Finished First Week Of Schneider Orientation

Wow, what a week! Talk about an emotional rollercaoster. Now I’m sitting in the hotel room waiting to get an update from my TE about when I can come onboard his truck.

First off, I gotta say that I’m really impressed with Schneider National: it’s a first-class operation. This company has trucking down to a science, and you’re not going to be able to slip anything by them. You have to perform up to a certain standard, in the classroom and behind the wheel, or you’re gonna be gone. The first two days angle backing I struggled the same as I did in trucking school, and my driving instructor said that if I didn’t have an “epiphany” by tomorrow (last Friday) I’d be gone, so the pressure was on me big time. In fact earlier that day I even scraped my trailer against another trailer and things sure were looking grim. Friday came and I decided to try not doing my hard right maneuver so soon and I was amazed that I was able to guide the trailer into the practically trailer-width hole fairly easily. A couple pull-ups and I was good. My instructor said, “Ok, now you have to show consistency” which meant doing the same thing 5 more times in a row. Each go round was three different holes to back into. I struggled on a couple but managed to get the damn things home and he passed me. So here I am in week two, but I could have easily been on my way back to Las Vegas.

Everyone I’ve met has been great, students and instructors, and all in all, despite my close call, this orientation has been one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had. If you think you got the chops, you can’t go wrong with Schneider. It’s a great company.

I'm very interested to hear how orientation goes for you at Schneider. A friend of mine and I are close to pulling the trigger and signing up with Schneider as team drivers so I'll be watching for your updates. Best of luck with your trainer.

I'm very interested to hear how orientation goes for you at Schneider. A friend of mine and I are close to pulling the trigger and signing up with Schneider as team drivers so I'll be watching for your updates. Best of luck with your trainer.

Thanks Scotty. You can’t do better than Schneider. We had a quite a few team drivers in our class.

I’ll try to update this thread when I can.

Man, glad ya made it through! They love to put the pressure on ya like that to see if you can hack it or if you're gonna fold. And quite a number of people fold.

Looking forward to hearing more about it!

Just met with the Schneider recruiter here in Atlanta. I was quite impressed! He didn't try to oversell the company. There were a couple of other guys there too, and it sounds like they're really looking for tanker drivers. One guy was certified and will probably start next week. He told me that since I'm coming from I.T. to REALLY think about it, because it's hard work and I'll get my hands dirty, BUT won't have to put up with the office stress of the corporate world. I get a LOT of personal satisfaction from hard work!

He also advised me to hold off until about the second week of school before applying. I will probably check out some other companies, but on the whole, I'm pretty set on working for Schneider (IF I make it through school and orientation!)

Man, glad ya made it through! They love to put the pressure on ya like that to see if you can hack it or if you're gonna fold. And quite a number of people fold.

Looking forward to hearing more about it!

Hey Brett! Thanks! That was my assessment as well. This trainer was doing everything he could think of to get me to lose my cool, but I knew that game from trucking school. The outrageous things he said and the yelling I ignored; I just responded when he was being reasonable. Essentially, I didn’t lose my cool even though my entire being was telling me to express my anger and frustration. I know that when you lose your cool you lose the game, and I really want to drive for Schneider. The trainers/ instructors want to make damn sure you’re not gonna do something stupid out there and be a safety hazard, and keeping your cool is a huge part of it.

Believe me though, I almost folded, but I found my second wind and pushed through. It’s all good in the end.

Just met with the Schneider recruiter here in Atlanta. I was quite impressed! He didn't try to oversell the company. There were a couple of other guys there too, and it sounds like they're really looking for tanker drivers. One guy was certified and will probably start next week. He told me that since I'm coming from I.T. to REALLY think about it, because it's hard work and I'll get my hands dirty, BUT won't have to put up with the office stress of the corporate world. I get a LOT of personal satisfaction from hard work!

He also advised me to hold off until about the second week of school before applying. I will probably check out some other companies, but on the whole, I'm pretty set on working for Schneider (IF I make it through school and orientation!)

As I mentioned earlier Gary, I don’t think you can do better than Schneider out of the gate, or even long term. Benefits are great too. They have a profit sharing/ 401k that matches you dollar for dollar. Good luck!

Thanks for the updates. Keep them coming when you can. I am also looking closely at Schneider. Good luck!

I was glad to see some posts about company training. It is good information. Trying to decide who to go with is my biggest struggle.

I was glad to see some posts about company training. It is good information. Trying to decide who to go with is my biggest struggle.

Wow, I just finished my week with the TE (training engineer) out on the road. This is where reality clashes with any fantasy notions about the romance of the road in trucking. Driving for me was hard work requiring constant concentration, even and especially on the freeway. LA traffic is insane on the freeways, so my shifting ability took a quantum leap ahead. I drove from Sacramento to LA at night on I5 and needed to concentrate the whole time to keep the rig between the lines. Situations seem to pop up out of nowhere. I drove up and down 6 degree inclines and declines coming into LA and learned that the Jake brake is a driver’s best friend. At times going uphill I’d have the truck floored in 7th gear and was barely accelerating at all; 8th gear wouldn’t hold speed at all. This was with a 72k load.

Sleeping and moving around the truck with two people was a challenge; it’s kind of like camping out.

The TE bombarded me with information, tips, and tricks. He wrote on his report a great review and he feels that I could handle being solo with my own truck. I feel I could too. It was an amazing introduction life on the road trucking.

I’m back in Fontana at the Best Western getting ready for my third and final week of orientation that begins Monday. We’ll cover map reading, trip planning, Qualcomm , and final testing (road and classroom). Then it’s a matter of picking up a truck and getting to work.