What Is Your First Year As a Truck Driver Like?

Truck Drivers in Their First YearWhat is your first year as a truck driver like? It’s hard. You have to adjust to a trucking lifestyle, the truck you drive, routes you take, people you meet, and, of course, develop the skills of driving a truck, even though you’ve had some training and passed some tests.

First year Challenges

Some of the challenges during the first year include finding some hard-to-find delivery locations as well as maneuvering the truck in cities with narrow streets and/or low bridges. The first year can be stressful!

Lack of Experience

Just like with anything, the more you do it, the better you can become at what you do, right? That’s true for trucking. Experience is a great teacher. Your first year will be challenging, but you have to deal with challenges and do your best in order to ultimately feel more relaxed and less stressed about the job. Most new truckers will receive training and/or drive around with a driver trainer. Sometimes you’ll get an awesome trainer; sometimes you won’t. You’ll have to deal with people with different personalities. Hopefully you’ll get along with driver trainers and/or co-workers. Sometimes, though, you might not– and that can make the first year hard.

Proving Your Worth

What about the pay? Paid CDL training program wages and the time on the road spent with a driver trainer is not “where the money is.” But it’s a necessary part of the process to becoming a well-paid trucker in the long run. The first year you might not make much money… but stick with it, because years later as you gain experience and improve your driving skills, it can pay well.

First year truck drivers tend to get stuck with loads others don’t want to deal with/take… so be prepared to see other drivers getting better loads. That’s how the industry works.

Properly Budgeting

And be prepared to budget for life on the road. After all, it can get expensive– so you might have to adjust your spending. For example, even though you’d like to eat most meals at restaurants, it might make more sense to pack your own meals from the grocery store so you’re saving money.

Keeping Record Clean

Finally, the first year is when you’re getting used to your truck. While you will try and avoid accidents, the truth is that the first year is when most accidents occur for truckers. Do whatever you can to avoid accidents during the first year… and all the years that follow.

If you’re a truck driver looking for a reliable, steady job, learn how Platinum Drivers can help.