Hello All! Another #### Newb Looking for company, location and experience advice.

Just joined and already wishing us hell... Welcome, you're certainly one of us. Rhode Island to Arizona? Wow. There a hell of a change. Schneider and Swift both haul haz mat. Both pretty decent. Good luck to you and welcome to our little home on the web, lol.

 

Hell All ! About sums it up.

 

I was in your shoes a little over a year ago...I got my CDL A in 2008, drove briefly for Watkins and Shepard then freight slowed down and I quite driving and went back to school. Fast forward to 2012 and I started hearing about fracking, and the new oil boom. I researched everything and everybody and by early 2013 I began applying. Baker-Hughes, Mission petro, suncoast, Jp Energy, Haliburton, Chesapeake, you name it, and I applied. I got a few phone calls but when they heard I was in NC they quickly blew me off. I even bought a cell phone with a Texas area code to try and get at least one company to commit to hiring me BEFORE I spent a bunch of money to move down here. My other problem was that I was about 6 months shy on the experience they all wanted and running out of time on the experience I had.

I got my final school loan check in Oct of 2013 and used it to rent a U-Haul, threw all my crap in it, crossed my fingers and hit the road. The whole time I'm driving to Texas the Mrs. and I are looking at each other like "are we doing the right thing?". Well just outside of Houston all our fears were put to rest and we started seeing the signs, everywhere, "Now Hiring", "Drivers Wanted", "CDL Drivers Needed Now", I stop counting at 15 and hoped as we left the city that Austin would have similar signs.

Arriving in Austin we found no shortage of work available and we quickly found jobs ...just not in the oil patch.

The better jobs in the oil patch require a driver to be either out on the road for 3 weeks at a time (frac sand, water, mud, vacs) or have at least 1 year commercial driving experience (notice the use of the words "commercial driving experience" vs. "tractor trailer experience") or both. If your a noob and can't back up accurately, work well under pressure, work insanely long hours, and be very dependable then forget working on the well sites. You'll probably not make it past the driving test anyways.

If you can't work the well sites then where does that leave you? The refineries! The are hundreds of different types of trucks in and out of these plants everyday. Bobtail vac trucks, roll offs, winch trucks, pod haulers, every kind and size of tankers hauling everything from crude to residual oil, propane, refined fuels, asphalt, fertilizers, plastics, nitrogen, and everything in between. And every truck I've ever seen has had a sticker on it that said "Now hiring safe, responsible drivers". The first job I got offered involved hauling the offices and living trailers out to well sites, setting them up, and keeping them maintained. $19 an hour / 70 hours a week / laptop / Company vehicle / awesome benefits. (Baker Hughes rental division).

There is a situation here (or OK,WYO,NM,CO,OH,KY) than can accommodate any skill set and experience level. And here is the best advice I can give. Be the can do guy and they will notice very quickly. Turn over rates down here are very high...

If moving to Texas...

Get your hazmat and tanker here. Even if you already had it you still have to finger print and test again.
Get to know who and what the Texas Railroad Commission is and their required certs.
Before getting a Texas DL you must have a registered vehicle here. Some companies wont do an out of state lic.

---List of companies---
DPG transport - propane, oxy, bulk fuels
Martin Transport - propane, bulk fuels
Sterling Transport - out of NC but they run here alot
Jp Energy - propane
Chesapeake Energy - they do it all, apply direct Not Through a Recruiter!! Big in Oklahoma.
Baker - Hughes - They do it all, apply direct
Mission Petroleum - Bulk fuels- great intro program for noobs.
Suncoast Resources - San Antonio, Bulk Fuels and caustics, when the need is high they hire noobs
Lindig Trucking- Johnson City, frac sand, if you can't drive don't waste your time
Sunline- Crude
Trout Trucking -Crude
Accelerated Transport- Crude
Direct Propane-They run bobtails and bulk so if you light on experience check here. Not great pay but a "can do guy" will get in the big trucks
DCP-Midstream- Plant/refinery apply direct.
Reliant Energy- propane, great for o/o.

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This ad is on the jobs section of this forum:

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Crude Oil Hauler - Local DriverGemini Motor Transport - West Texas, Texas
Hiring Crude Haulers - Excellent Benefts, Sign-On Bonus - WE WILL TRAIN - West / South Texas
View This Job
Apply for this job Save job

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Go to top of this page and click on Trucking Jobs.

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Do any of those train n00bs?

 

Some do because a few drivers right out of CDL school posted they were hired for the oil fields.

FFE and Stevens in Texas have their own CDL school and oil field tanker divisions.

 

Well buddy am on the same situation as you excepy for the part that I am in the procesa of getting ready for my road test.

I live in Providence, RI right now and getting out of here as soon as I get my license and save enough to get out of here. RI is not too good for anything (no offense to other RI'ers but am just tired of the lack of opportunities available in this state and the low low low chances to make a decent living.

Let us know how you doing down there and might even consider following your steps.

Good luck to you and your family!!

 

I'm not looking for a change but I want to commend you for taking the time to help someone out! Putting your story out there will be inspiring to someone out there feeling stressed and desperate. Big ups brother!