My Experience So Far In Truck Driver Training

Hi guys and gals , my name is jerry and a few months ago I decided , for many reasons , i would finally pull the trigger on an idea I've had in my head rolling around for years .

I'm 41 years old and have worked in factories unloading trucks , cutting fiber , putting springs in furniture on production since I was 17 years old . Factory / production work -  hard physical labor in hot unairconditioned old factories with no windows is all I really know . For the most part Everyday I got up and dreaded my life . My daughter is 10 years old and for the past 10 years I've always laced up my boots every morning at 5 am telling myself " I have to feed , cloth and support my family , that's the responsibility I agreed to when I had a child.  It doesn't matter if I'm making 9 dollars an hour as slave labor in a dead in job " .

I worked the whole year of 2015 sticking back what little money i could here and there planning to go to school . I had a few Ideas , but my thoughts kept coming back to truck driving . The idea of getting paid to travel the country was very appealing. Watching other truck drivers in traffic as i headed to the factory everyday I was seriously envious .

In March/April of this year I had some money saved and made a call to a truck driving training center in my neck of the woods that I had heard so many good things about . CCC&TI  ( caldwell community college truck driver training in hudson north carolina ) . They explained that the next course was starting soon and welcomed me to come down to orientation. 

Eventually i put my notice in at work when it was nearing orientation date at school , worked two more weeks , went to orientation at the trucking school and starting trucking school 2 weeks later . It's a 9.5 week course , 300+ hour course.

I was really nervous never driving anything bigger than a u haul.  The first week is all classroom and getting you prepared for your cdl permit which is taken across the road at the dmv office . I did obtain my cdl permit after a few attempts of general knowledge,  combination and airbrakes tests .

For the next 3 or 4 weeks we spent half the day on the range taking turns with other students doing straight line backing , offset backing and 90% backing ( alley dock). The other half of the day we spent on the road . City driving - shifting gears , up shifting and down shifting with different instructors riding in the passenger seat.

We are training on 10 speed transmissions and been threw major intersections in congested areas of town , flat land driving and now we've been in the mountains lately on steep mountain roads (  Boone,  blowing rock , black mountain areas) . Most of the recruiters who came to the school explain that a lot of the trucking companies are now going automatic transmissions ( I hope I can stay on 10 speed transmission when I get my first job)

My shifting is coming along and im getting better at the 90% backing part of the range driving . For a while I wasn't able to comprehend the 90% backing and was getting frustrated , but now I'm getting it more times than not . A big thing for me was i was trying to hit the alley dock without using pull-ups. I'm using one or two pull-ups now and am doing alot better .

The school is PTDI certified and I'm not sure exactly how important that is to potential employers ( any info on ptdi certification is greatly appreciated ) .

Although my cost would have been nothing up front i didn't want to go to a trucking company to obtain my cdl class a license .

This is a basic overview of my experience so far in trucking school . I'm really happy that I chose this school . The instructors for the most part are very understanding of every situation and I would recommend this school to anyone . Our anticipated graduation date is July 22 and I'm excited as to what the next year of my life holds .

I've read about schools in here that are 10 week courses like the one you're in. I think that's excellent because students will come out of those schools with so much more experience and confidence than most. With all the trails and tribulations that folks talk about in here those first few months, you will be so far ahead of the game Jerry Q.

I've read about schools in here that are 10 week courses like the one you're in. I think that's excellent because students will come out of those schools with so much more experience and confidence than most. With all the trails and tribulations that folks talk about in here those first few months, you will be so far ahead of the game Jerry Q.

Thank you Florida 😊

Good luck. I wish you much success.

Jerry -

I concur w/Buckeye concerning attending the longer school. I successfully completed a 10 week course at a Vocational Tech School. There were 5 of us and each one of us passed. I took my DMV skills and driving test Thursday and did excellent on everything. I got a lot of time on our driving range, and also had some difficulty with the alley (I was also trying to get it in with one shot) and also my drivers-side offset. It also comes to setup and timing (steer, holding, counter-steer maneuvers).

For example, there were some parking lines on the lot (for the schools heavy equip) that I would use for my setup and if I didn't have the middle (of three) line exactly down the center of passenger side (in other words to low or to high) than my steering maneuvers and "count" would be off. Plus if I was "too high" I would come to close to parked vehicles. When my landing gear and rear drives would cross an imaginary line from a fence post I would turn my wheel 360deg and then add additional 15deg and hold (so around the clock then hold at 1). Instructor recommend we count to 4 (1-1000,2-1000,3-1000,4-1000) or sing "Happy Birthday to you" out-loud. With arm on door, and head outside watching trailer imagine "pushing" trailer into the dock. Our instructor took us to a local carrier and we were able to practice on two different dock types (flat and decline).

Going back, attending a longer than 4-week program has been extremely beneficial. I have counted up the hours yet, but just behind the wheel driving I logged over 1,100 miles.

How is your off-set and parallel maneuvers going?

^scott

Jerry -

I concur w/Buckeye concerning attending the longer school. I successfully completed a 10 week course at a Vocational Tech School. There were 5 of us and each one of us passed. I took my DMV skills and driving test Thursday and did excellent on everything. I got a lot of time on our driving range, and also had some difficulty with the alley (I was also trying to get it in with one shot) and also my drivers-side offset. It also comes to setup and timing (steer, holding, counter-steer maneuvers).

For example, there were some parking lines on the lot (for the schools heavy equip) that I would use for my setup and if I didn't have the middle (of three) line exactly down the center of passenger side (in other words to low or to high) than my steering maneuvers and "count" would be off. Plus if I was "too high" I would come to close to parked vehicles. When my landing gear and rear drives would cross an imaginary line from a fence post I would turn my wheel 360deg and then add additional 15deg and hold (so around the clock then hold at 1). Instructor recommend we count to 4 (1-1000,2-1000,3-1000,4-1000) or sing "Happy Birthday to you" out-loud. With arm on door, and head outside watching trailer imagine "pushing" trailer into the dock. Our instructor took us to a local carrier and we were able to practice on two different dock types (flat and decline).

Going back, attending a longer than 4-week program has been extremely beneficial. I have counted up the hours yet, but just behind the wheel driving I logged over 1,100 miles.

How is your off-set and parallel maneuvers going?

^scott

The truck driving training center I'm attending gives the cdl driving test to us at the end of the course and we have to be tested by a tester that we have never had contact with . The dmv sends anyone taking their cdl test in the county to our facility to take the test ( pre trip , backing , and road ) . So I'm one up on that because I've been able to practice on the course that we actually have the test on .

I basically got my offset , straight back and parallel parking withing the first week or so after much practice but I couldn't for the life of me nail that 90 degree back . I tried many different ways from counting to watching the landing gear . After 2 weeks I'm pretty good at it usually doing it with one or even no pull ups. ( on the test we get two free pull ups )

I see what your saying about how you learned some people in my class do count out loud. For me I just have to eyeball it turning the wheel all the way right to start off .

Good luck. I wish you much success.

Thank you 😊

They do 3rd Party testing here also. Just got a call about an hour ago, got to do my pre-employment drug screen and start orientation next week

Good Luck to you also!

^scott

They do 3rd Party testing here also. Just got a call about an hour ago, got to do my pre-employment drug screen and start orientation next week

Good Luck to you also!

^scott

Great! I bet your excited , congratulations .

Just a quick update .

I passed my pre trip and backing skills test last week . Monday i pasted my road test and after nine and a half weeks of schooling I graduated today and have my cdls in hand !