Getting what you want out this industry.

I'm posting this for 2 reasons, 1.to explain this industry can be difficult. 2.to show any greenhorn that hard work pays $$.

I first attempted to get my cdl through crst and the school program they have in Iowa.Long story short kid in high school dropped out senior year to work and I realized 2 retail jobs would not do it for my family I had to do better. I looked for an easy field to get into and found crst. I left my family the week before thanksgiving and sold one of our 2 pos cars to finance this adventure. After just about 65 hours on the grey dog from he'll I arrived in cedar rapids Iowa. I need to tell you at this point I had no experience with a gear shifter or anything bigger than my buick. I was horrible at it 3 days in and I could do very little to shift the behemoth. I was being defeated by this beast every time I got in the seat. Naturally 5 days in I was told crst did not need me and I would be going home. 40 hours into my ride back home as a flea on that dog of culture I began researching on my phone ways to get a cdl. I discovered a grant paid out by the state to individuals attempting such a feat. I've never taken a cent in welfare or handouts but my family needed something soon. So I got both retail jobs back and began jumping the hoops to aquire the grant. 2 months later I was in a classroom, 1 month and a week after that I got my class A with x.
In this time I lost my fiance and daughter we could hold on to the apartment so they moved 14 hours north with her gracious grandparents and I in with my parents. I left for Schnieders tanker training 2 weeks after my licence showed up. Upon arrival to training I was better then I could have hoped I was treated to best driver in class by my peers and was the one people looked to for help. The trainers liked driving with me cause I was fine and they could relax. Test out day arrives 2 months later and these are the highlights: damaged fender due to tight turn made wrong, drove down restricted road, cut off 3 cars, had to backup in traffic to avoid hitting a bridge and finally ran a red light. So...they said come back tomorrow
Ill spare the details this time but more of the same. I was fired. This bus ride home was all buisness my fiance and I filled out 20 job apps in that time her on a computer me on my phone. By the time I arrived home my dad did not need to pick me up cause I was getting on a bus to little rock, Arkansas ,Maverick had responded very fast. This training was spot on different trailer but they took me in stride. I was excited to finally have a job and get family back but then 2nd to last day before boarding the trainer truck I heard something that did not sit right at all. From the head of safety at maverick. Our veteran drivers are given an incentive to be on the lookout for drivers doing anything unsafe or against policy. My hand shot up immediately my question was simple would these vets offer advice or help correct the problem after calling the company ? His answer was we prefer them not too. So the next day I had to explain to my fiance why I was headedto Florida and more training with my #2 choice CTL. Money was tight I missed my family and felt like I had made a mistake but I stuck to my gut. Now ctl offered 3 weeks out with as much home time as I could afford. I signed on and 1 month later I was awaiting a truck to be freed up at my parents house.This took 3 weeks because both they had set aside were in a wreck!!! I was finally asked about if I wanted a local job were I took my daycab home every night for 17$ an hour working with all owner ops who worked the account for 10 years together and simply swapped companies when the account changed flags. This was tough work usually 19 hour work days 7 days a week but I was home each night and got my family back.
A year later my terminal manager called me and told me the account had been split up between companies. So I quit and hauled gas for 6 months until I was approached about my chemical experience by another terminal at this gas hauling company. I jumped at this opportunity and haven't looked back I made 65k last year and never reset in the truck, the work came easy and easier to me and now I've got 4 years of hazmat tanker experience.



Advice to all newbies go with your gut and be a sponge.

 

My reason was being able to get fired for One more thing when I'm not experienced at the job anyway.