How To Become A Bridge Tender: What It Is and Career Path

What is a bridge tender and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a bridge tender. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.13 an hour? That's $35,636 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 8,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreBridge TenderUS Average

Salary

2.8

Avg. Salary $35,636

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.6

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 2.63%

Asian 4.95%

Black or African American 13.82%

Hispanic or Latino 19.13%

Unknown 6.40%

White 53.08%

Gender

female 33.33%

male 66.67%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress level

6.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.7

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

9.0

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a bridge tender

Explore bridge tender education requirements

Most common bridge tender degrees

High School Diploma

32.4 %

Bachelor's

29.4 %

Associate

29.4 %

Start to develop specific bridge tender skills

Skills	Percentages
Two-Way Radio	29.54%
Boats	28.81%
US Coast Guard	22.45%
Traffic Signals	19.20%

Complete relevant bridge tender training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New bridge tenders learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a bridge tender based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real bridge tender resumes.

Research bridge tender duties and responsibilities

Trouble shoot and resolve conferencing issues for schedule and manage videoconferencing customers.
Clean taps and lines, switch out kegs, and service keg line fobs to ensure the best quality beer pour.
Communicate with dispatcher on rail movement, captains of boat and engineers of train.
Slice and pit fruit for garnishing drinks.

Prepare your bridge tender resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your bridge tender resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a bridge tender resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable bridge tender resume templates

Build a professional bridge tender resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your bridge tender resume.