Comments By Ryan O.

Well if I do well in school, then I will be starting out with a "Local gig". The company does all the hauling for the company that makes the seats for Subaru (SIA). I will start out with basically shuttling trailers back and forth between the seat plant and SIA which is about 20 minutes apart. It pays about 18 an hour I believe. 5 weeks will be with an experienced driver. They just started their training thing and I will be the second person to have road training with them. However I have to go through school myself and be a free agent. This will all because I am blessed to have a company around here that does that. I looked up all the local driving companies and walked in there and talked to whomever did employment face to face and asked them if they were willing to hire a guy fresh out of school. I made it clear that I was willing to learn and not wasting their time. Few said yes and others said I needed some experence. I chose this company because I have a friend that works there and hear nothing but good things. When I complete one year, I will be able to do a OTR route and choose to be home on the weekends. My experienced advice would be to do what I did and look up all local 'mom and pop' companies and talk to them FACE TO FACE.

If for some reason this falls through, then I will be signing a contract with a company. I have been wanting to be a driver for years and talked about it. My life is finally in place and I decided either I do it now or never. My friend invited me to go on a run with him. Since then I have had 18 wheels turning in my head constantly.

Well i'm not a driver yet, but I just went through this at a factory job I started the beginning of this year. It was my first night shift (11pm-7am).. I liked the schedule, but right about 3 o'clock, my body said it was night time and sleepy time. Typically if I was nodding off, it was because I got less than 6 hours of sleep. When I disciplined myself to go to bed and get at least 8 hours, it made a Hugh difference. The other thing that helps, is caffeine drinks with no sugar or very minimal sugar added. I drink the Monster Rehabs.. they are tea and have about 6g total of sugar. I never crash from them. I loved watching the people that bring in the Green can monsters and be falling asleep on the line after 2 hours. When I had to drive 2 hours to work for a job out of town, I would get up two hours early. Watch youtube and drink some coffee. Get myself into the zone and a good mood then hit the road. Talking to people helped out a lot. I am not a social person at all, however I took myself out of my comfort zone and made some friends and talked to everyone. It made a big difference.

I did not know about this program. I will pass the world about this as well, thank you.

I will also add that WorkOne pays for your physical and your permit cost. However I am working on paying that myself so I can walk into school with my permit. Jesus there is a lot to study for..

I am starting trucking school in a few weeks or three at most. I will also be going free of cost and walk away a free agent. Do not have to pay a dime back. I heard about free programs at the Indiana Adult Learning center. They had a list of programs such as welding, CNA, and CDL was on the list. I walked in there and they had me take a test to make sure I test at a ninth grade level. I passed that easily.

Then they send you over to WorkOne. I went to the one in Lebanon, which is the best one around here. Lafayette will give you the run around because they don't really want to help anyone. I went into WorkOne and filled out some paperwork. You are then required to complete twelve hours of class time at the adult learning center. Which mean you basically sit in there and do homework. I chose random math stuff that I had forgotten how to do. It sucks, but small price to pay for a big opportunity.

Then once that twelve hours is up, you take a post test. It test you at a ninth grade level again. When you pass it, WorkOne sends your paper work in. When they get your funding, you go to school. The school the Lebanon office uses, is C-1 Trucking school in Indianapolis. I am just waiting for them to get my funding, then i'm C-1 bound. They pay a mileage to make up for fuel. It is twenty three cents a mile. I gave it a shot and asked for more and they are giving me twenty five cents. Not much, but whatever. I asked for more since I drive a four wheel drive Dodge with a 5.9.. They do not provide Hotel or meals. I will update this, just in case it falls through for some reason, but they have made it clear that everything is good, they just are waiting for the state to send them a check for me schooling.

Why do they just send people money for school? It is an investment for you to get a good job and send Uncle Sam more income tax. I have a local company that does short and long haul saying they will hire me out of school. I even got them to write me a letter that they will hire me out of school. I recommend doing that especially if you are in my boat and have a felony. Felony is not a concerning factor in getting funding, but a letter of prehire is just an insurance policy that they are not wasting their time.

I also so far have Boyd Brothers saying they will hire me since my felony is over five years. My felony is a violent one. Not against women or children. Hopefully I covered any question someone has, ahead of time. This is for people in Indiana. Maybe other states have a program similar?