im in pa, I want to get my cdl which companies pay for the training?

 

I think Schneider does but they aren't that great to work for. There are a lot of truck driving schools out there but they churn students and aren't cheap. I learned by doing. The owner of the truck was in the cab with me and he wasn't about to let me tear his equipment up. Unfortunately, the ICC is gone and replaced by the DOT. Now it's all about regulations and tests and not much on actual driving.

The first thing you need to do is learn to drive a clutch. I dealt with a truck yesterday that had an electric shift automatic and when his truck died because he didn't do his emissions recycle. When I was driving a truck, I would have slipped it into neutral, released the brakes and rolled forward to clear the road. At least one side. His automatic wouldn't go into neutral unless the engine was running. He cut through our property and stalled while blocking our entrance and both sides of the road.

Get a stick shift pickup, then get used to pulling a trailer. Some companies that run straight trucks will teach you. Then it's just a step up to your class A. On the other hand, you can always join the military.

 

I learned by doing. I worked my way up from the docks, to a straight truck for a couple years, then dhunting trailers in the yard, then I challenged my class 1 and passed. From then I have been running A and B trains since then.

Tips - dont EVER be in a hurry, and always go 5 under the limit. Also you ride the brakes in a big rig, not pump the pedal.

 

Plenty of companies either offer a CDL school in-house, or will reimburse your expenses.
Swift Transportation
Central Refrigerated
Roehl
Stevens Transport
C.R. England
Schneider National
PAM
Maverick
TMC

Pretty much all entry level carriers. Problem is, they're mostly crap to work for, although I have seen some pretty positive reviews on Stevens, Roehl, and Maverick.
In some ways, you might actually be better off for not having experience with a standard pickup truck. Those will have synchronized transmissions, vs. the unsynchronized transmission of a Class 8 truck (and some Class 7 trucks). Basically, those transmissions don't have the synchronizer gear found in the synchromesh transmissions, and the driver is basically the one who does the synchronization... it sounds complex at first, but becomes second nature after a while. Someone who doesn't learn to drive a standard synchromesh transmission first is going to pay more attention to double clutching and timing, rather than trying to shift it like a pickup (which will wreck the transmission).
Second, rethink your decision. OTR is a crappy lifestyle, and these entry level carriers don't pay enough to make it worthwhile. I've had two OTR gigs in the 11 years I've had a CDL, and they were both good people to work for, but it was still a crappy lifestyle. It happened after I moved to Colorado Springs, and the job market was crap. The first was a small fleet of seven trucks, paid percentage of line haul plus per diem, trucks could run 75 MPH, older fleet but well maintained, owner had it together. Only lasted two weeks, because they switched insurance providers and the new insurance provider wouldn't insure me, because I didn't have previous OTR time.. didn't matter that, by that point, I had experience pulling combinations weighing more than what four of those five axle units were allowed to gross.. nope, they wanted OTR time.
Second was a small fleet owner who, at the time, leased his two trucks to CRST Malone. Ungoverned trucks - nice ones, too. Because the Peterbilt 379 needed another week for decals and such, I opted to take the Volvo 730. Paid percentage of gross to the truck.. easy guy to work for.. be where you need to be, do what you need to do, don't wreck the truck. It doesn't get any easier than that.
That's not going to be your experience starting off, and this will become painfully apparent when you're in a 62 MPH truck, holding up traffic while trying to pass another 62 MPH truck with slightly more worn tires, Qualcomm chirping at you constantly, and sweating it because your Elogs show you have only a few minutes of driving time left before you take your mandatory 10 hours, and the truck stop is a few more minutes away than that. But it doesn't really matter, because you probably won't find parking with all these solar-powered trucks out there, and, if you do, it'll be just your luck that you end up parked with a reefer unit on one side of you, and a car hauler with the 'grass burner' exhaust on the other side of you, blowing exhaust into your sleeper.
If you do go the OTR route, do not fall for these lease-purchase scams. Most companies think you're ready to take that on with six months experience - C.R. England tries to push it on you the moment you're out of school.

 

Thanks for tips everyone, I've applied at schnieder, pam and crengland already. Pam asked if I could be in indiana in 2 weeks. That was something I couldn't do at this time

 

Don't think you wanna drive for "Every New Guy Leaves After Ninety Days". They're the ones who like to push their fleece purchase on drivers fresh out of school. There's a couple forums out there... Class A Drivers and The Truckers Report are two of the bigger ones... The Truckers Report has a section called "Trucking Company DAC Reports" where people can **** and whine about companies... take it with a grain of salt, though, because truck drivers can be some of the whiniest prima donnas out there... you could have a carrier which pays twice as much per mile as everyone else, put their drivers in the newest trucks, kept miles constant, and got their drivers home every weekend, there'd still be drivers pissing and moaning about how much it sucks.
The politics section in that forum is a real ghetto, as well.
I took one OTR gig for a few months, and that was a last resort. I don't consider myself an OTR driver, and never did care for OTR drivers. I won't say I haven't ever met a good one, but once you get out there, you'll see for yourself why I prefer to disassociate myself from them. Too much trash in the industry. Maybe you can break the mold while you're out there.

 

you will find out quickly that most of the big companies will promise the world but rarely come threw

I heard that one of the local Motor Freight companies employees 2 teems of drivers that just retrieve loads and units then finish the run out because the original driver/team has abandoned the rig

It is always the drivers fault , just ask the dispatchers
I tell drivers all the time that they have a coarse for dispatchers to teach them to lie
I said that to a driver one time and hey said "hey I was a dispatcher"
I said "and"
He dropped his head and walked away LMAO