The First 24 Months... How Bad Is It?

The first solo 3 months will be the toughest. Here you're developing your driving and backing skills and adapting to the job and not being home on a regular schedule.

Once you've gained self-confidence in your abilities, and stop fretting about the more basic maneuvers and difficult situations, then you can relax a bit and focus on your job, and improving your skills, and new life, and start developing and planning future phases. Others can chime in on the mid and longer term expectations but a lot of that will depend on your initial desires for what you expect from the job long term ... local, regional, dedicated, OTR, etc

 

The "trainee phase" can be difficult, and every situation is different. But make the most of it. Keep your eyes open, watch others, learn to recognize bad and good driving habits and styles. Ask questions and back any chance you can get and learn to see where you "went off the beam" and try and do it different and better next time.

 

1) pay can be good or bad depending on how YOU feel about offers.

2) getting acclimated to a new lifestyle, depends on how well YOU adjust.

3) getting a job is easy

Tighten up your questions and may get tighter answers. Good luck to you

 

In my opinion, If you want more pay, go into one of the higher paying divisions. Like flatbed or tanker. You have more responsibility. In flatbed you start at a pay range that others don’t see for 2 years.

 

It can be a steep learning curve, but everyone copes differently.

If you’re the type of person who sees failures as opportunities to improve, consider yourself ahead of the game.

If you’re the type of person who ruminates for hours (or days) when someone is rude, cuts you off or you feel embarrassed - prepare for a steep climb.

Not every other driver out there is kind, patient and willing to help a new driver. Many are, but there are also bad apples who are downright malicious. Be prepared with all the tools you have available, trucking apps like Trucker Path Pro to assist finding parking, and road atlas for trucks, google maps for live traffic updates and a good attitude.

And remember, no one was born with all the skills required (despite what you may hear at the lunch counter). We all learned from someone, somewhere how to do all the stuff we now know. Don’t take criticism too personally but do take it seriously and you’ll be fine.

 

What I did, and seems to work for me is break that 24 months up. I went into a mega (Swift) knowing I would give them 12 months and in return for breaking into the industry they would pay crap.
At 6 months I started putting in apps at a few select places for local work. Took a few months, but in the 11 month I got a local job and moved on with no no regret.
But remember, I went in knowing pay and hours would suck and worked to improve from there. Low man on the totem pole and all that.....
Now, after a few years, I have a very good job, good pay (at least for the area) and decent job security (The driver there the longest was hired in '98)

 

24 months?
12 months and your schooling should be paid..then the good life begins!

 

Here's the OP going to his terminal and his sweet local driving job in 18 months

 

By the same token you have internet.

Going somewhere like Hunts Point NYC?

Google earth the place, map it street view to and from. You have the advantage of being already there virtually before attempting it.

Treat it as a time of discovery. But it is a very dangerous time.

One poster said a magic word Ruminate over things that are hard. Don't do that too much it will eat you up. Once you deliver that load, it's done. Move on to the next load. Learn what you can while you can.

Every move you make with that semi and trailer is ON YOU. think it through very carefully before you do something. Also try to read the other truckers. If everyone is doing 10 mph on ice in WY why are you rolling along at 50 dummy! See where I am going with this? Obviously I hope you see that scenario I write just now as a generalization or example.

Information is key. If you don't know something ask. There is no truly stupid question although there have been times Ive felt the burn of shame asking such a stupid question expecting to be heckled. And sometimes it happens.

Your dispatcher has the power to make your life a paradise. Be good where legally possible use the word No. There will not be silence in heaven half an hour prior to the 7 seals being opened if you dared to say no to a dispatcher being unreasonable. But you better back it up with good legal situation of your hours of service or whatever is matta with your rig. If the shop wont fix it, find someone who will make them do it.

You are going to have a few really bad days. If at all possible smile and get it done. The sooner you are empty or through the storm or whatever the better off you will be. People tend to get overwrought and mad. There is a difference between being mad when the heater does not work well and getting truly angry and actually getting fired. If something bad happened, remember that might be something that makes you not in the right mind for the next three days and nights. You can pretty much bet that something like a accident will happen because you literally are not in the right mind.

And finally when told to take a 150 mile load that takes 5 days to deliver. Go straight to the customer, stash that load on his or her property and then ask dispatch for a empty trailer to go local until that trailer is empty in 4 days. Follow me?

I once delivered beer to Iowa on a sunday, it's closed. OH... now you tell me. The actual appt is actually monday. But you are leaving st Louis on a friday afternoon with that beer. That was a wasted day so to speak in terms of what is possible. I took the truck out of route into des moines to sit a day.

I did make up for that problem, when I saw a wall of empty kegs tagged st louis return.

Called my dispatcher and asked can we have that loaded back to st louis? The result was about a two hour wait as it percolated up the ranks to sales and back down to me. We did not take those kegs. But for whatever reason they love me now. Meaning that if I say something they listen. And carefully.

Just a few tidbits to consider. You are going to run. And when you think you had enough of running, you are going to run a little bit more. Eventually a time into your first two years you will sit and ask, is this it?

That is the time you think about other things in trucking before you get all bad and bored wanting out of the industry. For example. With me Dry van. Door slamming. Nothing to it. But that is the problem. Nothing to it. Nothing for me to work on like details man. Where does that coil go? Aha flatbed time for me. I like details, I need the details. But the one detail i forget, the devil is going to dance on it. Hopefully not my grave or that of someone else.

Good luck.