your own judgement to lean on, that's where the experience kicks in.

Good luck to you.

 

my Co said 2 yrs OTR but they counted my time driving for my dad on the farm as experience, so i think NoTarps is right, it just depends on the company.

 

That really bothers me about local jobs not counting as experience. I've done both and I can tell you it takes alot more skill to maneuver an 85' super tanker in a busy city. I guess if a company didn't look at that then it wouldn't be worth my time to darken their door.

You're right about the CDL schools. They're worse than military recruiters!

 

I think what your school meant by your time there counting as a year's experience is better explained in the following way. Some companies might say in an ad for employment that they require 2 or 3 years experience but only one or two if you have been to a certified CDL school.

 

I didn't want to start a new thread....

I intend to work with a friend upon graduation from cdl school.
However, I will only be working a week or two, per month.
Will each one of those periods count as "1 month" experience?
Or is it a sum total of the log book time?

 

Technically, just a week or two a month would not count as a month's worth of experience IMO.

Also if you ever go to work somewhere else besides your with your friend, companies will ask for verifiable experience. Typically experience is verified through DAC, but can also be verified with a phone call. As the guy you'll be working for is a friend, I'm sure he might be able to say you worked for him through X amount of months and drove X amount of miles in that time.

 

Thanks Scarecrow03

I will have my log book and the 'papers' from the loads.
I suppose, it will depend on the individual company.

 

Trucking is entering uncharted waters right now. Only time will tell what will happen in the future. One can only guess of the future of trucking. I will predict this tho. What we know right now with policies and insurance may not even apply in a month. The turning of the new year is going to change trucking. My suggestion is have a back up plan. Newbies who just came in look for changes. Truckers who have been out there consider your options. Hang on and hang on tight. I think the water is going to be rough. The riders of the storm, some of you will survive, but many will sink or be forced to bail. Good luck to all!