The newby forum is exactly that, it’s a place where new or wannabe drivers can go and ask others what the craic is, no question is daft as such.
I do post on that forum sometimes, but hopefully helpful stuff, if i can’t post summat useful i don’t post, it’s hard enough getting started in this game anyway.
It’s not the same as it once was out in the real world, going in to a new place when you’ve been doing the job umpteen years can be an eye opener, go in as agency and some of the more miserable (and often incompetent) full timers either ignore you or treat you with derision, ask where to find engine oil or coolant they look at you in bewilderment because they never check the oil or other fluids themselves anyway, and don’t get me started on some of the jumped up little half wits behind the desk in these places who if they spoke to people like that in a pub would soon find themselves on their arses.
Then there’s the wind up crew who who make out a drop is going to be a nightmare where even those of 20 years exp take 20 minutes to get in.
What the older crew tend to forget is that things have changed out on the road, and also in the training game, the roads are chocka block the lemmings are constantly in headlong rush to oblivion, the lorries have got bigger with massive overhangs that only specialised vehicles might have had at one time…eg rigids with the drive axle near enough in the centre of the body and a lifting and/or steering axle behind it, bodies with rear overhangs like that didn’t exist back in the day, if they did they were purpose made for specific jobs and had dedicated drivers.
Training was much longer, when i took my course (fair enough it was straight to class 1 in those days) the course was ten days, so you got a feel for driving large vehicles and there was time to do in depth vehicle handling and control, a whole day maneuvering not just repeating the test exercise, and of course all vehicles were manual gearboxes…which despite what anyone says demanded concentration but made traffic and maneuvering in particular a more controlled experience, after all of which you came out of the driving course with a much better feel for what was happening on the road…remember ABS and stability controls were unheard of so you soon realised how little grip tyres really ave on damp surfaces, so the lorry rat race wasn’t what it is now.
Vehicles had much better visibility too, yes the mirrors were rubbish, often unheated, fixed in place flat glass, no down mirrors, but the lorries had windows all round and generally weren’t so high cabs so your overall vision all around was often better.
It’s a different game starting out now, cleaner, easier and lighter physically, but the chances are your vehicle in whichever class is going to be a full sized outfit with large overhangs from the start, that alone is daunting…i know how big the lorry is but when i return to work after a couple of week’s holiday it’s seems huge, must be bloody frightening getting up into a 4 metre high cab after only half a week’s total driving course and peering back into the distance to see the back of the thing and realise some 4/5 metres (cor i’m a europhile 
) of the sodding thing is rear overhang to boot…remember a 3 axles trailer pivots on the middle axle, so the rear overhang is the distance from the middle axle to the arse end.
Cut the new lads some slack, its not their fault the training system has gone to pot (in real terms it should be longer and obviously should cost more) and its not their fault that most companies don’t have some sort of mentoring system in place so that new drivers can go out and run with more experienced reliable drivers , with the right attitude ie not whos arse is constantly on fire 
, to help them through the first few weeks/months.
Proper places like mine, ok its a bit specialised, go out for extended training double manned and then generally get to deliver where another of our vehicles will also be so there’s someone to help if needs be…when i started here i’d been on lorries 3 decades but i was glad of that sensible training cos the job is quite frightening when out on your jack for the first few times, it was reassuring knowing someone was keeping an eye on me so i didn’t drop a big bollock.
By the way, now into my 4th decade on the road and i’m still learning every day.
Oh and i met a young driver this week, helped him by being his banksman when he swapped trailers, a tight blind side slalom with a parallel park with little room in front for getting the one out and the other in, it was dark with restricted room (not helping cos i was tipping a tank at the time in his way), so i held my torch lit all the right places up, and made sure he couldn’t hit anything.
Yernow what it was a pleasure, a nice young bloke, looked after his motor (he had clean lights windows and mirrors so he was already winning 
) and he had a positive attitude, afterwards i shook his hand gave him some encouragement praise (which being a Brit he brushed off of course 
) and hope i made a young friend there…if i see him again i’ll give him details of who to ask for a job where i am cos he’s got a good future in this game with that attitude, he took advantage of help offered, and that, young drivers, is half the battle.
He didn’t ask for help, he came and asked me how long i’d be tipping, but i told him i’d be his banksman and watch him in and out, sure enough twenty minutes later he’d done the swapover.
, but your misguided opinion on tramping is a derisory but classic analysis from someone who has either never done it, or is doing it the wrong way…ie treating it as some sleep deprivation minimal rest maximum work hours, lack of proper food, lack of use of human facilities and a zero social life endurance exercise rather than a job of work, and favouring existing in a cab for 24 hours a day instead of getting out in an evening.