Pinellas Technical College

I will begin my journey at Pinellas Technical College ( formally PTEC - Pinellas Technical Education Center ) here in St. Petersburg, FL this coming Tuesday ( May 30, 2017 ). I will document as much as I possibly can here in this thread as an official current review of their program. I noticed the last big review about their program was way back in 2011, while I am sure not much has changed since then it will still be nice to have some updated information in case something has changed.

On another note I applied to some companies earlier this evening and learned a couple of things ....
1. Thank God for Intelliapp ... just enter your information one time with 1 company and it will auto-fill when you apply to others.
2. I am seem to be a pro at signing my name electronically with my mouse ...

 

I knew Hireright was involved in it somehow, just was not sure how involved they are.

 

Day 1 is in the books.

There a total of 6 students, 4 for CDL Class A, 1 for Class B and one for Bus.

We met three of the four instructors, they are:
Laura
Mary
Steve
Tom

Today was spent in the classroom going over the rules and regulations for the course and a brief overview of the trucking industry from the eyes of the instructors.

Right before lunch a Stevens driver who is a former student stopped by to show off his truck and give us a "real world" idea of whats it like driving everyday. Nice guy, let us climb through his truck and check it out.

After lunch we had our first test. It was 50 questions from the FMCSA regulatiins handbook ... man you almost need a law degree to decipher some of that stuff!

Tomorrow we are learning the log book and will meet with a recruiter from H.O. Wolding. Possibly even start pretrip and bobtail exercises.

 

Day 2 is done.

As soon as class started we met a recruiter from H.O. Wolding, very entertaining guy. His name is Garry Smith, if you have met him you know what I am talking about. If you have not met him you are in for a treat if you ever do.

By the time he was done it was time for our morning break. After our break the Advanced Class came in and the instructors left so they "could be honest" with us. They were honest with us and gave us some hints on how to succeed once we are the Advanced Class and actually driving. Today they all took and I am assuming passed their road tests so they will be doing long trips around the state now.

Once they were done we had a little paperwork we missed yesterday to finish up. It was just signing the rules for the class, driving range and road. Also some paperwork for the school to allow them to use our image in marketing stuff, Facebook, etc. We then graded our tests from yesterday, I got 92% .. it was an open book test BUT some of the questions were designed to confuse us and it worked.

We moved into "Truckers Against Trafficking" training. We watched the video and got our certificates for that training. While watching he video I do not think there was a dry eye in the room, it was so moving. I know the three of us that have children in the class were crying, that could be one of our children being kidnapped and enslaved. Pretty serious stuff happening there.

We then had lunch, 4 for $3 at Checkers .... I am ballin on a budget ... .

After lunch we dove into the logbook and learning how to log. It can be a little confusing at first but I caught on pretty quick, the other guys seemed confused for a little bit but they caught on eventually. We learned about the 70 hours in 8 days, no more than 14 hours on duty in a day, no more than 11 hours of driving in a day, etc. So from here on out we are expected to keep a log for everyday, even the days we are not in class.

We got our login for the online program to complete our quizzes and book work. By this time it was 2pm and time to go home.

I will be back tomorrow with another recap then we are off until Monday. We are running 7am until 2pm Monday through Thursday.

 

Stevens driver was supposed to be a recruiter of sorts, he should not be allowed to visit schools. He is a nice guy and he did a decent job of giving us an overview of Stevens but he refused to answer some queations thay a real recruiter would have, like starting pay etc. He wore dentures and did not bother putting them in when he spoke to us. Don't want to bash the guy but come on, you are representing your company PUT YOUR #### TEETH IN AND LOOK A LITTLE PROFESSIONAL! Our instructor is also head of the program and said she will be contacting Stevens about him and ask that they do not send him again. We did pick his brain about hours of service and the 10 hour break and 70 hour clock and such.

As for trips we will drive as far South as Miami and go as far North as Jacksonville so we will get some good long trips under our belt before we graduate. That is after we pass our road test and get our CDL. We will be planning those trips too from my understanding after talking with the Advanced guys, guess we will find out more about that when the time comes.

 

Day three is done.

Today was videos all morning. We watched one very boring one on hours of service ... think we all dozed off at least once. Next was a video about proper lifting techniques and how to safely climb in and out of tractors, trailers and climb on your cargo if pulling a flatbed ... very chessy video but it got the information across. Next up was a video regarding vehicle inspections, paperwork and basically interacting with the DOT.

After our morning break it was book work and quiz time. We read a chapter in our workbook and took a quiz, closed book of course. Then it was reading and quizes the rest of the morning until lunch.

After lunch we got to get in a truck and Laura took us around the track and showed us what to do and explained each exercise we will be doing when we begin driving everyday. When she was done we each got a chance to bobtail around the track. We started off in 4th gear and just idled around the track (it is kind of small). We went around one time and then on second lap did a straightline back. After straightline we went into 5th gear and again idled around to the stop point and switched out.

The driving was the coolest part of the day. We all had a lot of fun since it was the first time any of had even been inside of a tractor. We drove an old International ... thing is a peice of crap but it is a range truck and has been beat up but it gets the job done.

We got to see the other trucks too. They have a couple of Sterling day cabs, 1 Peterbilt, a couple of Freightliners and several International Prostars. She told us she hates the Freightliners and can not wait to get rid of them. Says she will get Internationals from here on out, they can take the abuse students give them. They have all 10-Speed manual transmissions.

We are off until Monday, I will be back with an overview of that day at some point Monday afternoon. We will be working on Pre-Trip Inspections and shifting.