Oil Fields, Real Trucking?????

While I was at school a recruiter came to speak with our class and I was very surprised to learn that companies don't recognize driving in the oil fields as having real truck driving experience. In fact she went on to say that if you come out of the oil fields you will most likely be sent back to a trucking school for a refresher course. This was a shock to many of the other students since they were planning on starting their driving career in the oil fields. Is this true or was it just that one company's policy?

Yes Eric, that is the truth.

Over the road is the benchmark standard that is accepted as experience when looking for truck driving jobs. It's one of the many reasons why we recommend sticking with your first truck driving job for one year, and it's usually best if that job is an over the road job.

Doing local runs in the oil fields will gain you as much experience in trucking as a 16 year old kid at McDonald's with his first job. Absolutely zero. None. Zilch. Only get over the road trucking experience by actually driving over the road and going out of state.

Doing local runs in the oil fields will gain you as much experience in trucking as a 16 year old kid at McDonald's with his first job. Absolutely zero. None. Zilch. Only get over the road trucking experience by actually driving over the road and going out of state.

By your last sentence someone that runs Mass - RI and back is an OTR driver. Or VA to MD.

This is one thing that I do not like about this site. Many seem to look down their noses on anything that is not OTR. What is it about oilfield driving that is not real trucking? The only thing I can come up with is maybe trip planning. If so, that is a **** poor excuse for saying you do not get OTR experience. Driving is driving. These guys can be away from home for up to 6 weeks at a time. Some many say the lack of driving in traffic but they have never been in Williston, ND pretty much any time of day.

You all do not like to encourage people to have their own truck, but neither do you encourage local driving jobs such as dump or cement trucks. You encourage or help people get their CDLs, well those jobs also require a CDL. To me a truck driver is a truck driver as long as they can handle the rig. I can guarantee you that there is the same level of good and bad drivers in the oilfield as there are in OTR.

If you all consider local driving to not be real trucking then I guess this is not the place I thought it was.

If you all consider local driving to not be real trucking then I guess this is not the place I thought it was.

You're going off on the wrong people, bro.

We're not giving you our opinion of what counts as experience in the trucking industry. We're telling you what the policies are for the major over the road carriers that are hiring the overwhelming majority of people that come through our website. Nobody is looking down on any form of trucking. In fact, I consider class A tri-axle dump trucks and dump trailers to be the most difficult type of trucks to drive and the most difficult type of trucking jobs I've had. Local work is overall more difficult to do efficiently and safely than many over the road jobs, which is why most local gigs require over the road experience in the first place.

I agree with you - all forms of trucking are legit. But when a particular company is hiring drivers they don't always consider other forms of trucking as helpful experience toward the type of job they're offering. These policies aren't set by truck drivers. They're set by trucking company management and insurance companies.

See ya have it all wrong. If you have a cdl and are driving a commercial truck in my opinion that is experience. It's the trucking companies and insurance companies that say that it does not count as experience. Call them up and tell them about it. It's not fair but it's the way it is.

And so far as us not encouraging people to not get there own truck....that we will continue to do. Know why? I am not sure how much driving experience you have Pat but do you remember ,really remember, how hard it was going through school and trying and when you first went solo? Now through into the mix all the expenses that go along with owning a truck. You have people coming into the trucking industry that have never even thought about running a business and have absolutely no trucking experience ,both together is a receipt for disaster, and except them to actually make a living flying blind?

So no we do not encourage owning a truck but obviously you TOTALLY missed the post 9r choose to ignore the post where we have said while we do not recommend owning a truck we also said that if they really had their heart set on owning a truck to wait at least a few years before making that jump to learn the trucking industry and if they had question or needed advice at that time we would help where we could.....

Except Pat you choose to ignore that part. You are seeing what you want and ignoring the rest. Perhaps you did not read those post or were well before your time here on the forums and since you did not read them that means they did not happen?

See I take offense when I am accused of something that is simply not true and not matter how upset you think you might be does not make it true. You think we are talking out the side of our necks with nothing to back it up?

Starcar and her husband were o/o's for years. I have had 2 truck of my own and I will add I was successful enough with my trucks that paid paid for two new vehicals and a house on the Arkansas river. All paid for. And a few other here have had trucks. WE have seen the good and bad of own in a truck. We have seen many new people come into the industry with grandiose dreams of getting rich with their own truck only to go broke 6 months later. We know the pit falls that await and inexperienced driver. Brett has seen it time and time again in the last 20 years dealing with the trucking industry.

Pat YOU forget where you are and what these forums are for. We help those that are curious and looking to get into trucking with the easiest and straightforward way to realize their dream of driving a truck. It would be doing them a huge injustice if we told told that sure you can get your own truck and drive for a living and they never even saw the inside of a truck. We don't advise experience drivers here that have been driving 20 years. We advise new people to trucking.

Just learning the basics of driving is hard enough without adding all the extra stuff in that in no way will help them get started. So I am sorry that you dislike Truckingtruth. That is you opinion but the fact still remains it is not our opinion that local driving does not count as experience. That is fact as was stated by Erik M. when he started this thread.

Go reread the original first post on this thread wonder why a recruiter,that has nothing to do with Truckingtruth, stated this to an entire trucking school class. Guess it's not just an opinion huh?

Thanks for your comments guys. That confirms what I've been thinking. You really have to do your homework when considering this as a career. There's a whole lot more to being a truck driver than just driving. For every "plus" there's going to be a "minus". It's important to know what they are.

Weird as it is OTR and Off Road Tractor Trailer experience could not be any more different , in the EYES of each particular brand of driving. There is a Roehl driver who lives local I caught up with recently who has been with them for I think it was 8 years now .

When I told him my situation he gave me the ' Good luck trying to get on with one of the local Log / Chip / Mulch companies ' He has been trying to years to get local and cant .. You see .. even though he has driven in almost all major cities in the USA and southern Canada they wont accept his years of experience since he has no Off Road Driving .

Experience is relative to what you will be doing on the job you try to get. As for the OP, I have a guy that I was in class with that decided to go to the oil fields when we got done. He is making a lot of money. I just talked to him the other day. However, he sits a lot in the truck and gets out from time to time to check gauges and temperatures and things like that. He has really cheap rent because he knew someone out there. Many times the money you make gets eaten in living expenses out there. Guess what? Know how many times he has driven a semi? ZERO! He has been in shipon trucks and water trucks. That is why many companies do not accept it as OTR experience. You are going from point A and B back and forth. You do not have to navigate. Many of the drivers are not driving semi's. It is night and day comparing what he does since school to what I do.

Getting your CDL in trucking is like getting your License as a Doctor, Lawyer, CPA or Pilot . each has it's wide variety of specialties and training. you would'nt expect your knee doctor to fix your Brain. You need to do what you like doing and can make a living at. Long term, if your goal is to be an OTR driver, then you need to persue the training that gets you that needed expience.