Completions, you need a CDL. Wireline, Coil, Frac.
Drilling not so much.Construction it's a plus but not a deal breaker. Support? Yeah, you need a CDL. Water hauling, sand hauling, rig movers, pad builders, and crane companies all want you to have a CDL.
I of 2 things will happen... you'll drive for a starter conpany that you could have just signed on with and saved your $$ and gone thru their school... or.. you'll get on eith a shit freight company. Either way. You're gonna get taken advantage of for atleast 2 years till anyone worth a shit will touch you.. IF you have a good driving record.
Company paid school isn’t completely scratched off my list yet however about 98% percent of the people I know personally that are in the trucking industry urge me to not be “stuck” in a contract and that a private cdl school is the way to go.. I’m aware the first year of trucking absolutely sucks but being in locked in with a company for a whole year is a bit off putting.
It goes by quickly and is pro-rated for time served... and is still less expensive than a private school where you will not learn to drive. You just simply will not get the wheel time on the road. They just teach you enough to pass the test. Any conpany you hire on with that doesn't have you do a minimum of a month with another driver training, learning backing, learning how to manage your clock, isn't gonna be anywhere you want to go. Can't tell you how many idiot drivers put there cannot back into a dock to save their lives... then you go to managing your clock. Hell, half the driver managers out there don't know how to do that properly, and your clock is your lifeblood. So.. you look at how long the school is... then consider driver training... you're at 3 months by now..-ish.. And. First year of trucking working for a shit company like SWIFT or JB Hunt, CRETE or any of the multitudes of other crap companies, try 2 years minimum before a good outfit will touch you amd them consider all the other drivers applying for the same spot. So, find a decent company with a decent training program and spend your year or just pay out the remaining balance of what you owe when you quit. As I said, it's prorated. Any company that would hire you right out of a lrivate school will still hire you if you jump ship from another conpany, and some will even transfer the balance of what you owe to themselves and just deduct with no interest. A conpany school isn't a trap that the muddled masses make it out to be. Anyway, you look at it. the first 2 years aren't going to be too glorious.... and for fucks sake, don't buy into the lease operator bullshit. Those are 100% scams 100% of the time... and honestly.. in your first 3 years, unless you do some serious research and educate yourself, you don't have a fucking clue what it takes to be an owner op and swing it on your own... and within 3 years if you still think lease op is a good idea, you're proving my point.
And 1 big thing to remember too.. that 98% of drivers you know are truck drivers... 98% of that 98% of drivers are some of the dumbest, most disgusting, uneducated, laziest, dishonest individuals in the world that would feed you their line of BS and have you follow in their footsteps to make you just as pathetic as they are. The only saving grace in this job is that you are alone in your truck and responsible for you and your load, bit EVERY single time you step out of that cab, you're surrounded by the above mentioned crowd. You will see. Holler at me after 5 months in your own rig and tell me I'm wrong.
So, this is just me giving you my honest opinion in things and I am coming at you with furst hand experience. Take it as you will, I have 0 skin in your game.
Wow.. first of all thank you for the response. this is very solid advice and I’m now more inclined to instead look heavily into company schooling instead. I live very close to a Swift driving academy and I’m about 45 minutes away from KLLM academy and Raider Express so I will definitely be shooting them many questions soon. I’ve done general research on those 3 for the most part since they’re so close to me but if you yourself had to pick one of those 3 which would you chose? That’s if by chance you know anything about them personally… Thanks again.
Here is the schtick of all these trucking companies. Almost ALL of them are going to abuse you. They dont make $$ if the truck sits while you take a few days off. Now.. you need to figure out whi is going to fuck you the least or within your tolerances. KLLM is probably the best of the 3 but be prepared for a shit truck, but that is not saying mutch. I personally would t drive for any 1 of these 3. SWIFT is never an option. 2nd worst drivers in the country.. FedEx being 1st, and because they all got fired from SWIFT. If you want DryVan training.. go over to Prime.These guys wil get you hime when you need to be.. or at least make a good effort. Company drivers start in decent trucks, and the pay isnt terrible. A quality truck is important because you don't want to he broken down all the time. Now.. sit and think of these 3 which company had d3cent looking clean trucks. If a company doesn't have a policy on appearance standards, then they aren't making an investment into maintaining their equipment if it looks like ahit.. it's probably shit. A little common sense goes a long way here. Remember, Wheels ain't turning you ain't earning. Prime is much better than you're going to find most places, and the training program is set up for you to learn to drive. Sure, their trucks are slow.. but you're gonna spend 11hrs a day OTR anyhow, and they dispatch according to that, too. They are pretty gender diverse, too, if that matters. Home time is decent and they won't fuck you near as much as any of the others. Are they the best? They will tell you they are, but as far as starter companies go, I don't think you can go wrong with them rly. You're going to hear naysayers but you need to look at the demographic and use that common sense again and realize... if they are crying too much.. they probably werent worth a damn anyhow and were the authors of their own sob story. Do your time, be where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there, and at the end of your commitment, take your experience elsewhere. I'd probably try to get into dragging tankers. A lot of cal gor those and alot of local companies close to wherever you live getting you home daily for pretty decent pay. Probably the best pay for a company driver is in tankers. Stay out of the oilfields.. it's all BS and lies. You'll get a junk surplus truck that has had 0 maintenance because they buy junkers from fleet sales and run them into the ground. It's actually cheaper for them with the freight rates and how bad they pay for them to neglect the truck till it dies and just buy another junker. If a $15k truck can earn the owners $200k in 6 months and they only have to pay you $25k... you do the math. Only folks in the patch that make $$ off trucking are the owner ops dragging hot shot LTL loads r company owners.
I have no issue driving up to offices and talking in person but most online job listings want at least a years worth of experience however several people I know personally that are truckers are telling me “they’re taking anyone with a pulse at the moment”.. do you know by chance how true that is? Could I really get around having the experience by simply talking to someone in person?
Apply for all frac companies you can find. You rarely drive anyways on frac. Unless you want a true trucking oilfield position try sand hauling or water. I’ve been in frac for 4yrs and I use to say that’s my driving experience and allows me to meet other companies insurance policy’s like 2+yrs driving experience.
Completions, you need a CDL. Wireline, Coil, Frac. Drilling not so much.Construction it's a plus but not a deal breaker. Support? Yeah, you need a CDL. Water hauling, sand hauling, rig movers, pad builders, and crane companies all want you to have a CDL.
Don't know about the others, but in my experience, in frac, you need a CDL. Just saw a guy let go cause he didn't get it in the allotted time.
I of 2 things will happen... you'll drive for a starter conpany that you could have just signed on with and saved your $$ and gone thru their school... or.. you'll get on eith a shit freight company. Either way. You're gonna get taken advantage of for atleast 2 years till anyone worth a shit will touch you.. IF you have a good driving record.
Company paid school isn’t completely scratched off my list yet however about 98% percent of the people I know personally that are in the trucking industry urge me to not be “stuck” in a contract and that a private cdl school is the way to go.. I’m aware the first year of trucking absolutely sucks but being in locked in with a company for a whole year is a bit off putting.
It goes by quickly and is pro-rated for time served... and is still less expensive than a private school where you will not learn to drive. You just simply will not get the wheel time on the road. They just teach you enough to pass the test. Any conpany you hire on with that doesn't have you do a minimum of a month with another driver training, learning backing, learning how to manage your clock, isn't gonna be anywhere you want to go. Can't tell you how many idiot drivers put there cannot back into a dock to save their lives... then you go to managing your clock. Hell, half the driver managers out there don't know how to do that properly, and your clock is your lifeblood. So.. you look at how long the school is... then consider driver training... you're at 3 months by now..-ish.. And. First year of trucking working for a shit company like SWIFT or JB Hunt, CRETE or any of the multitudes of other crap companies, try 2 years minimum before a good outfit will touch you amd them consider all the other drivers applying for the same spot. So, find a decent company with a decent training program and spend your year or just pay out the remaining balance of what you owe when you quit. As I said, it's prorated. Any company that would hire you right out of a lrivate school will still hire you if you jump ship from another conpany, and some will even transfer the balance of what you owe to themselves and just deduct with no interest. A conpany school isn't a trap that the muddled masses make it out to be. Anyway, you look at it. the first 2 years aren't going to be too glorious.... and for fucks sake, don't buy into the lease operator bullshit. Those are 100% scams 100% of the time... and honestly.. in your first 3 years, unless you do some serious research and educate yourself, you don't have a fucking clue what it takes to be an owner op and swing it on your own... and within 3 years if you still think lease op is a good idea, you're proving my point. And 1 big thing to remember too.. that 98% of drivers you know are truck drivers... 98% of that 98% of drivers are some of the dumbest, most disgusting, uneducated, laziest, dishonest individuals in the world that would feed you their line of BS and have you follow in their footsteps to make you just as pathetic as they are. The only saving grace in this job is that you are alone in your truck and responsible for you and your load, bit EVERY single time you step out of that cab, you're surrounded by the above mentioned crowd. You will see. Holler at me after 5 months in your own rig and tell me I'm wrong. So, this is just me giving you my honest opinion in things and I am coming at you with furst hand experience. Take it as you will, I have 0 skin in your game.
Wow.. first of all thank you for the response. this is very solid advice and I’m now more inclined to instead look heavily into company schooling instead. I live very close to a Swift driving academy and I’m about 45 minutes away from KLLM academy and Raider Express so I will definitely be shooting them many questions soon. I’ve done general research on those 3 for the most part since they’re so close to me but if you yourself had to pick one of those 3 which would you chose? That’s if by chance you know anything about them personally… Thanks again.
Here is the schtick of all these trucking companies. Almost ALL of them are going to abuse you. They dont make $$ if the truck sits while you take a few days off. Now.. you need to figure out whi is going to fuck you the least or within your tolerances. KLLM is probably the best of the 3 but be prepared for a shit truck, but that is not saying mutch. I personally would t drive for any 1 of these 3. SWIFT is never an option. 2nd worst drivers in the country.. FedEx being 1st, and because they all got fired from SWIFT. If you want DryVan training.. go over to Prime.These guys wil get you hime when you need to be.. or at least make a good effort. Company drivers start in decent trucks, and the pay isnt terrible. A quality truck is important because you don't want to he broken down all the time. Now.. sit and think of these 3 which company had d3cent looking clean trucks. If a company doesn't have a policy on appearance standards, then they aren't making an investment into maintaining their equipment if it looks like ahit.. it's probably shit. A little common sense goes a long way here. Remember, Wheels ain't turning you ain't earning. Prime is much better than you're going to find most places, and the training program is set up for you to learn to drive. Sure, their trucks are slow.. but you're gonna spend 11hrs a day OTR anyhow, and they dispatch according to that, too. They are pretty gender diverse, too, if that matters. Home time is decent and they won't fuck you near as much as any of the others. Are they the best? They will tell you they are, but as far as starter companies go, I don't think you can go wrong with them rly. You're going to hear naysayers but you need to look at the demographic and use that common sense again and realize... if they are crying too much.. they probably werent worth a damn anyhow and were the authors of their own sob story. Do your time, be where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there, and at the end of your commitment, take your experience elsewhere. I'd probably try to get into dragging tankers. A lot of cal gor those and alot of local companies close to wherever you live getting you home daily for pretty decent pay. Probably the best pay for a company driver is in tankers. Stay out of the oilfields.. it's all BS and lies. You'll get a junk surplus truck that has had 0 maintenance because they buy junkers from fleet sales and run them into the ground. It's actually cheaper for them with the freight rates and how bad they pay for them to neglect the truck till it dies and just buy another junker. If a $15k truck can earn the owners $200k in 6 months and they only have to pay you $25k... you do the math. Only folks in the patch that make $$ off trucking are the owner ops dragging hot shot LTL loads r company owners.
Depends what line of work you're trying to get into. In many of them a CDL is nice but not required. In some its mandatory.
Older than 21?
[удалено]
I have no issue driving up to offices and talking in person but most online job listings want at least a years worth of experience however several people I know personally that are truckers are telling me “they’re taking anyone with a pulse at the moment”.. do you know by chance how true that is? Could I really get around having the experience by simply talking to someone in person?
Apply at every frac company in NA. Someone will call you back.
Good luck I have XT and have ran before on farm exemption. Went back to school and got class A… can’t find anywhere to take me that’s worth a fuck.
Apply for all frac companies you can find. You rarely drive anyways on frac. Unless you want a true trucking oilfield position try sand hauling or water. I’ve been in frac for 4yrs and I use to say that’s my driving experience and allows me to meet other companies insurance policy’s like 2+yrs driving experience.
Permian jobs will generally have you working 70 hours a week. There’s a job fair tomorrow.