How nervous were you your first time?

Not THAT first time. I mean driving the truck.

A little background: The first time I drove a semi was at 430am for about 20 minutes, and then I took the road test that day at noon. I was a nervous wreck. I did not attend CDL school. The truck was an automatic(with clutch).

I've been offered a position driving a vacuum truck out in West Texas, and while I have been upfront about having no driving experience, I am concerned/worried about what kind of training will be provided.

 

Sounds like you went to the guy in Weatherford or one of the others that provide truck and drive you through the course a few times. If you picked up that fast you will be ok. Training could be anything. If this is what you want go for it. No one is going to hold you prisoner if you find out it is ducus. Water hauling is repetitive. Couple of weeks of training and you could do it in your sleep. That's why so many like you get into it. Finding your way around will be harder at 1st. Just take your time and don't wreck anything and you will be fine. If you can take it and do good job other better paying stuff will come your way soon enough. Good luck.

 

Thanks. Yeah I went through a guy in the DFW area. I had received my permit and once I saved up the cash to pay for the rental I made an appointment. Did the road test in Garland. It was pitch black out when I started driving. No traffic of course, but when it came time to do the road test there was plenty. I thought for sure I was going to knock down a bridge and cause a massive pileup! My total time behind the wheel was about 40 minutes(one loop around before the test and then during).

One of the things that was making me especially nervous was watching truck after truck of Stevens Transport guys failing. "These guys just went to truck driving school and they are failing, WTF am I doing here?"

I am going to take the position, with the view of it being a stepping stone to getting experience and opening doors. My goal is to be on the ground in the field eventually.

 

take your time and you be fine. good luck to you.

 

I hope you are used to driving a manual trans, upshifting/downshifting? Or is that new job supply a truck w/ an automatic? If not, maybe find someone with a trk and practice going thru the gears, up and down, or have them show you how, too. You don't want to be in a emergency situation and not able to downshift/react as you need to. Good luck, always remember - Safety First.

 

I did the same DPS exam in Garland with that rent a truck guy (his name was billy, same as yours?), never went to a CDL school crap. Since then I got a job with Maverick Transportation. They provided thorough training OTR, how to drive, load, etc. Their whole fleet is automatic. I have left Maverick and now with a local driving job. I'd recommend Maverick if you are not confident driving. Get the idea of the size of the vehicle first then go practice on the manual your second job (which is what I did) I was terrified to try manual after training in an auto.

Edit: What's the company you got on with in west Texas for water hauling? Nabors?

 

Yeah, same guy. Had my reservations about the situation and his behavior but I passed though so whatever! All told I guess I spent about $500-600 after all the fees(including license fees). Much better than the thousands for school. Especially after seeing the Stevens CDL mill in action(and so many failing). Every person at DPS when I was going through the process of getting the CDL asked me "Are you with Stevens?"


How was it getting on with Maverick?

I'd rather not say the name of the company, especially before I get started, but it's one of the larger companies that is frequently mentioned in these threads. I've read that they provide training and hire people without experience quite often.

 

A valid concern, OP. I've heard several stories about "Billy's" training, none of it good.
Basically, you successfully passed your CDL test out of better than average skills on your part, plus some luck.
But as for real life driving experience, it truthfully is virtually zero, as I'm sure you'd agree.

I would try to obtain as much info as possible, via those at the company, and also drivers, to know if they will adequately train you, until you get fairly confident driving on your own. One thing you don't want, is to be on your own prematurely and risk jeopardizing your CDL and future, should you make a serious mistake, due to cutting it short on adequate training and road experience hours. Your last sentence "I've read that they provide training and hire people without experience quite often" sounds good. You just need to try to verify it by asking for more training details.

 

I have to admit Billy was a shady guy (I feel that theres somethign more to his practices but i wont go into it), but I agree with you, we got our CDL and thats that and what he advertises for us.

Maverick definetly put the confidence of driving in me, I started from barebones there, straight from billys CDL testing. I had a great time, and got everything i needed from them and more. They do have a TCD (reefer - Temperature Controlled Division) if flatbed is not your thing. They will provide you PAID training at $550/week until you are fully confident and feel ready, they will place you with a trainer you can get a long with. Trucks are modern (2010 or newer) and fully auto. in as little as 4weeks you can be on the road on your own after being with a trainer for a minimum of 21 days. Only reason i had left them was i had to get home for personal family reasons and into an local driving job. I miss it.

Edit: If you can, please PM me the company. Thanks.

 

You could always do a refresher course at a school. There are a few in the DFW area that offer it for a week long.