What advice do you have for a rookie going to truck driving school?

Get rid of every hint of weed in your life. Get rid of friends, family who smoke. Do not drink much EVER. Much less away from home. Realize when driving .04 bac is drunk for a CDL.
The school might have a pre-online site. Place to fill out info, maybe even study guides, online videos you can start watching? See what they have.
Had a cousin get a dream job. 30 years later he still has it. I told him ditch his weed. Get rid of EVERYTHING even slightly grey area. NEVER leave campus for personal reasons wearing ID, or shirt/jacket with agency names on it.
He called 6 days in. Monday morning they called a bunch to front. 4 got cuffed, the rest got ID taken, escorted to rooms, all agency clothing, stuff taken, put on plane home.

 

Most companies that hire new drivers require a 160 hour course. Your 2 week class does not nearly cover that. so don't waste your time with it.

 

No you can't, sorry, I believe we've talked to you before. Once a burnout, always a burnout. Say someone calls you tomorrow, you're screwed. You need 4-5 weeks clean MINIMUM. I'm actually surprised you even put that in the comment. I would never recommend a private school, as so many great companies will help, but the weed is just not tolerated in this industry. I've been around the block, several times, and weed is one of the hardest things to quit. I'm not ripping on your ability to be a good employee, it's just, I'd find an industry that is weed compliant and many are turning that corner, , just not trucking. Good luck.

 

I smell troll...

 

Yep....########!

 

Do not go to CDL school until you have a job waiting for you.
There is no truck driver shortage. Graduating CDL school and not getting a job doesn't help anyone but the school. If you don't get hired after enough time you may be required to go take a refresher class to get hired. Guess who pays for that refresher course? You.

If you have ANY experience shifting gears in cars or SUVs, motorcycles ANYTHING but a semi-truck that experience will make it MORE difficult to shift gears in a semi-truck. The clutch and transmissions are not at all operated the same way, but you will try to shift like they do operate the same way. If the truck you use for training has a foot-operated clutch, you only press the clutch "just enough" to get into gear or out of gear, not all the way down. You ONLY press the clutch all the way down when you are stopped, like not moving AT All. If you press the clutch too far, and 100% of newbies ALWAYS press too far, you will make it almost impossible to shift gears because pressing too far engages the clutch brake. No other vehicle you have shifted before had a clutch brake but manual transmission semi-trucks do have a clutch brake.

It is better to have everyone use the same terminology than every person use their own terminology. In trucking there are usually 8 names for each thing and yelling "dinosaur bone" LOUDER does NOT explain what the fudge it means. "That's not a dinosaur bone, that's a flex pipe!" SMH SMH??? Both of those are made-up terms that aren't commonly used, just an example.

It's better to have 1 instructor teach a task to everyone than 9 instructors teach everyone in 9 different ways. There are YouTube videos explaining every maneuver but there are 23,000 ways that maneuver is explained. Watch YT videos from a CDL school, ONE CDL school, so you see only 1 way and only hear 1 explanation of the steps.

In school EVERYONE will want to tell their own 3 hour story about every situation. ALL OF THEM ARE A WASTE OF TIME. You want to learn steps A, B, C... and not about how Leroy did C in Chicago in 1906 or 1986, or 2006. Do A, B, C, ...Groan loudly anytime someone starts telling a story. Stories MUST be shutdown or your CLP will expire before school ever ends.

Certain things will NOT make sense in class or in the truck. It doesn't have to make sense. You have to do them whether you agree with them or understand them or have a different way to do them. "It doesn't have to make sense, it's trucking" NOBODY is interested in a student's suggestion about another way to do things. Keep it to yourself.

When you are behind the wheel YOU are 100% in charge if something goes bad. Your instructor won't get the ticket, you will. The instructor can't take penalty points for you, just to be a nice guy. When someone is explaining something to you stop daydreaming and stop planning on what to say when he stops. Listen carefully to what is being said and repeat what you were told so the instructor can hear what you heard. It's not a discussion, it's a data transfer from him to you. CONCENTRATE and listen.

Stay friendly with students and instructors and eventually ask if you can keep their phone number (instructor) if you have questions and discuss with other students where they are going to work and why. Trade phone numbers with them so you can learn and help each other find jobs and discuss which jobs are good and bad and why.

When asked to do something, do it. Do it the way it was shown to you. Do it like a robot following the steps in the procedure. You do not do it like you did it in your car or SUV. Driving a truck like a car or SUV is attempted murder or negligent homicide. Your car driving experience is EXACTLY the wrong way to drive a truck and No, you are not better at it than most other drivers. You are likely just as terrible as they are but you haven't seen how bad you are, yet. You are in school to LEARN. If you already knew it you wouldn't be in school. Forget driving before school started.

 

If you haven't been clean of weed for 3-6 months you are wasting everyone's time at school and someone's money. Weed is a non-negotiable item in trucking. It's not something a cute trick will solve. PEOPLE ARE DEADLY SERIOUS ABOUT NO WEED IN TRUCKING. You will be tested. If you fail you will be in a pit trying to get a job with a failed test and no experience, and you will have no possibility of CDL work for MONTHS even if you could find an employer. Weed users cannot seem to take ANYTHING seriously. If you don't take this as serious as a fatal diagnosis you will screw yourself into the ground. Nobody cares if you think weed is harmless or legal in your state or how unfair the laws about weed and alcohol are. The law is the law, we are telling you what will happen, and crying afterwards will not do you any good and many people will have no sympathy for your situation. They don't call it "dope" because it makes people smarter.

 

IMO weed users think as long as they aren't actively high at that moment then using when they aren't at work will be OK. God played a trick on weed users. It's detectable for a long time in your body whether you are high or not.

DO not take warnings about weed as meaning "don't drive when high". What we are saying is much much MORE than that. We are saying being high 3 weekends ago while you were on vacation or between jobs and not using any in the last 2.9 weeks IS STILL GOING TO SINK YOU IN TRUCKING.

 

Some funky skunky trolling smell.