How I Came To Drive A Truck

As you may know, many of my computer training clients were headquartered in the World Trade Center, or had important offices there. Many more were New York based. All were affected by the events of 9/11/2001.

While the economy had been suffering before then (and, of course, now we know why), 9/11 destroyed, perhaps permanently, my career as corporate trainer. Companies that do this have been staggering; the business I received—two one-week classes since last September, and a small amount of odd jobs—were not enough to pay the rent and utilities. Hundreds of resumes sent to likely companies didn't do the trick. I was unable to rate even a reply from most. Follow-ups on my part revealed that the companies were accepting resumes "just in case" but were, in fact, not hiring.

So, months late, perhaps, I decided to do the sensible thing and consider a career change.

On Monday, July 22, I began eleven days of truck drivin' training for Schneider National in Fontana, CA, after which I received two weeks on on-the-road training. Assuming I can pass my truck drivin' test (I've already taken and passed the written tests), I will then be on the road as a long-haul truck driver.

I will be driving the "eleven Western states" and Western Canada, on the road for two weeks and off for two days. Because they've paid for the training, I will be obligated to Schneider for one years' drivin' before I can consider other employers or work.

Because so many people are in the same shoes I'm in, and actually also considering truck drivin' as a career, I am going to post here a narrative of the various aspects of training and, following that, Notes From The Road.

How I Chose Schneider

There are, obviously, many truck drivin' companies out there. Many of them train...but few of them train at no cost to the student. Schneider pays less per mile than other companies, but trains for free (as long as the student stays with the company for at least a year). So, that was a plus.

I looked them up at http://www.schneider.com and liked what I saw there. Most of Schneider's trucks and trailers are painted a distinctive orange, and http://www.pumpkindriver.com is a site maintained by Schneider drivers that gives an unauthorized view...and, even then, most of those views are positive. Finally, I checked out the news group misc.transport.trucking and found Schneider was the only company that wasn't the butt of jokes!

I called them, and had an hour-long phone interview in which safety was emphasized over and over again. That was also a plus. They said they would transport me to Fontana, CA, "probably by bus" for class, and that two meals a day would be supplied.

The training was about to begin.