How To Become A Crew Boss: What It Is and Career Path

What is a crew boss 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 crew boss. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.45 an hour? That's $36,286 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 13,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreCrew BossUS Average

Salary

2.8

Avg. Salary $36,286

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.94%

Asian 1.84%

Black or African American 8.19%

Hispanic or Latino 15.50%

Unknown 4.78%

White 68.74%

Gender

female 17.29%

male 82.71%

Age - 38

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 - 38

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

0.8

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a crew boss

Explore crew boss education requirements

Most common crew boss degrees

High School Diploma

37.1 %

Bachelor's

26.4 %

Associate

21.3 %

Start to develop specific crew boss skills

Skills	Percentages
CDL	15.97%
RAN	8.98%
Water Pumps	8.84%
Fire Behavior	8.55%
S-130	8.38%

Complete relevant crew boss training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New crew bosses 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 crew boss based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real crew boss resumes.

Research crew boss duties and responsibilities

Manage daily deck operations on multiple commercial fishing vessels to ensure all operations run smoothly and efficiently.
Perform CPR on heart attack victim until arrival of medical transport helicopter.
Conduct engine and pump operations, in coordination with patrol and mop up operations.
Run D8 bulldozer, shovels, set chocker s under the yarder, drag guidelines and pull heavy cable.

Prepare your crew boss resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your crew boss 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 crew boss resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable crew boss resume templates

Build a professional crew boss 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 crew boss resume.