Comments By Breydan W.

Hi, I'm a bit new to truck driving. I've recently decided to pursue a career in it and I've been saving up to afford buying my CDL license so I don't need to have it paid through a trucking school and getting signed up with one of their companies for a few years. I'm currently employed elsewhere so I'm in no immediate hurry, but I want to be prepared before I take the plunge.

Hopefully I can get some advice since it seems like there's a wide range of responses online to good trucking companies and schools to attend.

So, does anyone have any recommended schools you think are better then others for getting training? And companies after perhaps that are worth applying for?

I have entered the trucking industry twice. The first time was about 20 years ago when I attended a company school of one of the Mega carriers, Schneider (they used to have their own school, idk if they still do). I worked for them, over the road, for exactly one year, completing my commitment. Then I quit driving for personal reasons, and let my CDL lapse. The second time was about 5 years ago when I attended a local private cdl school. Upon completion of which I took a job with a local company that allows me to be home every day, and making significantly more money than I was with Schneider (double, in the first year!).

So, I have first person experience with both ways of getting a CDL. There are many variables, of course, but in my experience the private school route is better. The company school was fast-paced and relatively unforgiving. More than half of the students that started in my class washed out of Schneider's school. On the other hand, the private school made sure that every student in the class finished the course and received any extra attention needed to get them to pass the test. I think that private schools have more at stake in seeing that all of their students get a CDL because private schools succeed according to their reputations for student pass rates.

Lastly, going to a private school will give you options once you get your license. You won't be locked into a contract with a certain company, so you will be able to explore all of the possibilities that are out there.

Best of luck!