Firstly, if you are reading this first entry in my diary, “Hello and thank you!” I haven’t seen much written about SAGE's CDL schools, so hopefully this will provide useful information for someone… This initial post will be about why I chose SAGE and other decisions I’ve made while heading into the trucking career/lifestyle (a more aptly named title might be “Doing It The Hard Way”). Secondly, and before I really get started, I’d like to thank Brett for creating this site; it is unparalleled in preparing someone for the trucking lifestyle, from CDL school prep material found in The High Road Online CDL Training Program to learning what it takes to be successful in this industry. Lastly, a special thanks to Old School; I found his blog, Life As A Road Warrior, from reading through this site, and it has absolutely set the example of the type of trucker I aspire to be. I highly recommend it to anyone who has made the decision to be a truck driver. From his very first post over four years ago he began teaching me trucking lessons as well as life lessons.
I may have approached my decisions backwards: the first decision I spent a great deal of time researching was which school was best for me. My situation of living abroad helped shape my choice of schools. There are several excellent company-sponsored schools that I initially looked at, specifically Jim Palmer’s and Prime’s programs; however, as I had been living outside of the U.S. for 3 1/2 yrs., neither company could consider me, as their insurance carriers require living in the U.S. for at least a year.
Ultimately, the flexibility of selecting which company I wanted to work for swayed me in the direction of a private school, and among private schools, I then looked at which ones seemed to have the best reputations as well as PTDI (Professional Truck Driver Institute) accreditation; my thought process there was that I liked the idea of a national set of standards being developed for all schools, and schools with PTDI accreditation seemed to be held in higher regard than those without. Three months and countless hours of reading and research later, I’m pretty sure I was sucked in by false advertising by the PTDI in that regard. However, sticking to that now-debunked theory, I zeroed in on SAGE Technical Services for my CDL school.
I figured the SAGE school in Billings, MT would give me the additional opportunity to learn how to drive an 18-wheeler on mountainous roads, and I felt I’d be better off learning on steep grades rather than encountering them for the first time on my own; this also turned out to be an idea that seemed smart at the time, but now seems overthought. I’ve since read several training diaries and posts by drivers who, as trainees, spent time conquering climbs and descents while in the company of a trainer.
I can still say with 100% confidence that I remain happy with my choice of schools; I personally appreciate what SAGE has to offer, they have an outstanding reputation among CDL schools, the staff have been really helpful in getting me enrolled while I was out-of-the-country, I was offered and received a sizable grant provided by the government, and remember the feeling of having that first gorilla that leapt onto my back removed once I settled on a school.
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