Profile For Steve S.

Thanks for all your answers! Old School, that's an idea that I hadn't considered, where I just put "in CDL school" in lieu of my driver's license number. That's a great tip! And Big Scott and Patrick C., thanks for reminding me that the DL numbers won't change once I get my CDL.

Love you guys (and gals) on this forum!

I'm a bit confused about prehires. Should I try to get them while I'm in CDL training (I'm taking an accredited CDL course at my local community college) or wait until I actually have my CDL?

Earlier today, I tried to fill in an application to a company over the internet that was talking up accepting CDL graduates right out of school, but they wanted my CDL license number as part of the application. So I'm thinking,"If I'm still in CDL school, all I have is a CLP (which I haven't got yet, but will in a few days), so how am I supposed to fill in my CDL license number when I so obviously don't have one yet?"

I'm thinking that the only way around all this is to simply wait until AFTER I finish CDL school. But then again, that won't square with the "getting hired right out of CDL school" stories I keep hearing about. Can anyone help clear up my confusion?

We're all happy for you, Jimmy! We all wish you the best of luck on your trucking journey. Remember, keep on truckin'!

Thanks for your quick replies! Hoping to hear more replies from the rest of you guys and gals! But yeah, two decades from now shouldn't hurt me because I'll be either passed on from this world or retired in some fashion. I'm 56 years of age and pretty healthy and no weight problems so I don't think I'll have any problems passing the DOT physical.

But as far as the driverless truck thing goes, I think it will still be a fantasy even 20 or 30 years from now. While the trucks will be much more advanced than now, they will still need humans behind the wheel for other things even if not for just second-to-second straight-up driving. Think pilots in airplanes even though the flight is pretty much automated. And flying through air is much, much simpler than navigating our nation's highways and byways.

I'll be going to a community college to get training for my CDL soon, and am studying this site's excellent CDL study program. But I constantly keep hearing about how automated trucks are going to sweep across the country like a tidal wave in about ten years. Somehow, as a person with a Bachelor's degree in IT, I'm just not seeing it. It took the aviation industry billions and billions of dollars and decades to partially automate flying and the pilots are still very much here. Automating 80,000 pounds of death on the highways is something else again. Bottom line is that I don't really think the driverless trucks will come about in any real significant way. All the hype over them will end up like the 3D televisions that were supposed to take over a few years ago. What is the opinion of all of you experienced truckers out there? Is it still worth it to get into this industry? Or is it dying and going to be replaced by Skynet?