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Posted: 3 years, 7 months ago
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Aspiring Truck Driver with some questions
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, whatever is appropriate for your place in the world, and welcome to my post.
My name is Alex and I am a 21 year old interested in trucking. I first considered doing trucking at the age of 17 after I met a hardworking professional truck driver through my best friend (His father is a truck driver). Since then I have always thought about a possible future in the trucking industry but did not do anything about it until now. I talked to my mother about a possible career in trucking and she was 100% onboard with the idea and is helping me in any way she can to get me started. I also told my girlfriend about this and she also supports me. My plan is to work OTR for 2-3 years and then transition to a local company and move in with my girlfriend and our pups (We have three Chihuahuas combined haha!). I have been reading the "Truck Driver's Career Guide" to familiarize myself with the industry and have also read some of the stories attached to the Guide that cover topics like pay, truck driving culture, hours of work, sight seeing, struggles rookies face, erratic sleeping schedules, how to maintain strong relationships with family & friends, etc. I am aware of the good and the bad of this job but somehow I find myself more interested as I keep reading your great stories about your adventures on the road. Anyway, question is, should I do Private CDL Training or Paid CDL Training? I understand that with paid CDL training I would most likely have to work for the company for a year which I do not mind at all for this was my plan all along. However, since I am not familiar with trucking company names and live in a small town, I have not been able to see if there are paid training programs near me (Closest big city to me is Pittsburgh which is about 1 hour away). In addition to that question, I was wondering if I need a CLP before attending the paid training program or if I could start from scratch with the company. As for private schooling, I found a school in the town I live in but they don't have much information posted on their website which makes me feel skeptical about it. Recently I have been getting ads from Roehl and Swift but I don't think either of those companies are within reasonable distance from me. I would really appreciate it if you guys could drop some names down below so that I can look into them and research them further, it would really help a lot. As of right now these are my only questions so far, if I think of another one I will try to look at the "Truck Driver's Career Guide" and if I can't an answer there I will come back to this thread and ask. Thanks for your time and help in advance.
Safe Driving,
Alex
P.S. I am not sure if this is the correct section to ask these questions and I apologize to the moderators in advance.
Posted: 3 years, 7 months ago
View Topic:
Aspiring Truck Driver with some questions
Great responses guys, these were very insightful and helpful. Now, I got a new somewhat dumb question. So, I have a trip planned at the end of November to visit family out of town and was wondering if I should wait until after the trip to apply for the paid CDL program or if I could apply now and notify them in advance of the trip?
Thanks,
Alex