Howdy!
Thought I'd introduce myself here, I'm Dave. The name says DaveFromColorado, but I'm actually located in MN (southwest of Minneapolis, in the metro area)
I just got my class A a couple weeks ago, but that's it, just the class A - no real instruction. I'm planning on going to school for Heavy Equipment Mechanics Technology, starting in the fall of '09. I've been an auto mechanic for years, but I'm getting tired of the same garbage coming in for water pumps, intake gaskets, and ball joints. It's low pay, unappreciated work. if I'm gonna be unappreciated, I'd rather be earning better money doing it.
Since learning that school for me wouldn't start until '09, I've decided that I'm going to get the "full instruction" for truck driver training, so I'll have a full skill set, and maybe even some road time, so when I do go to school for mechanics, I'll have a leg-up over the other students. I've talked to LOTS of people, and have found that most new mechanics have no OTR, or real driving experience - I'm looking to give myself an advantage over the other mechanics.
I've been reading the forum for about a week here, and I've found that most people here don't seem to like the dump trucking companies, however, I was hoping to get in with one of these. For a few reasons. First, most dump trucks run locally. Secondly, dump trucks seem to break down way more often. (Driver? Underpowered for the loads, or maybe the severe abuse those things are driven under) So why would I want to drive something known to break down ... I also know that most dump companies like to keep repairs in-house, if I get in with a good company, and express my goals of wanting to go to school, they might (just maybe) allow me to learn some of the basics of working on these things, and driving a machine with a higher than average failure rate will certainly allow me access to one (or more) broken down machine to help work on, and learn on.
Anyhow, there's my li'l life story.
Drive Safe!
--Dave.
