Comments By Carley T.

Carley, I'm not sure if any of your state's colleges offers this but there was an 18 year old man at my school. He was getting his CDL then enrolling in lineman school. The school is in Kilgore, TX at Kilgore Junior college. If that is too far away, but you are interested, you may want to contact them and see if a similar school is available in your area.

He passed his tests on the first attempt, and had never even held a gear shift knob!

Best of luck man!

I will try contacting them soon! (Though if they dont have one a bit closer there is a very slim chance ill go all the way to texas when there are bound to be other great ones closer) Thanks for the info man

Try ups or FedEx you will start unloading trucks but they will take care of your cdl and job after so long

Hmm will do didn't think about them for some reason thanks for the tip

Hello Carly! Being that I'm 20 years old myself and under twenty one I've been blessed to get into the Industry without a cdl! If you ask, and come prepared, someone will give you a break! I prayed and the Lord answered. my first job at 18 I was a dock worker and a part time yard switcher at estes express lines. I learned how to couple and uncouple pups and how to back them and 53's! after leaving from there to go to Africa I came back and was blessed with another job doing similar things only this time it was a full tractor and trailer! I've been here at Salem national leasing being a washer fueler for almost a year before heading out on the road and when I tell you I am comfortable backing, shifting, Double Clutching, Floating, Manuvering I mean it! I do it everyday Lol I've picked up skills and tips that people learn at or after school, and I still have so much more to learn. The gist of all of this is... If you let them know you are serious and willing to work they will consider you! There's hope for youngins like us! I'll be 21 here soon and I'm going to cdl school in December! So use this time to get in shape mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually and to prepare yourself for the road. I'm doing just that lol pray and ask the Lord, he listens!

Glad to hear you are able to do all that without stepping foot in a school I will definitely try to get a job at the docks or somewhere like that so I can be around trucks hope school goes well for ya man good luck with it and god bless

Also thanks to everyone so far who has commented and helped me out figuring out how I'm going to do this it's a huge help

I'm a big guy (round wise) I'm 5'7 and 271 pounds so my bmi comes out around 40-

Carley, Right now is a good time to start losing weight and getting and staying healthy. Start some good eating and exercise habits now and by the time your 21st birthday rolls around, you will be "Fit as a Fiddle", as my Grandpa used to say. Starting on a healthy lifestyle now will follow you the rest of your life. By the time you have your DOT Physical and start Trucking, you will not have to worry about your weight or BMI. I am 56 years old. I have LOST almost 12 lbs since I STARTED driving 3 months ago. On Purpose. I eat healthy on the road(most of the time) and try to walk every day. I just did a few laps around the Truck Stop a bit ago. 30 minutes, about 1 1/2 miles. The little things add up. Good Luck to you. You have a great attitude. That is probably the most important thing in this Business, and Life in general.

Will do on the exercise but the eating really they best thing I can do right now is watch calories due to eating what my parents buy but once I get my own job I do plan to buy a at least a bit of my own food and the walking around truck stops I am glad to hear that I can at least get a bit of exercise out there on the road and thanks about the attitude part man

Hey Carley, are you planning on going to CDL school at Jones County Jr College? I received my CDL and certificate there. Cost that I paid is very resonable- $680, very solid school.

700??????? That us crazy for 8 weeks??? Well that is amazing thanks for the post and yes that's the place

Hey Carley, I've been here just over a year now, and just this morning made my first post to TT. I am glad that you found TT as a resource, one that will absolutely guide you successfully through your trucking career preparation and startup.

I feel once I have made it through year one of incident-free solo driving, I can say I am an alumnus of Trucking Truth University.

And a big welcome to you, too.

Ah I see I have only been here for abut 4 months also I saw you where from MS well so am I cool meeting one so soon after going on the forums and yeah it seems to have a ton of great knowledge can't wait to learn more Also today I made my first post as well

Hello caveman good to see another new person in the forms (I'm just as new as you) hope ya have a nice stay

It really doesn't when I got my first job at the age of 16 (Mcdonalds) I was the only one who could fill out the paper work without help I was also the youngest person in this orientation now the school I used to go to is the best in state but all the people from that school knows nothing of how the real world works sine the school don't teach that and they don't have enough time in it by the time they are 18 and on there own though the one great thing about real school compared to home school is the Grammer and handwriting aspect as you can tell I'm not doing much Grammer wise because I never had to and spelling wise you can't tell on here but I'm not that great of a speller all this is due to the fact that my classes where online because my parents couldn't teach me (they didn't know half of the stuff even for 5th grade since it's been so long since they used any of it) and didn't have the time to tech them selfs me and my little sister so we did online schooling so I always had spell check to help me out with spelling and with Grammer well I'll admit I used a program for it even though I shouldn't of I stopped a year or so ago when I realized it'd be very important in most jobs but it was a little to late

Carley, I had a friend who used to work for me who started out at an animal feed mill who had their own fleet of trucks to deliver their product. He got a job in high school washing their trucks. Along with his responsibilities he would also wash the trailers. They would let him drive the yard dog in their yard to move the trailers around as he needed. He became very efficient at backing the trailers into tight spots, and eventually they decided to help him get his CDL. That was a long time ago, and he eventually drove a truck for me, but I'm just pointing it out to you, because there are a lot of different ways to work in this industry even when you are too young to actually be driving the trucks. Often times those jobs will benefit you in ways that you might not have even considered yet. If there is any sort of a distribution center nearby you might could even get a job loading trucks which would help a lot in knowing how a load needs to be loaded and balanced in a trailer.

By the way, all my children were home-schooled. It was a great way for them to get prepared in life, and we have never regretted one single moment of that time we all had together. They have all gone on to pursue college careers and have been very successful people.

Thank you old school I will try to get a job around trucks and learn as much as I can thank all yall for all the advice

Also old school yeah that's why my parents wanted me out of school they allowed almost no socal interactions even during lunch break they would make us keep quiet the parents hated that so I became homeschooled never did much school work because a lot of it was real life stuff they wanted to teach me (I still did school work but my parents never gave a break I worked though most holidays other then Christmas and my b-day weekends too and summer break was a thing my parents laughed at but hey I'm almost done with it and I didn't mind it to much sine I didn't have much work per day

Welcome Carley. At this point in your life, age is your number one limiting factor. Most carriers will not hire you until you reach the age of 21, (some require 23). I would strongly suggest to wait until you are at least 20 and no more than 3 months away from your 21st birthday before committing to a truck driving school. And even then, send out applications for a pre-hire commitment letter as follows:

• Article: Understanding Pre-Hire Letters: The What, Why, And How Of This Important Step
• Trucker's Wiki: "Pre-Hire Letters"
• Forum Topics Tagged "CDL Pre-Hire Letters"

Or look into a Paid CDL Training Programs

In the mean time you can prepare yourself by researching the industry and the qualifications. These links are a good start:

• Truck Driver's Career Guide
• Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
• High Road Training Program

Thank you g-town I know I have to be 21 and that's why I pLan to go to private schools for trucking as I can save up until then but thank you for all the links I will definitely look though them

Not trying to discourage you...you have plenty of time to enter the profession with your eyes wide open. You may want to find a supporting job/roll in the trucking field, like working on the docks or in the office. At least you can get some initial exposure to the business and possibly have an opportunity to talk with experienced drivers.

Good luck.

Thank you and honestly I don't think you could discourage me that easy :P I will make sure to put in apps at all the docs that aren't in bad areas thanks for the tips