Thinking of going to work for an OTR common carrier

Hi there,

I've been a lurker here for awhile, just to do some reading and to satisfy a curiosity I suppose. But long story short, I've been out of work for almost 4 months and am starting to entertain some other job avenues, since I can't live off of my savings forever, and honestly can't say for sure I want to go back to the office rat race. (Previous job was with a small intermodal & OTR forwarder/broker in Portland, OR, so I have some experience with the shipping industry.)

Anyway I've always had an interest in trucks and trucking, and even have a tiny sliver of in-cab experience, riding along for a day with a local intermodal drayman in Portland, and one time the owner the same drayage company let me try out one of his 10-spd Pete tractors on a Saturday morning just for fun (It was harder than I thought!)

I've been reading up on some of these OTR common carriers that will put you through CDL training and get you out on the road (Swift, JB Hunt, Schneider, CR England, CRST, etc.), and it seems like working for most of these outfits is really hit or miss. Just was wondering if anyone had opinions on who might be the one to go with, if they had to do it over again or knew then what they do now.

A guy I used to work with at my previous employer (he was laid off) went and trained with Swift in Lewiston, ID. and he sure enough got his CDL A and a truck to drive pretty quickly. I can go anywhere I guess, but right now I'm staying in NYC...do any of the common carriers have training facilities close by? They have CDL schools here in the city that I've looked up, but I really don't have the $3,000+ dollars to pull out of the pocket right now for private lessons and I'm willing to trade a bit of "indentured servitude" for the license and experience.

I know driving OTR for awhile might not be the greatest, but the goal would eventually be to have my own daycab rig and do local container delivery (or whatever) and work M-F normal guy hours. Luckily I'm pretty young (29) and don't have a family of my own to worry about at this point. And also, I could probably convince my dad to let me "live" with him while out on the road, making having my own household and related expenses not necessary. That way I could trim my personal expenses down to almost nothing.

Sorry for the book. I'm just really getting antsy to make something new happen and would appreciated some feedback.

Thanks guys,

Brandon