New Graduate Clean Driving Record Clean Background Good Job in Dallas

Not to be rude but there's a reason why most new drivers go with a mega to start. No choice. The better companies do not hire new grads. Unless they happen to have their own school. Most don't and if they do.. They ARE a mega.. Mmmk?

All of these decent companies people are throwing at you will not hire with less than 1 year of experience.. Probably 2. Some maybe 6 months at best.. Unless you are willing to team drive?

Good luck beating the system. You didn't mention what type of freight you prefer if any. Cement trucks. . aggregates and the like are local by nature.

One final thought.. The megas have their own offices at most large retailers. These are the dedicates accounts at wal mart target and the like. A dedicated account is your best chance to be home weekly so early in the career. Avoid dollar store anything but walmart and target are actually good to work with.

If all else fails I have contacts in Dallas that could probably get you on at the Target DC in Denton. You will avoid most traffic as freight goes mostly up and down 287 through TX and have 34 hours or more every weekend to go home. Good luck. Former IT guy originally from Fort Worth celebrating 1 year solo in beautiful Reno NV. Best of luck I say go for it.

 

Real truckers have wrinkles.
Real truckers do not have dyed hair.
My real opinion.

 

I met a former Navy SEAL and CIA Assassin at the salad bar in Petro and that's exactly what he said.

 

Think I met the same guy. From the looks of him he got into trucking for a better dental plan.

 

Never know; they might bump your application up to the head of the line.

 

Subbing b/c your story is very similar to mine. I spent 20+ years in IT support and just got laid off for the third time due to my groups functionality being off-shored ( twice to India, this last time to Mexico ). I too have a BS degree ( Psychology ) and an Associates degree ( computer programming ) and I also chased certs for about five years thinking that would put me in a more secure position. I know exactly what you're going through and why you are soooo done w/ IT. What a lot of people don't understand is that corporate IT has become just as ####ty and unpredictable as they imagine trucking to be.

Just as a reference, when I first considered trucking as a career move I started a thread on Reddit just to gauge if I was out of my mind?
Thinking about going from IT to Trucking??? : Truckers
What I found out, at least anecdotally is that apparently there's a lot of former IT people in trucking AND a lot of them actually like it b/c they consider it to be lower stress and more stable than IT work. Believe or not!

I too will be paying out of pocket for CDL school at Houston Community College starting in August. Like some people have mentioned here, the big thing seems to be getting that first 1 - 2 years of experience even at a "training company" / "mega" and then the opportunities open up tremendously apparently. Also keep in mind that some of the megas have tuition reimbursement even if you paid for private training out of pocket. For example, I verified w/ a recruiter at Schneider that all you have to do is present your tuition bill and they will pay out reimbursement up to $7k at $200/mo after your first 30 days of employment. Personally my tentative plan is to get on w/ Schneider tanker as they take new CDL grads, do 18 mos to two years there to get my experience and tuition paid off and then move on to one of the smaller "tier 2" tanker outfits in the area that do mostly regional runs and have weekly home time.

Just as a reference, here's the almost identical thread I started here when I was doing my initial research:

Laid off from IT looking into CDL