Just Out Of School, Going With PTL, But One Concern...

Hey there guys and gals, this is my first post on the forum (Woohoo!) and I have a question:

I'm fresh out of driving school (TDI Richburg, SC) and prior to school the only experience I had with a manual transmission was on my motorcycle. I did just fine all through school learning to shift, in fact it only took me about an hour before I was fairly confident in my abilities. My question is, PTL (from what I hear) has all automatic trucks, and if I go to work for them, and lose my skill driving a manual, will other companies refuse to hire me? I don't want to screw myself by going with a company with automatics if in the long run it will hurt my career...

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated, Andrew

Hello Andrew, and welcome aboard!

Hey, I wouldn't give much concern to this. There is so much to learn during your first year that it can be overwhelming. Take your job, do your best, and make it your purpose to be the best rookie driver that PTL has ever seen.

Shifting gets a lot of attention and concern by rookie drivers just because it is so totally different than what most people are accustomed to in a regular vehicle. But you yourself said how quickly you picked up on it, in fact it didn't take you long at all to figure it out enough so that you could roll that rig down the highway. You might not have been perfect, but you could do it well enough to get the job done.

It will be the same way if you switch to a different company later on. When I switched over to my current employer there was a guy in the orientation group that was in this very position. He was right up front with them and told them all he had ever driven at his last job was an automatic, and because of that he had concerns about the shifting. Here's what they did. Even though he was considered an experienced driver they told him they would put him with a trainer until the trainer was confident that he could handle that standard shift transmission. He was out with the trainer for exactly one day, and then they issued him his own truck!

It will work the same way for you. Shifting is one of those things that will come to you as you work with it a little in a working situation. I say don't even give it a second thought.

Hello Andrew, and welcome aboard!

Hey, I wouldn't give much concern to this. There is so much to learn during your first year that it can be overwhelming. Take your job, do your best, and make it your purpose to be the best rookie driver that PTL has ever seen.

Shifting gets a lot of attention and concern by rookie drivers just because it is so totally different than what most people are accustomed to in a regular vehicle. But you yourself said how quickly you picked up on it, in fact it didn't take you long at all to figure it out enough so that you could roll that rig down the highway. You might not have been perfect, but you could do it well enough to get the job done.

It will be the same way if you switch to a different company later on. When I switched over to my current employer there was a guy in the orientation group that was in this very position. He was right up front with them and told them all he had ever driven at his last job was an automatic, and because of that he had concerns about the shifting. Here's what they did. Even though he was considered an experienced driver they told him they would put him with a trainer until the trainer was confident that he could handle that standard shift transmission. He was out with the trainer for exactly one day, and then they issued him his own truck!

It will work the same way for you. Shifting is one of those things that will come to you as you work with it a little in a working situation. I say don't even give it a second thought.

Thanks Old School, you really put my mind at ease there. I'm looking forward to kicking ass on my CDL test which is Thursday, and hopefully I'll be shipping out to orientation on Sunday evening. I'll try to keep you guys updated.

Andrew, Welcome aboard and a pre-welcome to PTL. I went to orientation the Thursday and Friday before Thanksgiving.

Most likely your phase one training will be in a standard. That is 5,000 with a trainer. Phase two will most likely be in an automatic teamed with another P2. Phase two is 40,000 miles and expect to see California a lot. That is where I am now. Getting a trainer and a P2 partner made me feel like a buzzard circling with a group just waiting for the opportunity to move in.

PTL is not all automatics. The newer trucks are. I suspect after I finish P2, I will be assigned a manual with some miles on it.

Hope that helps.

Thanks TXSGent, I was thinking we had somebody in here who was at PTL, but I couldn't draw you up out of my memory bank.