Thank You Trucking Truth

Now the problem that most of us at TT foresee is your ability to gain employment without the normal certificate that states that you have received and passed 160 hours of formal training. I think that if you are able to drive with/for your friend for a full year, or are able to find an employer who doesn't require one, then the lack of a certificate won't be a problem

That is, if you're currently driving a class A tractor trailer and you're driving OTR (leaving the state regularly). If you're not driving a class A tractor trailer OTR then you're going to find it nearly impossible to get a job doing so because you don't have the proper training and you won't have any class A experience.

Sometimes there is a "beaten path" because people are lazy and don't look for alternatives

Rarely. Basically what you're saying is you've outworked and outsmarted everyone and that's not the case here at all. Listen, I don't mind someone going their own path when it makes sense. But in this case it doesn't make sense. The majority of people that are coming into trucking are looking for a career, not just a quick job. They want to know they were trained on the proper safety measures and they certainly want as many career choices and job opportunities as they can get.

So you saved a few thousand bucks. So what? What good is that if you want to go OTR and find out almost nobody is willing to hire you and you'll have to go through training anyhow? If you had saved $50,000 and three years of schooling that would be different. But an OTR trucker is going to earn back the full price of their tuition in about 6 weeks and you spent just as long getting your CDL as you would have going the normal path. So you're going to forge a more difficult path into a new career career, limit your job opportunities, and risk not getting the proper safety training while at the same time taking just as long to complete the process and only saving a few weeks salary? That's just incredibly short sighted is what it is.

I like long-term thinking. I like when people are about to take on a task and decide they're going to go the extra mile to do it the right way. When it comes to getting your career started in trucking there's a right way to go about it which will insure you have the proper training and the full range of opportunities. It makes logical sense to take that path.

I do sincerely hope this works out for of course and I'm certainly not attacking you personally. But it's my job to explain to people how they should go about getting their trucking career off to a great start. So I have to explain why it was a bad idea to do it your way so they don't do the same thing and find themselves regretting it. It just doesn't make sense to skimp on the training and eliminate 95% of your career opportunities right off the bat just to save a few weeks salary. In my mind you've gained nothing worthwhile for the boatload of opportunities you've given up.