Trucking Newb, Super Excited With A Touch Of Terrified!

Howdy all!

I'm about to embark on this career in trucking that I've pondered many times over the past several years. I've been researching, studying the High Road training, and doing lots of reading of different blog and forum posts. Today I decided to have a look at a local Trucking school here in Syracuse, NTTS, and see what that was like and what they offered. What I thought was only going to be a quick tour, turned into me enrolling in the next class on 8/8/16!! WOW did that ever happen quickly, my heads still spinning. I'm both excited for the new career, and terrified about the drastic life changes it entails.

While I await my first day, I was wondering some of you would be willing to share a story or two of some experiences you've had on the job, good or bad and what you love most about this job or hate. Maybe ill run into some of you (provided I pass) in the months to come at some truck stop on the way to who knows where and we can exchange some more transportation tales!

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Troy

Good Luck !!!

Thanks MissSippi, good luck to you as well!!

Congrats and a "Touch of Terrified " is a good thing. It's that healthy bit of fear that's going to make you a safer driver.

CDL school is certainly a trial by fire, but the system works. Just be attentive and learn as much as you can, pass your pretrip and skills exams then your new employer will turn you into a trucker and help fine tune your skills. After company training you'll quickly realize you still have much more to learn.

Best wishes on your journey and please let us know how it works out.

Thank you Sue!

Actually the trucking school is a private accredited school, so I'm not tied to any one company. The course is also a little slower paced at 18 weeks so it's more like a slow smolder instead of trial by fire lol! Can't wait to start, and I'll send updates as I progress :-)

I heard Express was good (I think they're U.S. Express), my buddy got a position with them out of school. I have some other reccomendations, too as I have been looking and I am in a program too. Just trying to look ahead like you are. Let me know if you want any more reccomendations.

Sounds like a great program to last so long. I also attended a private school part time so i could choose any company and still work while i attended.

Thank you Jeffrey, I'll keep an eye out for U.S. Express, I think they may have a route near here.

Sue, that freedom of choice, and the close to home training are what sold me. How has your rookie experience been so far?

Man to ask a truck driver to share stories is like asking them to write a novel. Stories become abundant in the industry. But most of enjoy sharing them. Like myself!

For some advice I would offer this. Don't be afraid of failure. Failure can be a great learning tool. And the chances are very high that at some point in your first year something will go wrong. It may not necessarily be a major thing but something. During my first three months let alone year I backed into something, dropped my trailer, and took down a wire. Now luckily for me none of that resulted in any real damage. I was up front with my company and they worked with me to get better. As a LTL driver I also had some issues. Point is that you should expect to succeed but be prepared to fail. Just remember nobody's prefect. Except maybe Daniel B lol

My favorite part and least favorite part of this job is the ever changing conditions. It's my favorite because you get new scenery, new challenges and new experiences at every corner. But it's also my least favorite because the weather can change on you, traffic can change on you and you can go from having a great day to a ****ty one it a second. However if you keep the task at hand and have a short memory of the negatives, you'll make it. And always remember that no load is worth risking your career or you life for.

Good luck with everything!

My favorite part of this job is no two days are alike. No two loads are alike...things are always fluid and if you are paying attention the learning experience never stops. It's a challenge that I continue to enjoy.

Best advice I can give you is to never lose your focus, no matter how good or how bad things get.