Central/Swift: From Training To Upgrade

After taking the classroom training in Memphis for four days, out of 22 students, 10 of us made it to the next step.

Two days later, we were on the Greyhound bus to Salt Lake City. The next morning, we were driven to the DMV to take our permit tests. One of my classmates didn't pass hers so she had to attend the classroom until that group took their permit tests the following week.

After that, we had five days to learn how to drive a rig. Day 1 and 2 was for backing, Day 3 was driving on Rookie Road, Day 4 was City Driving, an Day 5 was Mountain Driving along with going over our pre-trips and backing practice. In total, we spent between 2-3 hours of behind the wheel training.

No school on Sunday so we studied.

The first day of exams, we did our pre-inspection and three backing. The second day, we had our road test. Anyone who failed three times were kicked out. My friends and I went out and celebrated for passing.

The next day, we were driven to the DMV to get our CDL-A. After receiving it, we went to orientation.

Orientation was three days. We watched videos, received books, training forms, etc. On the third day, we were assigned mentors. Those who didn't had to wait a day or two after to get theirs.

I left with my mentor the next morning. By three weeks, we had done 10,000 miles. I completed my 200 driving hours and 40 backs in five weeks. We went back to the Salt Lake terminal where I did the paper and driving tests. I passed both and was upgraded.

Since I wanted to extend my training, my mentor hired me on his truck as a second seat.

Below is an image link to my student loan repayment to the school. Since I'm no longer with Swift, I have to pay them back $4400 vs. working as a company driver for two years.

http://nomadgirldiary.tumblr.com/post/100599069099

Out of my group of ten, the girl who was held back a week for not passing her permit test ended up not passing her pre-inspection test (missing anything on the ALE test is an automatic fail).

Three guys quit before their training was completed (one got tired of waiting for a second trainer, another didn't get along with any of his trainers, and don't know about the third one).

Didn't hear from one guy, think he got kicked off or quit because he didn't seem serious about being a truck driver (slept during orientation, confrontational with other classmates, never followed instructions and doing whatever he wanted, like disrupting class.)

Two guys got their own rigs after they upgraded and are currently company drivers.

Two guys had a similar arrangement to mine - they were hired by an owner operator.

Can you explain the pros to why you made this decision other than not driving for swift for a year? What happens if things don't work out with this particular person. I mean you've only known him a few weeks right? Not trying to sound negative, just not quite grasping the reasoning behind it. Please explain! Thnx

Congrats on finishing. If my Mentor had been on O/O he says he would have hired me on after my training. I think that would have been a good way to get some more training, while making some real money.

Mikki, it's to get more training under my belt. You really don't learn everything about the industry within that four or five weeks out on the road with a mentor. Even when I upgraded, I wasn't confident in myself yet to go out on my own. With the extended training, I won't have to learn it the hard way and avoid making numerous rookie mistakes that could cost me my CDL.

As for getting along and such, that's a requirement. In the beginning, we butted heads because of our communication style. But we buried the hatchet as we saw that our differences could be beneficial in being a team.

If things don't work out, I have back up plans.

How does the repayment work? I am planning on driving team with my husband but the company he is with(and is very happy with) doesn't offer cdl training but they offer tuition reimbursement. He is considering leaving to go to swift in order to get my training paid for. But the I'm not fond of having to sign a 2 year contract. I was just wondering if using this training program and then going with another company and getting the loan paid by tuition reimbursement is an option.