Actually, I have a pretty good idea what I'm in for. I visited the school several times and spoke to both students and instructors.

State of Nevada requires 160 hours of instruction before being allowed to test so I guess I'll be in class for about 4 weeks.

I'm trying like hell to not go OTR as it would be really bad for my family. Looks like there are some decent local options for new grads. I don't plan on this being a career. Just a paycheck until I can figure out the next step in my life and to have something to fall back on.

The last two months on unemployment have been eye-opening and it's time to get my shit together.

So what should I know about training that may not be covered? Tips to pass the test?

Humor me, GD.

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2/23/20: Some posters asked me to keep them posted on how the school goes so I'm going to do a weekly update. Week one is in the books. The school itself isn't particularly structured and that has been challenging for me to adapt to. Its really a learn-at-your-own-pace kind of thing. The instructors are incredibly knowledgeable but there aren't enough of them in my opinion. The instructors handle all of the actually driving parts of the school and you are on your own as far as the written/exam portion with a few exceptions - the class on how to do logbooks being a recent example.

There are currently around 100 students enrolled but you attend on your schedule so there really is about 20 students on site at any given time. I have spent the first week studying for my permit (way more complex than your typical drivers license permit) and got my DOT physical out of the way. Without a permit, I can't drive on the street but they do have a big parking lot to work on the skills portion of the DMV test. So mostly book work, but I do some seat time when I need a break from the books. Also, the material is easier for me to retain when I can practice it on a real truck.

The other students are a cross-section of society with pretty much everyone represented. One thing the vast majority of us have in common is that we never set out to be truck drivers. It's just something that happened. With one exception - he has spent the last 5 years throwing boxes at UPS and now that he is 25 he is ready to hit the road. He has a very good offer from UPS contingent on him passing this course. There is an electrician who wants something to do during the winter months. A taxi cab driver who is about to be homeless. A construction company owner who is tired of paying trucking companies to move his equipment around. A gas station clerk. A kitchen manager and a bunch of others who I have no idea what they do. A couple already have jobs and are looking to step up in the companies they work for.

The school has about 2 students pass the DMV test per day on average. The ones that graduated this last week are all staying local. All but one had job offers lined up before they graduated ranging from $23 - $30 an hour. Cement trucks, construction, transfer and sanitation. I am told the recruiters come in about once a week but I haven't seen anybody just yet. So far, none of my class mates are planning on going over the road.

I'll update again next weekend. This coming week I'll be taking my tests for general knowledge, air brake, combination, doubles/triples and tanker. Hazmat will be added at a later date. Hazmat is in bid demand around here so that's what I'm aiming for.

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3/01/20: Finished my first whole week, as I had started in the middle of a week. So I'm about 10 days or so in total at this point. The school is open about 60 hours a week and I'm there about 50 hours a week. It snowed last night and left a few inches on the ground so there isn't any class today. I will probably work on my pre-trip memorization on the couch today. I think I have my pre-trip about 50% complete at this point. Coming from a mechanical background is incredibly helpful during this process. I go to school with people who have zero mechanical aptitude, have never towed anything and have never driven a manual transmission. Most of them are able to learn the material but it's slow going and very difficult for them.

This week I learned how to complete an alley-dock and I also passed the permit test(s). Passed the general knowledge, air brake, combinations, tanker and double/triples tests. I was probably over-prepared for that test but that is better than being under-prepared. I keep working on my other skills like the offset and straight back. I need to learn both the driver side and passenger side parallel park. Yesterday was the first time I had been on the street and I spent about 30 minutes behind the wheel. I basically did laps around a really big block learning how to upshift and double clutch. Downshifting is a lesson for another day. We are constantly reminded that what the DMV requires is not always how it's done in the real world but we have to play their game to pass their test. My shifting smoothed out toward the end but it's going to need more practice for sure. I am having a surprisingly difficult time keeping track of what gear I am in and remembering to keep the selector in the appropriate position. I imagine that will come with more practice.

I'd like to have my license by the end of this month and I think I'm on track to do so.




3/08/20: Another week down. My pre-trip is dialed in on the outside. I need to spend a bit more time memorizing the air brake system tests. I have the basic procedures down, but having the wording correct is important to the DMV examiners. My straight back is about perfect. I can do the off-sets on demand. My parallel parking (both sides) is good. And finally, the alley-dock is right where it should be, usually with no more than 1 or 2 pull-ups. So, basically I'm ready for my skills tests. I can do driving skills until I am blue in the face and recite the pre-trip my heart. I'm pretty much ready.

That is, with the exception of actual driving. 2 and a half weeks in, and I've only been on the street once and not for long. The school has a severe shortage of on-the-road trainers and the truck that is used for testing is also the on-the-road-training truck. So it's very hard to get any drive time in. That is my only real criticism of the school. The rest of the system is kind of loose and unstructured, but the results pretty much speak for themselves when you look at the graduation rate.

Tomorrow morning I will be at the DMV to schedule my test. That usually is a 7-10 days out so I will probably be testing sometime between the 16 and the 20 of March. I simply need to get more driving time during this coming week.

One note of concern: we typically have a group of recruiters visit the school on a weekly basis. Those visits have all been postponed for the time being. An economic slowdown in the forecast is the reason. I'm not too concerned about it at the moment, but it is something to keep in mind.

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3/15/2020: Coming up on the 30 day mark. Spending most of my time on-the-road doing laps around the city preparing for my DMV test(s) this week. Problem is, some days I have it and some days I don't. One day everything goes great and smooth and then the next day it's like I have no idea what I'm doing! For example, it's like today I forgot how to up-shift. WTF, it was perfect yesterday! All of the confidence I had yesterday went flying out the window today. Frustrating. Down-shifting is still something that is hit or miss with me, but it's getting better. The rest of the actual driving part I'm solid on. Just need to polish my shifting over the next..... 4 days.

So, for the next few days leading up to my test I will be immersing myself in pre-trip, skills and street driving as much as possible. If I were to test today, I think I'd have about a 90% chance of passing and most of that 10% doubt is because of shifting. Not much to do other than put my nose to the grindstone and study and practice hard.

My next update will be after the test - one way or the other.

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3/19/20: Drove in today to find out the school has been closed at least until April 6 to comply with the governor's request. I honestly thought they were going to remain open. Also got an email from the TSA this morning that my finger printing appointment has been canceled for my hazmat background check.

So........ I'm dead in the water. At least my unemployment is approved. For the first time during this period I feel lost. I don't really have anything to do with myself. I guess the plan right now is conserve, conserve, conserve.


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3/29/20: Everything is still on hold. I did talk to a couple of trucking company owners that I know about the CDL permit that I hold. Both of them believe their insurance companies won't allow them to hire someone with just a permit. And they are so busy I would just be taking up space. Understandable - but I had to ask.

I've kept in touch with a couple of guys from school. One got his CDL the week before the DMV closed and was hired on with a company that transports travel trailers and 5th wheels from the factories to the dealers. That company is shut down for two weeks for quarantine so my buddy is stuck in Indiana with little to do.

Another guy is stuck in central Nevada doing whatever day labor he can find to keep food on the table.

Another guy went back to driving a cab to keep from starving. With all of the casino closings and the collapse of tourism he's making about $50 a day. Enough to eat and pay his rent and that's it.

I hope the stimulus come through soon. Not so much for me but for most of the people who I go to school with. Most weren't in great shape financially when they got there and the shutdown just make things worse.

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05/26/20: Been back in school for a couple of weeks. Today I received my test date of June 8. There are a bunch of new test procedures which is going to make the driving portion of the test a pain in the ass. Basically, I will have to narrate my actions while driving into an open phone line to the DMV tester who will be following in a separate vehicle.

So now instead of concentrating strictly on the drive, I have to split my attention between driving an narrating. In practice, it's been difficult. The DMV wants a ton of detail: "I'm shifting from 4th to 5th, I'm scanning my mirrors, I'm going 23mph in a 25mph zone" We are being instructed to not stop talking and go overboard on detail.

My pretrip (all parts of it) is on point. My skills are about 90%. My non-narative drive is pretty good. Still grind a downshift on occasion but that's pretty rare these days. So I think I'm ready. I need to be - the lady at the DMV told me today "I hope you're ready because with this backlog, it will be months before you would get a re-test."

Guess the pressure is on now.

Also, the TSA is once again accepting applications for a HAZMAT endorsement so I'm doing that tomorrow.

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06/07/2020: Tomorrow is test day.

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06/08/2020: I did not pass my test.

For those who understand what it means, the tester didn't hear the governor spit during the air brake test. I could have swore I heard it, but she says it didn't happen. Apparently not letting it spit is an automatic fail.

In her words: "You had a near perfect score on your pre-trip but I can't let you pass because of the governor. I'm really sorry."

So I'll have to test again. It's going to be awhile because they are still working off the list of us who had appointments that were cancelled due to the shutdown. I don't really know what to think at the moment. I'm 99% sure I heard it, but there is no arguing and it won't do me any good. I might take a few days off from school to re-group and get some things done. It's probably going to be another month before I have my license.

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06/22/2020: I passed both my pretrip and skills tests this morning. Perfect score with the exception of 1 additional pull-up and 1 hit line on my parallel park. Not happy about that, but passing is passing.

My final drive test is scheduled for July 1. So now I'm in a bit of a holding pattern until then.


06/30/2020: Final drive test tomorrow.

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07/01/2020: I passed my test. Actually went very smoothly. One little hiccup on my simulated emergency stop (I was slow to hit the emergency flashers), but that was it. Drive test was about 45 minutes, mostly surface streets, only 10 minutes of highway.

Job search begins Monday.

Lot lizards 101

Truck driving

have fun working for swift

In before the Swift memes

Wont trucking companies pay for the schooling?

Probably spend 2 days learning how to slowly overtake another semi in the right lane.  

Ever thought about getting into hot tub rentals?

Lots of cool FB posts on how to fuck up based on what I see from my cousin.

DO NOT LEASE A TRUCK  NO MATTER WHAT THEY TELL YOU!!!

Get on the company plan in their truck get your two years in and go from there.

fucking dead

Elephant racing is second semester.

Apparently I should have added:

I will not work for Swift
I will NOT be buying or leasing a truck
I will only accept hourly positions

And while trucking companies do pay for training, it is basically indentured servitude. I won't be doing that.

heartbreak ,dissapontment being lied too, divorce,lonelyness.being pissed off .nasty truckstops. asshole shipper ,recivers.crooked trip agents.low pay.being harassed by the DOT.

When I was driving one of my coworkers would bring a 5 gallon bucket of kitty litter with him on Monday.   Saturday afternoon he'd take a full bucket out.  No lid.   He said shitting in public restrooms was disgusting.

Yeah but what are the downsides?

Easy access to pills and truck stop hookers.

Almost forgot: and dead truck stop hookers.

Ed

Get use to peeing in a bottle.

Lots of truck stop cookies; just gotta pull the scabs off.

Wearing Bluetooth headsets at truckstops

Next step in life. Temporary. Not buying a TURCK. I told myself the same things almost 20 years ago. Still doing it, occasionally. 2 things: it's not a glamorous life, but if you keep that license clean, you will never ever be without a job. Also, don't listen to the naysayers, There is still money to be made out here.

The guy that tested me told me.  "I can't cheat the test for you, come PREPARED."  < Pre trip, pre trip, pre trip, pre trip.  Study that shit until you're sick of it then study some more.

And make sure you come to a FULL STOP at stop signs, any kind of a rolling stop, no matter how slow, will fail you.

When checking cross traffic, they want to see your head move left, right, don't just shift your eyes, move your head so they can see that you're checking.

Pay attention to road signs, they will ask you what the last sign you drove past said.

All in all, worrying about taking the road test was worse than actually taking the road test.

Go to work for a crane company hauling counterweight and building cranes and rigging loads . Work your way into a crane seat . Good luck .

You forgot hand unloading and loading (At least it was back in the day)

Looks like you won’t be working.

Well the reason I'm starting school is my current set of skills don't transfer to anything!

Thank you. What you said matches the research that I've done over the last month.

Everything from equipment to street sweepers to garbage trucks to cement trucks requires a CDL and there are loads of those job ads in my area.

160 hours?

When I got mine it was just pass the written and driving test.  Didn’t matter how many hours you did or did not have.

In fact when I went from class B to A I didn’t even take the driving test.  Guy just signed it off for me.

Got my first job in a tractor trailer at a place a friend worked.   He told them I had exp.

I got in the loaded flat bed semi and headed out.  I had never even sat in a semi before.

I've recently made a connection to a rigging and heavy haul company that has expressed interest in me after I get my license. It looks promising.

Can you still get syphilis from the dead ones?  Asking for a friend.

Go find a farmer that owns his own trucks and haul locally. Work for him then, eventually buy your own Peterbilt, find a broker that finds commodity loads for you. Best of luck, it can be a very profitable. Fuck otr.

I've been out of the job market for the last ten years and the biggest thing that I've noticed is EVERYTHING changed. The old days of getting hired on the spot with a handshake are gone. Now everything requires a damn background check, and they are rather in depth. It's nuts and we don't know how good we had it.

I've never done any of that dumb shit and have been employed since 18 days after I got my cdl

The whole training period thing is pretty bullshit.

Can be a decent job if you get in with the right company. 60-100k a year plus benefits if you’re not an idiot.

When backing a trailer into a spot it's easier if you're curving the trailer to the driver's side so you can see what's going on by looking in the mirror OR out the side window. On the passenger's side the mirror is your only option. YMMV.
<-- not a CDL.

I’m just glad I went to college!

Amazing advice. Christ, I'm writing this down in pen.
Thank you.

I enrolled in trucking school too. I start next Wednesday. I don't know what your game plan is, but I'm shooting for a feeder driving position at UPS. Pay is not that good to start ($21/hr), but four years of tenure puts you at $37/hr.

I’m amused that you think you’ll be able to get hired on at an hourly position right out of school. If you do, it will be at Burger King shift manager wages.

Seriously, don’t do it. Like you, I went to school with the intent of driving for a few years and then getting out. Well, it’s been 25 years and I’m still doing it, wishing I’d gone to law school or something instead.

My favorite truck driver.

I take it that you've never seen someone that wasn't a farm kid try to back up a semi for the first time.

All of this. No joke. Been through all except the divorce. And that wasn't too far from happening at the time.

Maybe not in your AO.

But my AO you can walk out out of CDL school and into an hourly job that starts at 45k a year with benefits. Home nightly.

If not more.

Burger King shift manager pays $12 an hour so about 25k a year.

You should be. I am very well qualified to do a couple of things that provide a decent living but I lack a degree of any kind. I can't even get an interview without one.

That is probably the biggest change I've noticed. In my area, 10 years ago, experience was everything and formal education was a distant second. With Reno becoming a technology hub, degrees have become nearly mandatory and competing for a decent job without one has broken me over the last couple of months. So I'm doing this to earn a paycheck until I can find something more in line with my experience.

Weed, Whites and Wine.

Oh, and hemorrhoids.

Similar story here. Most of the other students I talked to have offers already - just waiting for them to finish school. Average seems to be around $23 an hour. Pickup and delivery, port runs to Oakland and back, containers to Sacramento and back. Those kinds of things. My brother in law graduated from the same school 2 years ago and got a flatbed job immediately delivering steel to local projects.

I'm not even entertaining OTR so I don't know what that looks like currently.

Attached File

Bad knees and back.

I did that too, the cdl has opened a way more profitable pathway for me than anything else.