New soon to be swift trainee!

Well, after reading this entire thread, I think your student is lucky to have you training him. Learning a skill like driving a truck takes time I imagine. More than just 200 hours. So, I cannot see why a trainer needs to be a 20 year veteran necessarily. A lot of the learning will be done in the first year, or so I imagine. Sometimes, just having a trainer who will be positive and not hate his job, or where he works is a huge benefit.

After 18 years as an RN I trained a lot of new grads. I was also assigned a lot of students while they were still in school. I started training when I had about six months experience. You know why? Because someone needed to do it. And the nurses with more experience were tired of dealing with new grads. New people can be a pain. Often they just don't get the seriousness, and a lot of them never will and eventually leave the profession. Others are just know it alls, and they will have to learn by the hard knocks. It wears down a nurse, and I am sure a truck driver trainer, dealing with that nonsense. The experienced people get burned out sometimes. So, someone has to pick up the ball and run with it.

They say nurses eat their young. But, I have to say, I think truck drivers devour their young. It is not my field, so please forgive me for being judgmental of something I do not know anything about. But, after reading this thread and others written by new drivers it made me sad to see the vultures coming in to attack the Swift driver. Something I really have not seen directed toward other new drivers on this forum. It seems Swift is the kid in school that is just going to get picked on no matter what. It was surprising to me to see people attacking another driver and, almost seemed they were sitting waiting for him to fail. Why? Because he chose to work for a company that they do not care for. I also thought it was sad that anyone would tell someone who is out there doing the same job, working just as hard, that he works for a bottom feeder company. A good employee finds reasons to be thankful for their job instead of reasons to gripe about it. And no one wants to hear that the company they work for is for "bottom feeders". That really is insulting. If you want to complain about an employer, complain about your own, not someone elses. Especially someone who is trying to keep it positive, who has accepted a new position and just wants to do their best and work their way up the ladder!

My first year of nursing I worked in the armpit of nursing. I left every day in tears. It was rough, and I am pretty thin skinned. Anyway, I was still thankful that someplace gave me a foot in the door to the specialty I wanted to get into. I would rather have worked in an armpit in an area I wanted to be in, than to work in an upscale hospital on a general med/surg floor. Truth be told, after I left that first job I found out that the grass was not greener. Eventually, with lots of experience, at the top of the food chain, so to say, I could have gone anywhere. I went back to the arm pit. I went in as an experienced nurse and they treated me like gold. Funny how it seemed so much different when I went back. The place was not horrible. Being a new nurse was. It was hard and I had to just take my lumps and grow some thicker skin. Anyway.... I know this is so off topic. Sorry.

My basic point is... What is not great for one person is going to be just right for another. That is the great thing about nursing, and so it seems, trucking. There are tons of different opportunities, specialties, and an abundance of places to work. Essentially, there is something for everyone. And, while I think it is wonderful that this forum gives people an opportunity to tell their sad stories of companies that have done them wrong. I also think if someone figures out how to make a company work for them, they should share that too. And others should be willing to hear a different perspective of the same company without accusing a happy employee of having some kind of ulterior motives.

And, even though I was trained by a newbie, I became a good nurse. My patients loved me, my supervisors gave me great reviews, and I felt good about what I did. Over the years I picked up my own way of doing things, I have worked with lots of old school nurses and they have given me tons of valuable information. I am glad I was able to keep learning and keep on keepin on, even though, some here, may say my training was not what it should have been. Training is what it is. The best way to learn is to do, and if you are not self taught, and always seeking information independently then you can have the most experienced trainer in the world and when they are gone, you will be done learning.

I sure hope you and your trainee do great together. And, I hope you are able to stay in this profession as long as you want. You seem to love it, and really when it comes down to it, that is all that matters.

My husband is a brand new truck driver. He graduated last week, went to the pre-hire/training for his company Monday, and was hired. He is hopefully coming home tonight and then will be taking off Monday with his trainer. I will say, there are a lot of truck driving jobs out there. But, for new drivers, you really have to take what looks like the best option so you can get your foot in the door. Right now, my husband is very excited about his company and if you asked him today, he would say he is never leaving. Who knows later what he might think. The great thing about trucking is the opportunities are abundant after you get through a few years. So, to each his own.

 

I thought you did a good job painting the picture of a truck driver just starting out. I seem to be fascinated lately trying to learn what my husband is getting into. I could just wait and let him tell me everything as he goes. But, I am not the most patient person. There is a lot going on behind the scenes that I do not think Joe Public have a clue about. So, thank you for sharing your story. It helps those who are coming into this new.

Thank you for the well wishes for my husband. I hope he has found a good company. I think so, but you really never know until you jump in and see how it really is. I have found that most employers look really good on the outside, just like most families, but after you have lived with them for a while you see a very different picture.

Best of wishes to you. Stay safe and I am glad to hear about a story with a happy ending.

 

Now that you have 2 years with Swift you are a valuable commodity to trucking companies. If you stay four or five years if will look even better on your resume. Provided you keep your MVR and PSP clean you will be able to get any driving job you'll want.