Comments By Michael D.

I'll be starting orientation at Prime on the 26th, as well!

Looking forward to it... See you guys there.

Good evening!

I've been lurking around the site for a while and finally joined so I could take advantage of The High Road Training Program. By the way, what a tremendous resource! So are the forums - a lot of perspective and support for others in the industry.

A little about me and where I'm at right now - I'm twenty-four years young. I'm married, and we have a wonderful 18-month-old son (I usually just call him 1).

As far as the job goes, I work in sales for a major telecommunications company. Lately, the industry has been changing drastically to respond to consumer demand and competitor offers and my job no longer feels secure. Besides that, the sales environment is a total drag. Corporate suck ups are putting in little effort and making it through each month no problem and being fast tracked into management positions while hard workers are dealing with a saturated market and penny pinching customers and are on the short list for ways the company can "save money". At least that is how it appears to me and my twenty-some-odd equally pessimistic coworkers. It's just no fun. I joined the company because it was good money. I thought maybe it would be a career, and in hindsight, it's not for me.

My wife and I have been talking about how I can get away from it all, and I keep coming back to something that has piqued my interest for a few years now - getting my CDL and driving a truck. It's something that I can see myself doing for a while, and enjoying it, too! There's been a ton of discussion about what that would mean for the family, especially considering the fact that I'll probably be away from home most of the time. The wife is supportive, the only thing I worry might get to me is being away from my son, but it's something that I'm sure I'll be able to cope with, especially with today's technology.

I've been doing a lot of research, reading reviews, looking at salaries, talking to recruiters, etc. I've read blogs and watched videos. I've even had some input from the in-laws, who have all done OTR at some point, either as company drivers or as O/O. The result is that I've put in an application for Prime's Student Driver Program. I've been talking with a recruiter, and I have a tentative date to start orientation on May 25th, but nothing is official until the background and employment checks are complete (I have no concerns there). No accidents or tickets in my short nine years of driving, no criminal charges or convictions, stable work history... I feel confident.

I don't really have any questions right now. I won't solicit you for opinions or advice at the moment, mostly because I've already read though these forums quite a bit. I just wanted to introduce myself (Hello!) and I hope to be mingling with you all more frequently as I start this new adventure in my life.