Schneider - Diesel Driving Academy

Jamie...this is a great diary! My apologies for not reading it sooner. Its very good and I'm sure a lot of folks will benefit from it going forward.

Best of luck on your test Monday!

Good luck on your test, it sounds like you'll do great!

Good news! I passed my class a CDL tests!

Jamie,

I'm considering Schneider for my CDL. I have a few questions for you.

1) Is the Schneider recruitment process difficult? I was rejected by Prime due to unemployment gap.

2) What if my license is out of state from my home state? Can I still use it?

3) What did Schneider cover financially? I am asking this because I don't have any money for CDL training, and was hoping to find a company that would pay for things like room and board, and anything else would be helpful. To be straight forward with you - I need a company that will pay for everything to get me started.

4) Does Schneider do OTR support like wifi/laundry at their terminals? I would be using my truck as a temporary home to save money, so this would be very helpful to know.

1) Is the Schneider recruitment process difficult? I was rejected by Prime due to unemployment gap.

I wouldn't say so, my recruiter and I talked for about an hour on the phone. She was very friendly, and answered any questions I asked. I have only had one recent verifiable job since 2015, and I wasn't with them for long since I was only working there long enough to find something better. I only said verifiable, because between that time I did a lot of odd jobs that paid under the time / cash, and some online freelance programming work. But nothing was said about the gap, and they sent me some e-paper work to sign and I was set to go to trucking school a month later.

2) What if my license is out of state from my home state? Can I still use it

I don't know about this for sure, your best bet would be to call them. I don't want to say one thing, and it turns out to be wrong.

3) What did Schneider cover financially? I am asking this because I don't have any money for CDL training, and was hoping to find a company that would pay for things like room and board, and anything else would be helpful. To be straight forward with you - I need a company that will pay for everything to get me started

They cover the cost of the school, and housing. You have to pay for your own food, and transportation to and from the school. The hotel they got me setup in here, is actually a pretty nice hotel in a great location. It's near a Walmart/Dollar Tree/and loads of other places. It's only a mile from the school, so you could walk that really. I drive my car, but yeah. So if you need them to pay for everything, you might want to look else where, because as far as I know and from my own experience they only cover what I listed above. But it could be worth giving them a call.

4) Does Schneider do OTR support like wifi/laundry at their terminals? I would be using my truck as a temporary home to save money, so this would be very helpful to know.

I believe they offer wifi/laundry at most of their terminals according to their website. I haven't started working with them just yet, I'll be starting within the next two weeks.

A longer post from me passing yesterday:

The day started a bit different like Friday, we had to be in the school by 6:15am since we was testing about 40 miles away give or take. The day before I decided to go home to see my wife, which I live 136 miles away from the school. So I stayed the night, and I had to wake up at 3am the next day and get on the road by 3:40am to make it to the school in time. So I had a nice little drive before testing.

I did test in a manual, and I passed my tests. I was actually happy I put up with the manual, although at times it didn't seem I was improving. But both my instructor and other people on here was correct, about time my testing came around I was good enough to pass the test. I wasn't nervous until the test started, and it was only after the air bakes / in-cab inspection. I nailed the air brakes and in-cab, but I started to get nervous after we got out to do the outside pre-trip. I did the front of the truck, engine, wheels, etc just fine. But when I moved to the drive tires, I completely forgot to mention the brake system on the drive wheels. I stopped after each part to think about it before moving on to the next part, to make sure I didn't skip anything. But I some how forgot the brake system(only on the drive wheels), lmao. Other then the brakes on the drive wheel, and shock absorbers; I didn't miss anything else.

My skills went pretty good as well, I went out of bounds while doing the off-set and that was me being stupid rather then just pulling up. I did pull up after going out of bounds, and I got right into the off-set as my setup was perfect and I broke the plane.

Then I was off to do the 90, which I say went pretty good? I did get 5 points on the 90, mostly in pull ups as I only went out of bounds one. So I only had a total of 7 points on the skills out of 12.

The driving part had me nervous, as I'm normally a nervous test taker. The driving course was 40 minutes long. But everything went great, I did grind a few gears and had trouble getting into a gear while down shifting one time. But I recovered real quick. I got a few points for slowing down to soon, but I was worried about certain lights... Because they change quickly, and if you run through a yellow light it's an instant fail. Oh I almost forgot to mention, I also got two points for making two wide turns, but honestly I rather get the points then hit a curb and fail.

Over all the test went good, the instructor said I did a great job and the only problem I had was slowing down to soon when coming to turns and or lights. He knew I was nervous.

But my ending statement would be:

I'm very glad I stuck it out on the manual, there was a number of times I wanted to switch to the auto so bad. But I put up with it, and near my testing date it just clicked in my head, and my shifting and down shifting became a lot better without making so many mistakes. If I can learn to shift, I'm sure everyone can if they put in the work, and learn from their mistakes.

Just a quick update, since I passed my CDL test Monday and got my license on Tuesday. I got in contact with my recruiter yesterday as well, and I am scheduled to start orientation on the 21st. I could have started sooner but I have to stay at the school until Friday in order to get my certificate of completion then I wanted to stay home for another week to spend time with my wife before I start orientation. But the good news is Schneider has a terminal in my town, so I don't have to go anywhere for my orientation.

Congrats!!

Congratulations Jamie!

Thanks! It feels weird not having to get up so early to head to the school everyday.

But I'll be working before I know it, so I'm enjoying the time off.