Profile For Ryan O.

I really appreciate you guys replying to me.

My felony is unfortunate. I was told no more than I was yes. I wasn't sure if it differed being another state. I was honestly a sheltered child with a family that didn't travel at all. The 6 months OTR was the most traveling I done. I went to Flordia for a weekend once. Drove a 24 foot Uhaul down there. Its nice to hear from people that actually know the area, to let me know.

I knew about the work you guys mentioned. I didnt know the wording for it. I'm open for any of that. I have an open mind and give it a long try before I decide I don't want to do it anymore. I didnt mind the OTR job. First time seeing the east coast and loved seeing the hills and the ships out in the port, despite the stuck up folks out there and traffic. I don't moan and groan about loads. I told the boss there.. "Give me a load and ill take it where it needs to go. I don't need babysat". So they started screwing me after I got settled in and giving me low paying crappy loads and giving my good loads to cry baby's. I put my two weeks in and went back to end dump. Im not aposed to OTR at all. Im just avoiding the major strain it will make on our relationship.

The plan right now is to use up the rest of my vacation and take long weekends to scope the areas out. When we move. Ill be going down with a big chunk of savings and my Jeep paid months ahead. Give me time to find work and get the new house moved into. She ain't driving the uhaul thats for sure!! I'm excited and ready to get out of Indiana. Again. I appreciate the replys and good words.

Oh and I will add something I didnt see mentioned in a reply. You better break that speeding habit. When you are in a tractor trailer set up. You have bullseye on you. State troopers don't even ask for excuses. They just write the ticket and go through your logs and truck to find reason for more tickets. Local law enforcement agency get a hard on for pulling over bug trucks. Nothing makes a rookie deputy happier than sticking his chest out in the squad room and bragging about nailing some dumb truck driver that day.

Here was my last ticket.. 65 for big trucks, 70 for cars. Im doing 65 and come up on 4 trucks in a row and last one doing 60. I didnt want to block the left lane so I hammered down to govern speed of 72. I pass the last truck and go down to 65 again. Trooper pulls me over. Comes up with a big grin and I tried to explain. He said " I don't care, its not my problem and yea I can write you a ticket for hold up left lane too. I don't care, but I won't inspect you just to be nice".. There are excuses. Its a ticket and your CDL going away.

I don't know if there is a lot farming where you are from. However there are a lot of farmers that haul grain commercially to keep their trucks rolling year around. They don't care usually because lots if them will put anybody with a pulse in a truck. You won't make a lot, but it can get you driving experience.

Keep in mind you are not the only driver that called off due to the weather. Everyone knew it was coming. Boss man told me Monday morning. I want your butt back here at 2 o clock when it suppose to start. Park in the sheds and plug em in. Plan on taking Tuesday off. I said copy that. Friends that are drivers said they were told the same thing or they told dispatchers they weren't running.

Nobody is going to disagree with you.

Me and my fiancé are planning on moving to North Carolina. Mooreseville is at the top of our list. Really depends on where we find a house. It will be around Charlotte, more towards the north end of it. She is transferring. I have to find work.

I have 3.5 years of driving experience, starting in 2017. We pull 39 foot frameless end dumps and tankers in the spring and summer for liquid fertilizer. I also have 6 months of OTR Dryvan in the middle of the 3.5 years. I also have C felony battery I was convicted of in 2010. Sentence fully completed in 2014 and haven't been in trouble since then. 29 years old.

I do really enjoy pulling the end dump and pulling tankers. Someone told me there is a lot of end dump work down south, is that true? I also am willing to get my hazmat if needed. Willing to do tri/quad dump truck, concrete truck, propane truck, etc. Also try flatbed, lowboy, refer, etc. I have an open mind and willing to work. I make 55-60k a year without benefits right now. Ideally would like to stay at least at that or know I can work up to that. I would like to make OTR the last resort. I can handle OTR. My fiancé can't and made it clear she won't be happy with a husband gone.

I hear a lot of stuff up here about CDL jobs down there.

"They don't hire felons like they do up here"

"What pays 50k up here, pays 30k down here. You won't make any money being local"

"There are jobs everywhere"

It keeps going back and forth. I don't have social media, so I can't look and ask there. I checked indeed, but its mostly OTR, big company stuff. We are moving from Indiana and both really excited about a new life. I can't wait to not have to stand outside watching my truck load in a foot of snow and the negative windchill in my face. It has me really nervous about finding decent work due to my felony and the negative things I hear.

Well I honestly smoke quite a bit before I decided to get my CDL. I work construction and my boss smoked it too. They do it on the job, but I had no part in that. I always kept it at home and smoked it at home. When I decided to get my CDL, I made a complete life change about a year before I even got my CDL. No weed and no more bars. You either want to be a truck driver or you don't.

I understand where you are coming from. I had seen enough on the internet and listening to other drivers that were friends of mine. I already knew what I was getting into. I brought everything I needed for school and extra. I came to the school with my permit and medical already. I watched many people be turned around or walk out on the first day. Mostly because they were short ONE piece of paper or didn't like what they heard.. That means they traveled from where ever out of state and came here to just "find out".. Then I watched many people continue to fail the pretrip and not even get range time or drive time 3 weeks into school.. "I didn't know we had to do this".. I already knew because I read several diary's on the school I went to. People act like its nuclear engineering classes. Just study and ask questions.

I had made a post mid last year about me going through WorkOne to get free CDL training. I said I would give an update and I honestly have forgotten about my post until I checked my email this morning. That post may be hard to find since it is so long ago, so I will refresh. I am a convicted felon. I was 6 years past my conviction date and it was a violent crime. Not against women or children. I worked a steady job for 5 years before I decided it was enough and I was going to pursue my dream of truck driving. Finding a company willing to hire me was difficult. I was not in a desperate position, so I was not going to go to a company like Swift. I am not criticizing those that do. Its your choice, but wasn't mine. I found out about a program here in Indiana called "WorkOne".

I went to the one in Lebanon, Indiana. I went in and filled out paperwork. Then had to do 12 hours of class time in the adult learning center. Basically they have me a pretest to see if I was at a 9th grade level. Then after 12 hours, I get a post test showing I am still at least at a 9th grade level. It is okay if you do not do well on the pretest. That is what the 12 hours of class time is for. I breezed through all of that and then waited for the state to send WorkOne my school money. I had to wait several months for this. The reason is they have two Fiscal times during the yea. Basically they get funding in January and July.

I completed class time in April, so they lacked funds. Finally in July they put me in school. I was sent down to C1 Trucking school in Indianapolis. I had already gotten my permit and medical BEFORE school. WorkOne will pay for both of these, but I got them on my own. I wanted to be ahead of the game. I stuck my nose in the book and kept my mouth shut, unless I had a question to ask. I was out of there in 3 weeks with a CDL. I took me two times to past my test. I had to drive myself to school and lived exactly 1 hour from the school. They do however reimburse you with fuel. They gave me 25 cents a mile. I have not had to pay one dime back, like I was told. I am also a free agent. No ties or contracts. I turned down many times, before training, with truck companies. This is because of my felony. I was promised a job by a company that does all the hauling for NHK. I was turned down for it, because they stopped hiring drivers and was slow because of the July shut down for the factory. I searched on craigslist and found a driving job with a farm. This is full time work year around. When we do not haul for the farm, we haul for ADM, Cargill, ect.. Pays hourly.

I have been doing this for 6 months now. Absolutely love what I do and for once in my life I am happy and do not even feel like I am going to work at all. I love my job. I love driving a big truck. This is a program I would like for everyone in Indiana to know about. Lots of people in the school from Indiana, wished they had done what I had done. They was contracted through Swift and PAM. Just walked into a WorkOne and ask about the CDL training. The best option is the one in Lebanon. I tried the one in Lafayette and they said I "made too much money". Honestly, it was because I was a felon and they did not take me seriously at all. This may end up being the case with your work one, so keep trying the other facilities if it does.

Update: Today I got my CDL A permit and my Tanker Endorsement. This point i'm not interested in doubles or triples or hauling people around. Tanker is something I have been interested in and I have looked into possibly going to the oil fields. That is just something that won't even come for awhile if that happens. It is not as hard as I thought it would be. The hardest part was getting into study mode, which meant put the smart phone in the other room and turn off the TV. It has taken now three weeks for my funding to come so far. She told me on the phone this week to call her Tuesday of this coming week to check. She said she doesn't have a time frame for my funding to come in. So if anyone does go through this program, be ready to wait. In the mean time I have been riding with a friend on some hauls and have enjoyed every minute of it. Even in a seat with no air ride for ten hours haha. He has let me do everything that doesn't have me driving the truck. Hooking up the trailer and unhooking, filling out paper work, and doing a quick pretrip. I'm sure everyone has said this or read it, but if you have that opportunity, take advantage of it and soak of anything you can before school.

My experienced advice

I ment "unexperenced"