Need Some Advice Concerning Training

Hi, I have a situation where I’m not quite sure what to do. I attended a company school, but got sick the week I was supposed to test out. Got tested for covid, and it came back positive. So I had to leave the school and go i to quarantine. I’m over covid and out of quarantine now. The school i was at said they can bring me back in as a permitted student, which basically means I’m starting over, because I came in as a permitted student the first time. I had become unhappy with the school while I was there. I felt the driving instructor was pushing me to drive faster than I was comfortable with, considering I had only driven a truck on the range at 2 mph. My first time to drive on the road, I was between 40-50mph in a 55, had only been in the driver’s seat a few minutes, was still getting accustomed to watching the road in front of me and the trailer behind me at the same time, and he was complaining about how slow I was going... wanted me to at least get up to 50. Maybe this is normal, i don't know, but that was my first tome to drive a big rig at faster than 2mph.

There were other things that happened with me, and one incident with another student that I witnessed, that made me unhappy with the instructors at this school. So while I was in quarantine, I did lots of research into other options. I found a few possibilities.

This morning I spoke with a truck driver with another company. His company would put me through their school, covering all the costs except my food and laundry. The biggest difference is after the school training, the first company sends me OTR with a trainer for 6 weeks. His company would would send me out with a driving mentor for 2-3 weeks, or until that mentor was confident that I was ready to go out on my own. I like that. But I can see the advantage of having more time with an OTR trainer too.

So here’s my question....

Should I speak with the director at that school about what happened and give them another chance, since they’ve already done some of my training? Or should I go with another company, possibly the one whose driver I spoke with this morning?

Thank you in advance for any help you can give.

Go back to the original school. It's easy to nitpick things you feel are done wrong when you're struggling to learn something new. Regardless you're going to be responsible for paying for that school may as well get something out of it. The reason the instructor is telling you to speed up is they don't want you to fail for impeding traffic. In a 10 speed manual, for the road we drove I was told to drive 5 under the speed limit but no less. The reason being if a light changes or I need to stop for any other reason my RPMS are already at the proper place to drop a gear.

Many schools or companies will not accept you to their program if you've been enrolled in a different program.

I agree with Rob. Even if you get accepted for the company program, you will have to work there for a year while your still paying for the private school. So you might as well finish out the private school and then figure out where you want to work.

I concur. I know for a fact Prime has rejected people who did not complete other programs. It makes you look like a quiter and not worth investing time and money into

Ditto, finish what you started where you started.

Hi, I have a situation where I’m not quite sure what to do. I attended a company school, but got sick the week I was supposed to test out. Got tested for covid, and it came back positive. So I had to leave the school and go i to quarantine. I’m over covid and out of quarantine now. The school i was at said they can bring me back in as a permitted student, which basically means I’m starting over, because I came in as a permitted student the first time. I had become unhappy with the school while I was there. I felt the driving instructor was pushing me to drive faster than I was comfortable with, considering I had only driven a truck on the range at 2 mph. My first time to drive on the road, I was between 40-50mph in a 55, had only been in the driver’s seat a few minutes, was still getting accustomed to watching the road in front of me and the trailer behind me at the same time, and he was complaining about how slow I was going... wanted me to at least get up to 50. Maybe this is normal, i don't know, but that was my first tome to drive a big rig at faster than 2mph.

There were other things that happened with me, and one incident with another student that I witnessed, that made me unhappy with the instructors at this school. So while I was in quarantine, I did lots of research into other options. I found a few possibilities.

This morning I spoke with a truck driver with another company. His company would put me through their school, covering all the costs except my food and laundry. The biggest difference is after the school training, the first company sends me OTR with a trainer for 6 weeks. His company would would send me out with a driving mentor for 2-3 weeks, or until that mentor was confident that I was ready to go out on my own. I like that. But I can see the advantage of having more time with an OTR trainer too.

So here’s my question....

Should I speak with the director at that school about what happened and give them another chance, since they’ve already done some of my training? Or should I go with another company, possibly the one whose driver I spoke with this morning?

Thank you in advance for any help you can give.

For sure, what the others all above, have said. Additionally, you're probably bound by contract with said company...training isn't entirely 'free.' These companies put out SO MUCH risk, to even BRING you on board to train you. They expect commitment, in return... which equals revenue for both yourself, and said company.

Care to share the company? It'll help us help you, IMHO. (For example, CRST .. you might need $7k immediately, to jump out.)

Best wishes; go on back & move on. It's always scary going from the pad to the road, no matter whom with! Happens. Read all you can in here, good sir. Lose the 'grass is greener' mindset; you'll see ... if you read enough in our diaries (and general!) sections, that'd not be the case.

~ Anne & Tom ~

ps: Glad you're back to good health! Clean & clear minds prevail. That might've been part of your issue, in your apprehension.

Thank all of you so much, you've made some good points and helped me a lot.

To answer some questions, the first school was a company school financed through a local community college. I was thinking if they’re starting me over, the previous contract may not be valid any longer, but I could be wrong.

I don't feel like the instructors really care whether we succeed or not. Since the company isn't financing us themselves, because the financing is coming from a local community college, and I haven't seen one instructor act as though he was willing to spend any time at all one on one with a student to help them with something they’re struggling with. It seems like they’re just running the school as another money maker, but maybe I’m wrong.... I hope I am.

But I will go back and finish out there, work for them for the first year to fulfill the contract, then decide what my next step will be.

Again, thank you all so much for the help.

I agree with the others and am happy to hear you’re going to stick with them. Doesn’t matter to me personally but I’m sure it will be the better choice for you. Trucking companies are really good at recruiting and it helps give the illusion that the grass is always greener somewhere else. It really isn’t.

It seems like they’re just running the school as another money maker, but maybe I’m wrong.... I hope I am.

I didn’t see your post until you’d already decided to stay with your current company but I did want to say something about your statement here. I hear a lot of truck drivers say things like their company is only concerned about the bottom line or they just care about making money and so on. I get that we want the company to care about us and about our success and sometimes we’ll find a company where they have amazing culture, but even at those companies ultimately the bottom line wins almost every time. If it didn’t they’d go out of business especially seeing how trucking is an extremely competitive and cut throat business with very low profit margins. Not to mention the reason we’re all in trucking is because we care about making money for ourselves and ultimately only care about our bottom line (I like my company a lot but I wouldn’t sacrifice my paycheck for them).

Ultimately even if the instructors may not care as much as they should I know the company does want you to succeed because they make more money and they make it more quickly if you succeed and get into one of their trucks. There are many benefits of them running their own school including the financial aspect of it, but it also benefits you. It does suck having to go through another time but even though it doesn’t seem like it right now the extra training at no additional cost is of benefit to you and one of the reasons they offer their own school is so they can offer this to students who may need it or had extenuating circumstances like you did. Imagine if you had gone to a regular trucking school and had to quarantine for 2-3 weeks right before testing out, only to be told you have to test out right away when you came back and that you will have to pay extra for additional training and tests if you fail. That is a normal experience for people that go to private schools. If you don’t pay up and get the extra training you just paid $5000 for nothing.

Not trying to be harsh at all so I apologize if it came across that way. Just hoping to offer some additional perspective. Best of luck to you!

Thank you so much. You’re right that the extra training isn’t going to hurt, and could help. And the extra practice on the range and on the road will certainly help.

I feel like I could pass the test today, if I had a truck to take it in. But you’re right, if I took it and failed, that would be disappointing to say the least. At least this way, I’m more likely to pass on my first attempt, which was my plan and hope from the beginning.