Considering New Career

[TCAT8324]

I Am 40 Years Old, Never Drivin' Standard Shift. Not Too Worried About The Knowledge Part Of The Cdl Test, But Curious About How Difficult Learning Standard Shift Is In A Tractor. Im Confident I Can Learn But Do The Schools Bother With Students Who Are As "green" As I Am? Appreciate Any Feedback I Can Get. I'm Pretty Gung-ho About Starting This Career And Just Need Some Tips From Those Of You Who Are Vets. Thanks For Your Time.

B.fischer

[Boats]

Welcome to the boards TCAT8324. As for the stick shift no big deal. I wasn't that great before I went to school. They'll teach you how. All you need. Is the will to learn and the desire to go trucking. That's what these school are for all the greenhorns. Best of luck and keep us updated.

[Pitter]

Hey TCAT8324,

I'm in the same boat as you. Just retired after a 20 year hitch in the USAF and am looking for a second career. I've always been a "fan" of the industry and want to get into it and realize a dream. Like you, I've driven automatics my whole life and I'm curious as to if that will be a limiting factor. I contacted a local Community College and they recommend being familiar with the stick. I think that applies to their training equipment more than anything else so your first consideration should be where you get trained. An additional thought is that without the experience, you may be limiting your value to the company you want to work for. I'm going to try and lay hands on a manual shift vehicle, either via a family member or I'll buy a cheapie and get to learning. Just two cents worth from a fellow wannabe.

[TCAT8324]

Im In The Middle Of Moving And Am Going To Look At Some Area Schools When Im Settled. I've Gottin Mixed Info On The Whole Stick Conundrum. Some Say Practice In A Car But I've Heard More People Telling My It Is So Differant From A Truck That I'm Better Off Letting The School Teach Me From Scratch. Its Double Clutching That Creates The Problem. I Guess This Is Just One Of Many Questions To Come. I Have To Admit, Though I Have My Reservations This Seems To Be A Worthy Endeavor. Keep In Touch And We Can Share Anything New We Learn. I Could Use All The Support I Can Get.lol
Thanks Again And Good Luck,
Tcat Ps. Ex-naval Ergo The Tcat.lol

[TCAT8324]

Hey Boats,
Thank You For The Reply, Thats Good To Know, Eases My Nerves A Bit. Please Keep In Touch, I Can Use All The Support I Can Get.lol

[trubigtymer]

dont worry about learning to shift, it will come with practice, when i was in school, the two best after the first day of shifting had never driven any kind of stick shift in their life either