New but not

Try looking at the various company websites, as well as going through our forum. I suggest that you do go to a driving school, it will make you more "hire able" to most companies. There are several ways of doing this, from courses offered by applied technology colleges to private schools (expensive,) to company schools. Company schools are often charged on a pro-rated basis, and if you stay with the company for a specified period of time, the school is paid for, or partially paid for. Unfortunately, a lot of these companies will treat you like an indentured servant.

Even if you were to get your CDL and get hired driving for an aggregate company, or a beverage distributor, if you wanted to go with any of the larger OTR companies, they would likely require you to go to school, or at least some type of company training. You already know a bit about the business, and have some contacts that should be able to help guide you. This gives you quite a head start on the average Joe who decides that driving is "THE WAY" to go, without knowing the first thing about it.

Good luck!