Profile For Kenneth M.

Yeah I haven't been following anyone on YouTube as far watching them day to day,just watching people go through pre trip inspections,backing techniques, and a few videos on the road test itself,performing straight backing,offset backing,parallel parking,backing into a dock,45° and 90° backing,and I take everything on YouTube with a giant grain of salt,as far as my options I think I understand that allot of companies will want to see at least a year or two experience with a clean driving record in order to qualify.but with the government helping me out with tuition I can obtain my cdl without uprooting myself to much,I mostly studied automotive technology and love engines,love working on things and fixing things,I may obtain my cdl and realize I don't like it,I'm a loner,I have no problem driving for 12 hours and like to just get in my car and drive but who knows,I may not like it,I'm fully prepared for that and I can turn around and become a diesel mechanic or something of that nature easier if I have the cdl,I was a furniture lumper for a while,I'd never ask one of them to go through the hassle of teaching me EVERYTHING about driving a rig but if I go to them with a cdl already who knows,I can take a lumper wage and get my feet a little wet that way as well.but I'm going to spend a little time going through what you guys have posted and I will definitely use all the training stuff that was posted instead of random YouTube videos....I guess my biggest problem would be like you stated before.the wrong information,I'll use any resources that are designed to help me learn more and further educate me on my road to obtaining my cdl and I appreciate you guys taking the time out to help someone who wants to try the industry..the scariest part of trucking to me is that people would rather laugh or call you stupid before they actually try to help. Nice to know I can ask a question or brainstorm without being made fun of for not knowing everything because that discouragment can really shut down any learning process

Thank you for the great advice,I was pretty anxious about starting school,I'm happy to say after giving an arm,a leg and my first born I was able to get glasses made today..500 dollars later I'll be able to see 20-30 out of my bad eye which is good enough to pass my exam!! I don't think there is such a thing as too much YouTube, but I do get burnt out so I'll watch an hour or so a night then switch back to my history and animal documentaries!I know I'll never learn everything on YouTube it's just nice to start somewhere and get a feel for what's going to be going on when I go to school and take my road test, I'm not the type to watch a video and think I know everything,in all aspects of my life there is always more to learn and the second you think you know everything is the second you stop learning....as far as what school I'll be attending it is ntts in upstate or western new york,my cost is covered through the Pell grant and Stafford loan and I have a good job on the weekends so I'd rather try school first,I don't know if it's the best option but it seems to fit well into my schedule and with no upfront cost I can stick with my current living situation for now and possibly be better prepared and be a better hire for a company or have more options when it comes to applying to company's to find a good fit for me.

I have an appointment tomorrow to try to get a pair or glasses or contacts....this admission person was really trying to push me to enroll and fail the d.o.t. physical, once they didn't want to write anything down and started telling me false information over the phone about the physical itself i was getting kind worried. they're probably a sales person who doesn't really worry about my success in the industry and are paid to put asses in classroom seats.i hope the instructors are not like that.. if i can get the glasses before the school starts ill still start on the 10th, if i cant i'm going to tell the person i don't feel comfortable signing up for the school knowing i'm not sure if i'm 100% ready to pass a d.o.t. physical and i can reapply for the classes starting in six weeks. i'm trying to put in as much work as possible now to get prepped for the cdl a road test, i can only watch videos but learning pre trip inspections and what is expected on the test and trying to understand what will be expected of me at the road test and techniques people use for backing and understanding the concepts,so hopefully even if the education is lacking i could still pass the road test, i know the school wont be the end of my education and a company that hires me will most likely have an experienced driver who can continue teaching me.id go the company trained route but I've been watching a few videos and vlogs about trucking and seen that one company trained a driver and six months later had him training. i'd hate to be put out there with someone with only 6 months experience, learn things the wrong way or be told to figure it out on my own and end up with a bad driving record or anything like that

Sorry if this is the wrong area to post this in or if people find it irrelevant. basically I am suppose to start my school on sept. 10th,have to sign up and take the dot physical but I might fail due to having poor vision in one eye...I have an appointment to get glasses, my admissions person didn't even know id have to keep one eye closed so I'm kinda worried....what if I failed my d.o.t. physical because of my eye sight....will they kick me out of the school because I already signed the paperwork? will the dot be understanding of my condition and offer some sort of extension until my glasses got here or would I have to postpone classes for 6 weeks to retake the dot physical? would it be bad to fail for poor eye sight in one eye if it was corrected within a week or would it put me in a bad situation...would it be better to just wait the six weeks until the next class starts and pass the physical on the first try? sorry in advance if this is all over the place and a lot of questions...im just really nervous, I really want to get my cdl a and start a career I just don't wanna blow it before I have the opportunity because of something so easily corrected. any advice would be greatly appreciated and if this post is in the wrong place, irrelevant, or just took all over the place feel free to delete it.