CDL Program

City of San Antonio Solid Waste Management kept running short of drivers with a commercial driver’s license (CDL). Its registered apprenticeship now trains its own employees to drive the trucks, and the department says more than 100 people have gone through the program and are now full-time employees. This three-minute video for City of San Antonio Workforce Development shows how it works, as an example other employers can learn from.

Apprentices start on a simulator that shows them how different it is to drive something as large as an 18-wheeler instead of the cars they’re used to. Tayler Lang, now a side loader equipment operator, says that, being a woman, she was a little hesitant to ask her trainer questions, but he “didn’t make me feel dumb.” Another speaker says she “did not hesitate to jump in the truck and learn,” and “you could tell she studied at home.”

Her first solo drive is when she knew she could do the job, and a summer of 105-plus-degree days showed her how much grit she had. Her advice to anyone thinking about an apprenticeship: “I’d say go for it.” We filmed part of the video in the cab of her truck.