I came back from Turkey properly relaxed and immediately threw myself into my carefully prepared database of companies. I already wrote about how I looked for my first truck driving job in the previous article, and that was exactly where the journey began that eventually brought me here. At first, I was contacting companies that were as close to my home as possible so I would not have to commute unnecessarily far.
To my surprise, the more I spoke with company owners, the more shocked I became. Most of them complained on the phone that times were bad and that they did not see things very positively. Logically, I was not going to join a company like that.
Honestly, I had no idea what kind of bad conditions some companies in Slovakia give to drivers. One company, for example, had a condition that I could not leave during the first year, otherwise I would have to pay a penalty. Another told me that for the first three months I would be driving as part of a two-man crew with a stranger, and part of my salary would go to him for training me. When I heard all of this, I felt genuinely disgusted. I was not expecting a fairy tale, but this honestly surprised me.
The Company That Caught My Attention
In the middle of all that, I came across one company that caught my attention. It was a bigger company, with more than seven million euros in revenue in the previous year, and it had a really good-looking fleet of trucks. Just from that alone, I had the feeling that it did not look cheap or chaotic. So I told myself, alright, I am going to see it in person.
I went to the interview, spoke directly with the owner, and we discussed the conditions and everything else I wanted to know. After everything I had heard elsewhere up to that point, I was already much more cautious and weighed everything carefully in my head. In the end, though, I said to myself: alright, I am going for it.
The First Day I Will NEVER Forget
My first day as a truck driver is simply impossible to forget. It is like your first girlfriend, haha. I completed the safety training and all the other necessary formalities that had to be done before I could start driving for them. Everything happened pretty quickly, and I did not even have time for lunch. Suddenly, I was assigned my first semi-trailer combination, and I was trying to process the fact that this was no longer driving school or a practice yard. This was reality. A Mercedes-Benz Actros L (2022), in a blood-red colour, very well-equipped and I was thrilled.
Together with the technician, we went through the vehicle introduction, and then I spent about an hour and a half practising driving and reversing in the company yard. I had NEVER sat in or driven a vehicle like that before! I am tempted to call it an “extreme crash course.” And then came the moment that burned itself into my memory. I was told that I was leaving and heading out on my first job, towards Germany. In that moment, I was saying to myself in my head: wait, wait… right now? This is really happening — incredible!
Into The Night, In The Rain, Alone With It All
It was autumn, dark, raining, and around half past five in the evening. I only just managed to run to a shop and buy at least some food so I would have something with me. Then I set off towards Poland. I remember it like it was yesterday — the rain, the wet road, 40 tonnes in my hands, and me heading into the night. That was how my first drive as a professional driver began.
I will not lie, I was scared as hell, but I believed in myself.
It was one of those moments you look forward to for months, but when it finally arrives, you suddenly feel the full weight of what is actually happening. On one hand, I was incredibly excited. I felt that it was really happening. That I had finally reached the place I had wanted to get to. Everything I had been doing for the previous months — all the decisions, driving schools, tests, and paperwork — had suddenly taken on a real shape.
Not Fear, But Respect
On the other hand, I definitely was not completely at ease. I felt a huge amount of respect. And that is exactly the word that describes my mindset. It was not fear in the sense that I did not trust myself. If I were afraid of driving itself, I simply would not go into trucking. I knew that from the beginning, and I said it in interviews too. But having a healthy respect for what you are stepping into is, in my opinion, completely normal. And that is exactly what I felt.
Maybe I aged by half a year in that one day. Seriously. That is how intense it all was.
My Very First Night in a Truck
My first night was in Poland at a fuel station, where I parked literally in the last remaining spot. I was incredibly lucky to find anything at all, because I arrived there late at night. I was “lucky” because there was a refrigerated truck on my left and another on my right, so I had stereo noise from diesel cooling units all night, haha. But back then, I almost did not care. Everything was new, powerful, and intense.
When I look back on it today, I have a smile on my face. And above all, I am unbelievably proud of myself. Proud that I did it. That I did not stop at dreams, but turned the whole thing into reality. That first day was difficult, dark, rainy, and full of stress. But at the same time, it was beautiful. It was the day my new life truly began.
And this was only the beginning.