Why go to a school?
 

What is the advantage of going to a school to get your CDL?

In Tennessee the study guide is free at any driver lcense testing facility. All it requires is a little reading. Then you go down and take the knowledge tests.

Study the pre-trip items until you get it down pat.

See if you can't pay a friend or relative or someone to use their truck for practice a few hours. I work on the dock of a large transport co. and they let me practice in the yard a few hours free.

Go down to the DMV and take the skills test or hire a third party tester to test you using their equipment for around $300. Here in TN it's just a little road test and a few backing manuvers.

I would imagine most learning is done when the OTR co sticks you with a trainer anyway.

Insurance reasons. Most major carriers will only hire students who complete a certified program and it is a liability issue.

If you get a CDL on your own and can get the experience usually 1 year, then you will have the opportunity to go to a major carrier and get paid well.

I just finished CDL training.

Going to school vs. self training, I think the school would definitely win out. Driving a big rig is more than just reading some words in a book and being able to back up in a small area.

Exactly! Going to a certified school and passing gives them a minimum of what you know. Doing it on your own they have no idea what you've learned/been taught.

:lol: :lol: :lol: Another misinformed thread started by the "trucking industry expert".

I didn't go to a school. I just learned on the job. But, That was 15 years ago and things have changed.

Your going to get your CDL after practicing for a few hours?
Let me know how that goes..
:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

I get this question all the time.

?Why would I give you (my school) $10,000 to get my class one, when I can get it for 1/3 that?"

It depends on what you want. If what you want is is ONLY a class 1 license, then there is no reason why you should. You might even find someone who will let you use their equipment and do it for free, although that is very unlikely.

Or you can go to a Road Test School, where their only concern is that you have the skill sets to pass a road test. We are going to call that the Big Box School. The only thing they are concerned with is the sale and then watching you walk out the door when you are done, hoping NEVER to see you again.

So now what you do is to find someone who knows that it is not really a class 1 license you want. I know you think that is what you want, but it isn't.

What most people want when they come to train with us is that when they are done, they are employable. They want to go to work.

I don't care if you spend 3 grand, 10 grand, or 30 grand. If you cannot find work because you are unemployable, then you have wasted your money.

So, the first mistake, is to call it a school. What school usually does is to prepare you for more school.

No, what you want is to go train somewhere that the view is that it is not a school, it is a job.

The very first thing we write on the board in my "school" is this,

"This is not a school, this is a job".

And then we treat you accordingly. Like employees, you are treated like employees, and we expect you to behave as employees.

And the reason is that when you are done, the first thing you will have to work. So we treat you accordingly. Its work.

And, if you do the job right, when you are done, then we will help steer you in the right direction for Work.

Is it easy? No, but should it be for that much money? No. You should expect hard.

When I get the occasional person who wants just a class 1, I almost always send them away to a school.

If what they want is to work, train, work, excel, learn, well then they have come to the right place.

Money cannot buy that, you need to go to the right place.

A class 1 license is NOT a ticket to a job.

All the Class 1 license gets you is the opportunity to have a conversation you could not have before. And the better the training, the better the conversation you can have.

No one comes in my door for a Class 1, they come in so they can have a conversation.

A conversation with a potential employer, a conversation with a loan company to buy a car, a conversation with the bank to get a mortgage, a conversation with the college they want to send their child to.

This is not about the money, it is not about the training.... it is about the conversation's you want to have.

Why risk it?
 

There are Tennessee Technology Centers all over TN that teach CDL. It's a $1206.00 class. Not to mention ALL TN residents can get the Wilder Niefey (sp?) Grant which reimburses $667.00 upon completion, you just have to apply for it. Spend your $300 on an outside tester, not to mention the $200 your non-existant buddy will charge you to use his truck and you come out about the same $$ wise. Plus it looks much better on an application.

I went to a school back in '97, then again in 2002 :thumbsup: In 2002 I took a heavy equipment traning school that offered a CDL program, My CDL had not been kept up.

Just do it right, it is really easy to screw up in, one of them big trucks. There is a lot more to it, driving around in a parking lot, is not going to teach you anything. :thumbsdown:

Hell my eight year old can hit the dock. :lol: