Good day and looking into career change

Howday from a bit west of Houston.

I'm an engineering-based guy now in his 50's. I got laid off a couple of months ago and am sick and tired of the khaki-laden rat race. I've made a lot of people lots of money and look good over the years but not so much for me. I am just plain tired of it plus the job market isn't so great for folks like me.

My background is in the marine industry, though I've spent a lot of time with heavy lift and haul operations at dock side for ships, barges, SPMT, rail, and trucking. Most of my work is with items weighting in the 100's of tons, but I did do a bit of typical FMCSA checks and designs for open deck trucks hauling oversize (ex. transformers, turbine rotors) and other crated cargos that fall within standard commercial weight & size limits.

To that end, I'm "familiar" with how things generally operation but aside from towing a trailer with an F150 for a few years, I've done nothing that I'd consider commercial.

I've started looking into getting a CDL-A through either a technical college or vocational school and see about starting out as a noob at somewhere like Knight as they're close by and have a newbie/no experience program. I'll be paying for it all up front so I'm not beholden to the company for anything.

I've touched enough chain, shackles, welded steel, and damaged myself enough to know that I really am not interested in flatbed or specialized transport, but probably dry van or refer.

I'll be lurking for a bit, but I'm pretty sure I'll eventually be chiming in with comments or questions.

 

Thanks. Not really interested in getting free stuff if it means I'm stuck with them. I'd have to contact them directly and inquire as to what options are available.

I can't see how it'd be unexpected for someone with something like a HCC certificate or similar being opted in to their program. I just don't want to double dip on paying for training (i.e. pay for cert and then pay the company). That would seem like a waste of time, effort, and money.