How To Become A Drilling Machine Operator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a drilling machine operator 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 drilling machine operator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.86 an hour? That's $32,993 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -5% and produce -45,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreDrilling Machine OperatorUS Average

Salary

2.6

Avg. Salary $32,993

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.5

Growth rate -5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.34%

Asian 3.72%

Black or African American 3.72%

Hispanic or Latino 11.79%

Unknown 1.86%

White 77.56%

Gender

female 15.49%

male 84.51%

Age - 44

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 - 44

Stress level

5.5

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.5

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.9

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a drilling machine operator

Explore drilling machine operator education requirements

Most common drilling machine operator degrees

High School Diploma

56.6 %

Associate

15.1 %

Diploma

13.2 %

Start to develop specific drilling machine operator skills

Skills	Percentages
Hand Tools	33.86%
Cranes	25.88%
Drill Holes	16.28%
Machine Tools	11.13%
Circuit Boards	7.09%

Complete relevant drilling machine operator training and internships

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

Research drilling machine operator duties and responsibilities

Train in 15 and 10 ton overhead cranes to move pre and post products.
Control & troubleshoot automate extrusion line adjusting speed & feed, monitoring temperature, & finish material specification per customers order.
Operate directional boring machine to install fiber optic cables for companies such as Verizon and Comcast.

Prepare your drilling machine operator resume

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

Choose from 10+ customizable drilling machine operator resume templates

Build a professional drilling machine operator 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 drilling machine operator resume.