Question:
I finished the first 11 days in Green Bay. It was great. My Instructor was down to earth as were most and I learned alot.
Day 1 class room
Day 2,3,4,5,6 Driving in City, country, and Highway
Day 7, morning class room and afternoon off
Day 8,9 Driving
Day 10, Skills test
Day 11 for me was my CDL test and finial exam.
Started with around 85 students and ended up with around 40 on day 11.
Next week is my jump start at my OC then 3 weeks with a trainer.
Total training time with SNI is 6 weeks.
I cant compare this driving school to any others but I can tell you I have been an Instructor in the Army off and on for nearly 15 years teaching Bridge design, construction, and vehicle operations to trainees. So I can say most of the Instructors enjoy their job and delivered the information very well.
Thats it until next weekend. If anyone has any questions I'll check this thread tomarrow afternoon before I leave.
Be safe.

Answer:
Hey Mandrdtrucking you been over to Pumpkindrivers, They got there own website and forams (not trying to bump you off here). May give you some inside info. www.pumpkindrivers.com

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Congrats Mandrtrucking !
I too, will b going to GB for SNI. Will b sometime this fall or a bit l8tr though.
I also recommend www.pumpkindriver.com, it is definitly a good site. I've been a member there since Feb.
What OC r u going to be out of ? I will be out of Woodhaven, Mi OC
I think you have made a right choice by going with the pumpkin - from what I've heard, they have more supporters than critics.

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mirangerman and Drew10. I have checked out the SNI site and it is good, this site is better to me. )More drivers from different companys).
My OC is in Des Moines, IA.
Heres my update on training.
Jump start
Day 1 to 5. First 4 days split half class and half drining on slow range course
Day 5 half day then home
Jump start was company policies, Qualcom, Advance trip planning, and Hazmat.
Weekend home.
Saturday Training Engineer called, told me we needed to leave out from ST louis on Monday at 0300hrs. So I drove up to ST Louis on Sunday and slept in the truck.
Monday through Friday on the road.
Went to Charlotte NC to Memphis TN to Jackson TN to New Lacombe LA to Kansas City MO to ST Louis MO then home Friday until Sunday. Leaving at 1500 hrs to sleep in the truck tonight then 0300hrs going to Ohio.
Seen 8 accidents this week 3 were truckers. One rolled upside down in a ditch in MS and 2 jacked knifed in MO.
We delivered and picked up a load in the caves outside of Kansas City MO, that was fun
SNI seems to have a pretty tight shot group. They have around 15,000 trucks, 18,000 drivers, and 45,000 plus trailers. This includes the Contractors. SNI's fright base is so large they have to contract out fright to other compines. They have plenty of miles to run.
Speed is set at 63 MPH and that may sound slow its not. Why I say this, well on our route from LA to MO there were truckers driving 70 and 75 MPH and for some reason they would pass us 8 or 9 times. They would drive fast, stop, drive fast and stop over and over. We just kept a good pace and only stop twice about 15 to 20 min each. No stress looking for Cops or DOT officers. After our drive do our Post trip, shower, and sleep. Get up at 0300hrs and start again. Were driving early inorder to park without any problems at the end of the day. Well gona go. I'll post hopefully next weekend.
Be careful and drive safe.

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11 days thats it I went to my school for over 6 wks 8-9hrs a day and I felt there was still more to learn and cover. I'm just curious why it is so short and do you really pass your test with that short of time.

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hey stagnat it dont matter how long sooner ar later you got to fly or crash on your own. most of trucking has to be learned on the job, just no other way around it . no he aint no expert after 11 days but maybe he had good teachers and got the basics and he still going out with a experieced hand hes not heading for LA on his own just yet, now
. 11 days is 11 days more than driver used to get most times you had to figure out how to shift on your own nobody woud show you a damn thing. it was heres the keys see you when you get back. if you were lucky you had a relative who woud show you a thing or two or drivers woud help you out at a truckstop or something with things you didnt know. dont be a smartass know it all just yet how long you been a driver?
3 months to a year down the road there aint a dimes worht of differnece between your schooling and his when it come to being a good hand and i will bet hard cash on that, Hero. you all look alike to me, rookies. you think trucks are space shuttles or something? they aint hard to drive they are damn easy as a matter of fact. somebody takes 1 second to learn 2+2 =4 somebody else takes 2 seconds. 3 seconds later you both got 4 so whoopty do big deal.
all trucking is you pick up stuff here and take it over there. big deal. all the rest is just aggravation.

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Well that really didn't answer my question and yes I do realize almost everything you learn you gotta learn on your own theres no denying that and I never said it was hard I was just wondering also what you have to do for your test in Wisconsin and yes I have been driving for two years and I learned a lot on my own or through the company but the school made me a lot more comfortable going to work, (and I have my pilots license and flying an airplane is easy I can do a CAT II approach in the fog you newbies make it sound so damn hard its just flying from here to there I learned from a pilot at the airport when I used to wash his plane and clean his hangar he would give me a lesson I spent zero on flyig lessons it just don't make sense why you would spend 10 grand on a flying school when in the end my training is no different from theirs its just taking off and landing thats it) sounds a little self absorbed like 90% of guys on the CB who are worried about everyone else but themselves and their own truck it's old (edited) wipes like you that give trucking a bad name and try to intimidate newbies you have to be professional that is your job I was a bodyguard for a while and I had to be very professional if I went around and threatened everyone with my firearm, size, and 11+ years of advanced martial arts and boxing I would have been fired you have an image to keep not only to the industry your company and everyone else you share the road with. I think you need to take your prozac and lay off the whiskey.

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hey stagnantvirus - some schools think they have to give you more book work than just sticking to the basics.
Take for example the following;
Baker Community College in Flint, Mi has a drivers course that lasts 32 weeks. Lots of book work, but not much time behind the wheel (and costs about $8k!).
SNI - Covers the basic stuff, especially what you need to know to get the truck going.
Most driving schools are like SNI. They just teach the basics. Ya really need to learn as you go in this industry. All the book work in the world isn't going to make a "driver" out of you. Only time and experience.
Ask any driver whose been doing it for years - they'll tell ya the same thing.
Hope this helps

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mandrtrucking..
Congratulations, You found the secret to successful driving earlier than most..
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Speed is set at 63 MPH and that may sound slow its not. Why I say this, well on our route from LA to MO there were truckers driving 70 and 75 MPH and for some reason they would pass us 8 or 9 times. They would drive fast, stop, drive fast and stop over and over. We just kept a good pace and only stop twice about 15 to 20 min each. No stress looking for Cops or DOT officers.
=============================================================
Truck drivers that haven't learned what you've learned.
==============================================================
Seen 8 accidents this week 3 were truckers. One rolled upside down in a ditch in MS and 2 jacked knifed in MO.

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I went for 4 weeks, about 7 hrs a day (was supposed to be 8 hrs but the instructors wanted to go home early every night, earlier on Fridays ) and about 40% of that time was wasted watching other students drive the truck while the rest of us stood around with our thumbs in the usual orifice.
The CDL is the same in all states, more or less... upshift, downshift, back up, pull over and hit the hazards at the RR tracks, read a street sign, don't hit anything. Congrats, that'll be $32 driver

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Yes that does help a little more thank you I know that almost all training has to be on the job bu the basics must be taught somewhere I know book work is 90% bs I never use it on the road once in a great while maybe, the rest was skill and practice and learning as you go I was just fortunate enough to have an excellent instructor and I forget how many schools and instructors don't care about anything except the bottom line, the one thing he told me that I will always remember is "Once you realize you know everything its time to step out of the truck because you never stop learning as long as you drive" thank you for more informative answers and not getting mad over nothin. Be Safe.

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StagnantVirus, my training was a total of 5 weeks. Do I feel I'm equal to a 10 or 20 year Vet, no I don't. I do feel I'm ready for my next step of training. (90 days with 3 training STLs). And yes I really did pass my CDL and no SNI did not test me. My SQT last Tuesday was harder then the CDL test. SQT your allowed zero mistakes.
Prozac Pete, My Road Trainer told me the same thing. Heres your keys, see ya in a month. No training involved.
mirangerman, Your right I was tought the basics of driving. Day 1 was class and day 2 was driving. My instructor asked my if I would like to drive around the lot in second gear and go out on the road on day 3. I told him no I would reather drive down into Green Bay and jump into the heavy traffic, I have a CDL test in 9 days so off we went.
Know my update:
Second week with Trainer we stayed in the midwest area. IA, OH, MO, IL.
Made it home on Friday.
SAT SUN, and MON off.
Tuesday I took my SQT. Lasted 4.5 hours. My CDL test was only 2.5 hours.
Went home Tuesday after talking to my STL. Was told to call in each day to check on a truck. Today, Thursday I was assigned a truck. I asked if I could wait and pick it up on Monday, STL said that would be fine.
I have printed out different lists from this site and this weekend I'll be going out picking up a few things. If anyone has questions about SNI training let me know. I'll check the thread Sunday before I leave and try to update my first two or three weeks Solo after I return.
Everyone be safe.

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Thank u very much my man thats all I wanted to know, thank u, Good luck with everything and if u ever run 99 or I-5 in Cali say hi to me from Mexico to Canada from Mountain to Coast stay safe and do the best u can. see ya

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Were you assigned one of Schneider's POS Cab Overs as your first truck?

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Ya, they gave me a cabover. Mon morning I'm going to do real PTI and try to get anything fixed before I leave out. Well every one be safe and I'll update in a few weeks if anyone is interested.