I will start off by saying what a great forum this has been for me so far.... My name is Tim, am 37 and have been a forklift operator in the auto manufacturing industry for 8 years, untill last month when 750 people lost there jobs for good{my wife as well}. I have been blessed that I was accepted into a gov program here called "second career" to gain funding for skill upgrading. I grew up in the counrty around lots of equipment and LOVED playing around on the farm but choose a different direction as I grew up. Now I have the opportunity of a life time to be able to take HEO constuction and transportation trainning {12 week course}through Ontario truck driving school. Coarse will consist of 72 hours class time, 90 hours feild and lab, and 190 hours one on one seat time. I will be obtainning my AZ licence as well so that I may be more employable{I hope} to a company. I thought that I should take addvantage of all the money that was offered to me{ I do not have to pay it back and the coarse is 20 grand} and get as many certificates I can. I am starting March 7th and I am soooo pumped! I would like to ask your opinions on what you guys think about the school idea, have you heard of them, are there enough hours in seat class and lab to be a good program, and is the AZ endorsment a good thing. Like I said I have 8 safe years with no accidents on my foklift in the plant, but I dont know if this works for me as operating experience? I will be trained on escavator,dozer,grader,rock truck,wheel loader and skid steer,dump box and packer. I have many more question but I will save them for my next post. What do you guys think. have a great day.