Starter Companies! Decisions Decisions!

School is wonderful. But your real learning will begin when you are issued a trainer for a while and then later with your very own assigned tractor, to fly and soar or crash and burn depending on what you have learned.

Think about the kinds of trucking you want to do instead. Do you like reefer? Van? Flat? Tanker? etc. You will find that certain kinds might bore you to tears and make a bad driver out of you in the future. Other kinds will work on your creativity and ownership of what I would call precision trucking which usually means flatbedding.

Learn a manual, test on a manual where possible. Do not let them shove a automatic down your throat. Keep in mind that your stress levels in learning curve is high. Once you master something you are ready for something else.

These forums are filled with stories that begin just like yours. And sometimes end badly, most of the time you survive your first year and after your second or third in one employer you will understand what it means to write your own golden ticket to anyone wanting to hire you on the spot to something better.

Do not get caught up in what the recruiter tells you. Talk to actual drivers instead. It might take some buying of coffee or something else for the talk with the driver of a company you are looking at. If you got babies in your family don't go OTR. There are situations I would go the other way and advise you not to go on the big road.

Pay the loan off in full asap. You are literally investing about 4000 dollars into a life time of potentially one to three millions in earnings over 50 or more years. Youre entering a industry that has gotten pretty plush. Making me and my stories of certain hardships in my early years literally a history. A story and does not apply to you. Because you have airride, power steering, computer support and satellite comms etc. It's pretty amazing. You watch.

Finally you will learn deep down what you are really afraid of in trucking. Something will come up and provide you with a serious fight or flight reaction in your body driven by fear strong enough to threaten your ability to make decisions mentally and follow through without allowing said fear to take control of you. Lives depend on it. Myself for example my instructors discovered that mountain work was somethig I much rather not do. I was at the time a total city boy.

Well, all I did in school was mountain work, and more mountain work even on roads that really should not take a big truck. They made a monster out of me when I quit being scared of the mountain and flipped it to where I specialize in that work. I got very good with mountain work. It is what it is.

Good luck!

 

My first driving job was with Stevens Transport. My info may be a bit outdated, as I started there in the summer of 09. But i stayed for 2 and a half years.

The pay was on the low side, even for a starter company but the training was first rate. I got my CDL at a private school in TN (not their company cdl school). Orientation was about a week then it was off with an otr trainer for 5 weeks (don't expect to get home until you're done with your first trainer). Mine was great. He had about 5 Yeats experience and taught me a whole lot about the right way to do the job. I'm grateful that I got such a good trainer, as it's certainly not a guarantee that you will. I then went home for a week, went back to Dallas for 3 days for the second phase of orientation, then out with a different trainer for 3 more weeks. The second trainer is supposed to let you run the truck as if you were a solo driver (trip planning, all paperwork, Qualcomm etc.) and just be there to help out and make pointers. Then back to Dallas to test out for your solo truck.

Once solo, the pay raises come fairly quickly (though it's never at the top end for the profession). I did ok there, money-wise. I always made enough to live comfortably and I got a lot of great experience. Stevens is a true otr company and you will see all 48 states within your first 6 months or so (and Canada if you wish). I had a good experience working there and I enjoyed it. It's not a great fit for everyone but if you learn their system and learn how to work it, you will stay busy and keep moving and making money.

 

Refer for sure in Florida! But have you thought about local driving?

 

If it hadnt been for their rider policy I would have been at H.O. Wolding.