On my way to CDL A without Trucking School

You'll have as much experience as most students fresh out of school. Your learning curve will be much higher having to adapt to what theyve been taught. At least my company taught me their way of doing things from a company side so they might like it. If your a quick learner then it'll be fine. Which company is the golden question everyone asks. Do some research on this forum, make a list of what you want to do. OTR or regional, pay (some start out higher than others), you want Van, Flatbed, Reefer or something else, hometime (do you have no kids dont care when youll be home, or want a home time plan, some companies have better ones than others), equipment some have better and some run maintained late model trucks. Traning or orientation, they all vary from how long to how much youll be compensated for attending and where its located where you live. Motor Carrier Questions and google the companies and read the posts of drivers or ask at a local truck stop near you. Companies will train you to a certain extent, hopefully the community college will have some kind of drive time behind the wheel to learn basic manuvers and shifting. If they teach you that with the few hours and you get it down for the most part then you should be fine with most trainer companies. Also my opinion in my 10 months experience OTR could vary but most people had basic knowledge with little time behind the wheel starting out.

 

most companies want you to go to a school
insurance carriers are the driving force behind that
you better call a few recruiters and find out before you get a cdl and can't find a job

 

Your best bet would be to check with some of the major training carriers such as Swift, Millis, Roehl, US Xpress, Covenant and CRST are a few that come to mind. Some may require that you have a minimum amount of seat time from an accredited driving school. You will probably be assigned to a trainer for a few weeks until he feels that you are ready to be on your own. I would start checking with carriers as soon as possible. If you are getting your training from a community college or state vocational school they should be able to assist you in job placement.

 

Most companies requiring school are OTR companies with 90% or higher turnover . You'd be smart to avoid them anyway . Check with smaller local companies . It's still peak moving season so local movers may need drivers . Also check with industrial cleaning companies that run vacuum trucks and water blasters . They often need CDL drivers .

 

You get absolutely no credit for getting a CDL "on your own". Unless the training is verifiable, then it never happened.. if you have a CDL with no documented training behind it, then you have no CDL that anyone (except maybe the desperate) will touch.

 

Don't listen to the BS . More than 99% of the drivers I've met never went to a CDL mill .

 

I tried to do that. I could not a find a CC in my area that offered training. DMV told me that without a cert from a certified CDL school, they would not even let me take the test. You cannot train yourself. Maybe years ago it was different, but that is what I was told last year.

 

Jet460, I see that your in Commiefornia, that may be the problem right there.

To the OP, many here are correct, the insurance companies have a strangle hold on who a company can hire these days. Try Watkins\Shepard, they have a decent record on here. They also take recent grads, with no experience and will train them to drive.

Look up American Trucker, he was a W/S for a while.

 

Yes, cal is the worst possible state to be in if you are a trucker....as I am now finding out.

I also work for W/S. Went there because I did not have to go out with a trainer after orientation.
10 days classroom, and out you go.
Good company.