Bunch Of Questions, Advice Needed

Hello, I'm in my 30s and I want to get my CDL to be driving a truck and make some good money for once in my life. I don't know anything about cars or manual labor, but I'm a video nerd and worked in hollywood and now my career is dead in the water with AI and strikes and everything, and I'm worried about AI taking creative and tech jobs, and I'm finding it impossible to be hired as anything else, even fast food here in socal, so I have to learn to do this to make money at all. I already basically live in my car with not much of a life to miss in the first place, the lonely/isolation bit of this doesn't sound too bad. This sounds much better than waiting around for ubereats orders making $30 per 12-hour day. Bonus points if I can get a sleeper and have truck that has a bed and all that. I can stay awake for a long time and drove a van all along the coast for 16 hour drives before. I prefer night driving if there's a choice.

I'm worried about getting stuck with a bad company though, not knowing what to look for or what even really constitutes "bad company", and then being in their debt for a year or two from paid CDL training. Is Knight a good company? I have reached out to the WOIA unemployment program and went to a seminar and filled out forms for them. They said they could possibly help me get a CDL for a lower price than usual, but I haven't heard from them in a few weeks and they don't answer my calls so I don't think they're going to help.

I have a bachelors, totally clean record, no drugs or alcohol, no crime no accidents. Well one… was not my fault, a reckless driver smashed into my car while it was parked, knocking me deeper into debt.

I tried to join a discord from reddit to learn more and make trucker friends and they were mean and unhelpful, hope here will be better.

Here's my long vision of what's it's like, correct me if im wrong:

Once I am able to get into a class (which typically costs around 5k—dont got that. need another way in) I'll spend 4-8 weeks being paid, learning how to drive the truck both written and in experience, pass some written tests, and then drive with an instructor/teammate, and then drive on my own racking up hours in a training period, and then I'll be able to go out on my own. Then I have to look for a job but since I have a CDL it'll be easy to get into any company, they are always hiring and they'll take you even if you're homeless with no experience. Then they will give me a truck and i'll have to maintain and check it for any problems, keeping it at a lot somewhere that I'll have to drive to, and then drive it somewhere, maybe crosscountry. Making around $1000 a week, minimum, and with benefits. There are jobs where I'll have to do the loading/unloading but there's other ones where you just drive the truck from dock to dock and the people there do all the loading/unloading. I want that kind because I'm not strong and I had a job at a grocery store where I had to wheel a ****ton of bottled water off a ramp and ended up dropping them it was awful. I also was no good at maneuvering the pallet jacks, but in my defense there was ZERO training and it was a horrible crew that hated me.

Anyway, then you're basically on call for the company you're with to drive 40 or more hours a week. Its steady work and pays well but you have no hometime. You could have hometime if you fight them for it but then they might treat you worse and give you less hours or fire you. You also sometimes call back and forth between a dispatcher that'll tell you where to go, but other than that you're mostly alone on the road, you can sing if you wanna.

And also always keep record of whatever the company promises, cuz they a bunch of slippery snakes.

You can sleep in the truck even on days off, if there are any, and some trucks even have beds in them. You'd bring your own meals which you could keep cooking in an electric lunchbox while you drive or something like that, and occasionally you could stay at a hotel when you want a real bed and shower.

I would like to vlog my adventures seeing the country and bring my laptop and guitar along to ride shotgun for when I have either downtime or completely dead traffic jams, is that allowed? I am talking about deadstopped, I would not compromise safety for this. Speaking of allowed I hear there are sometimes driver-facing cameras that are always watching you, is that pretty common with every company nowadays? I dont want a company that does that especially if i am living in there.

And then, years later, I'll probably rack up health issues and I can quit if I wanna, now having a full bank account, provided there's anything still around to switch back to, and be able to start my life at age 40. If I stay for a long long time and I get really good, THEN i might be able to make around 100k salary.

Continued in next post

Wow, JL, that's a long read! It looks like you did some homework and have a decent impression of the industry and the job. Fear not, you still have a lot to learn, not just to get that CDL but about the Trucker life in general.

Lesseee... First off, having an employment history is a step in the right direction. I imagine from your writing that you have the resolve & stick-to-it to spend about 4-5 weeks getting your CDL and on into training with some OTR company.

Step 1: Schooling. Keep your bucks in your pocket. Check with your local community/vocational college. The training may be free or low tuition. Even better is company sponsored Paid CDL Training Programs. Yes, you sign a contract and they dock your pay for about a year, but it's almost no out of pocket. Check out the link for companies that do that. Often the CDL class you don't get paid, but once you get on a truck for on the job training you'll earn some pay. Once you hit the road on your own, and if you keep you nose clean and do the work, you can look at maybe $1,200 - 1,500 a week to start.

Living in your truck is a foregone conclusion. Many people make the truck their home, and save on apartment rental and stuff. You will still need a street address, but it can be a family member or friend. You will get home time, roughly one day "home" for each week you drive. Three weeks = three days at "home". No "fighting" for time off required. (A secret: depending on your company's service area, you might could get time off anywhere you want. You know, like you want to see the Alamo? Put in for San Antonio.

The is some issue by some drivers about driver facing cameras. They generally only record and "remember" the last ten seconds. That's really for your CYA protection since of course you pay attention and look everywhere while you drive. But you can get caught out for things you should not do, like handling your cellphone or eating and driving at the same time.

Brett - the owner of this web site - has a book you can read about his OTR experience: Becoming A Truck Driver: The Raw Truth About Truck Driving. Old School - a very active member here - also just finished a book, but I don't have a link here.

So start studying for your CDL Permit. You can't go to truck school without it. That means get into the High Road Permit study course. You'll also need a DOT Medical Certificate

More stuff is here: The Truck Driver's Career Guide

Have fun!The Truck Driver's Career Guide

I’ll offer a short piece of advice. Many better responders here than myself. I will say that I know, that no company is a bad company. Well lemme rephrase, no starter company is a bad company. All companies have flaws, but this industry and your success, is 100 percent entirely on you and your ability to humble yourself, show your respect for the equipment, environmental factors and your ability to take initiative in some odd situations. You control the entire outcome of your career. You have to recognize that it’s going to be a long, icy covered on ramp until you hit the highway that is your career. Not days, not weeks, but months and into the first several years before you start to gain real traction onto financial success. The first year and maybe 2, are low income, high stress, navigation and learning curves that will make you question life decisions.

That being said, use the resources available to you on this website. Use a starter company that trains you, and stay with that starter company as often times the grass is not always greener on the other side in the first few years. Learn the industry, learn the fundamentals and gain some comfort with the stresses of the lifestyle that is trucking, and see out the contract. I started and stayed with Swift for over 2 years. I can’t say anything negative with my experience with them, and I would most likely be with them still if it wasn’t for the wishes of my wife and kid being home more, but I found something that satisfies myself and my family needs. Kearsey is a Prime legend here, couple other Prime drivers that may also chime. Another more knowledgeable than I am with experience from Knight for many years, and Western Express is another. They’ll be along.

Welcome!

In your situation, I would opt for company sponsored training. Most are 1 year contracts. Errol stated that some dock your pay to pay it back. Some do, some don't. Prime does not, but it is a one year contract.

You can wind up in a situation paying out of pocket where you have a CDL , but no experience, and some companies won't even bother looking at you. You set yourself up for a stale CDL situation, which can be worse than no CDL at all.

You would have to talk to a Prime recruiter to get the exact current training setup, but here is what they did for me:

Got invited to orientation. This is a really long job interview, testing your attitude and ability to follow rules, regulations, and instructions. They are also testing you to see if you lied by omission on your application.

Orientation for me started on a Monday. I was cleared for PSD training (you're in the program now!) by Tuesday at 5pm. Wednesday 7am I met with my trainer. I was trained on the pad instead of OTR , so I was in a hotel the whole time.

Day 15, the first day I was eligible, I tested and nailed all three segments of the skills test on the first try. Once I passed that, I was walked into the office, to fill out the paperwork making me officially an employee of Prime, and in the TNT portion of training. That was May 2021. I was on my trainers truck until I was brought in for upgrade July 26 2021. It took longer than some, because we drove our tails off, but he took three total weeks home time during my training. I was paid for all of my TNT time.

I took my first solo run Aug 8th 2021. Like anything in trucking, your experience may vary.

You CAN be successful, if you are willing to humble yourself, ditch the ego, and work your behind off.

Jaybird mentions

starter company

There is no such thing as a "starter company". No one is going to hire CDL rubes off the street, "train them" to drive OTR , then pat them on the butt out the door and say "good luck out there!".

Every company hires with an eye to permanent employment. Those you think are "starters" are simply the ones willing to take a chance on a newbie. Their whole training operation is set to get you up to speed to operate their trucks for the, er, long haul. Sure, many drivers look for that greener grass, or a few pennies more per mile, but I suggest the move is hardly worth it. Here's one fact: After a year or so with Company A, you decide to move to Company B. Well, there you are with a new company, and zero seniority and zero accumulated miles..

Also, if you dream of making a million accident free miles (Hey, Kearsey!!) you won't do it by switching companies. Yes, some better paying companies are looking for 1 - 5 year experience or they won't talk to you. But I suggest don't even go there until you have those years on the road with Company A.

Ask Prime about California hiring. Because of AB5, they were only hiring company drivers... which we recommend over 1099.... but over the summer, they stopped hiring from Cali all together. Prime will do this from time to time in order to not have too many drivers from one area. It makes it difficult to get people to and from home. So they freeze a state for a bit.

Get the idea out of your head that someone with a CDL can automatically find work. Not true. And companies won't just take anybody.

I have a youtube channel. Check it out. It has lots of info on my playlists "Considering CDL school?" And "rookie tips" even training videos with a student so you know what to expect.

I have been using Adobe Premier Pro with a Canon Rebel T7i. Be careful what you say if you go that route. Not all companies allow the social media content.

Thanks all! I'll check at a community college and all that soon. I have started doing the high road training on this site, and I did apply to the link on this site for the paid CDL training and so far prime has gotten back to me and said they have no positions (in socal), and before that I'd tried schneider's site, and they got nothing here too, or within 100 miles. The thing is my applying address is in socal, but I can pick up and move to wherever i gotta go whenever someone gets back to me to say there's a job there. I'm gonna read all your responses more deeply, out ubering right now, but for now I wanted to post the last part that got cut off from the word count and then i forgot because my first topic needed to be approved to post.

"But if I had gone the paid training route, then they would definitely take me, but I would not be able to quit for 1 - 2 years, and I'm their slave for all that time. And I may not even make any money doing it, just breaking even. OR I can pay a fee that's much higher than the cost of the CDL to be let out. So if I go the company-paid route, I could still hypothetically quit IF one day something better came along, completely risking on that the better job would pay me enough to pay them back? And I'd probably be blacklisted from ever getting a trucking job again right? I probably wouldn't do that, I can't see much else in the future but this, but I'd like to know just in case.

Aight, thats all typed, hope you read it and can help me understand. Thanks

Oh yeah and on reddit they encourage people to do LTL…whats that?"

Also I see you say there's no such thing as bad companies, but I've heard that like some companies will pay for your food and give you a private room or something, and others will stick you in a shady motel with other people. Some will pay fairly and some will have you do dangerous and illegal things and barely pay for it, or be uncontactable or something. Also, if you ever have an accident or something, are you on the hook for the costs, or does the company handle that?

Thanks all

Sigh....

A contract is a commitment - from both sides. Truck Company will spot you the tuition, and you promise to pay them back. Did you ever finance a car? Same thing. Paying off the training OR the car will take a bite out of your paycheck. But the truck training "loan" is interest free, the car loan could go for 6-10%. AND you get a well paying job.

Now on the other cr@p you've read: 90% of postings are by people which actually don't understand how the trucking business works. They feel they've been screwed when in actuality they never learned the system. Over 3 million Americans drive a truck every day. If any truck company actually treated their drivers that way they'd be out of business in no time.

Instead, your truck company keeps you in late model tractors, with room for a TV and even might have a fridge installed! As I said, learn your business, keep your nose clean (an old way of saying "don't mess around") and you'll do good. It'll take a while but it's entirely possible to pull down almost $6 figures.

LTL is mostly local pickup & delivery plus line haul between terminals. Real variety of in OTR.

Finally, NO COMPANY WILL EVER EVEN ASK YOU TO DO"DANGEROUS AND ILLEGAL" THINGS!

Quoted from a 2026 Fire Engine Red Peterbilt 579. I was shocked when it showed available 🤣

Instead, your truck company keeps you in late model tractors, with room for a TV and even might have a fridge installed! As I said, learn your business, keep your nose clean (an old way of saying "don't mess around") and you'll do good. It'll take a while but it's entirely possible to pull down almost $6 figures.

There are no contract companies. But it's recommended to stay at least a year anyway. Knight is a no contract company and you are actually hired BEFORE you attend their CDL school, so you're not as at risk of getting sent home but, they're very picky on hiring. In addition, you get paid while in school but no lodging is covered.

There are lots of trade offs in the industry. Invthe end, most programs are similar in nature for outcomes.

The reason that the phrase "starter company" gets used so much is that there are indeed companies that do specialize in recruiting and training prospective drivers from the ground up. They're great places to start at, they have excellent resources, training skills and equipment and are often more forgiving of the mistakes rookies make.

The trade off is that they pay less. But, it's not really a trade off for the new driver. A rookie has no marketable skills, no performance history and won't be able to really produce safely in volume for about a year or two anyway.

The time to even begin to think of switching or not switching companies is so far down the line that it's totally irrelevant for where you are in things. Concentrate on getting accepted to a company first, then your permit, then your CDL, then make it through training, then make it through your first year accident and incident free.

I stayed with my first company for 3 years and still regularly talk with my old terminal manager and some of corporate there, I'm personally friends with many of my old DMs there as well. Never burn bridges.