How To Become An Excavator: What It Is and Career Path

What is an excavator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an excavator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $23.27 an hour? That's $48,403 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 32,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreExcavatorUS Average

Salary

3.8

Avg. Salary $48,403

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.6

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.27%

Asian 2.55%

Black or African American 9.24%

Hispanic or Latino 16.02%

Unknown 3.67%

White 67.25%

Gender

female 17.67%

male 82.33%

Age - 42

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 - 42

Stress level

6.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.5

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.6

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an excavator

Explore excavator education requirements

Most common excavator degrees

High School Diploma

41.3 %

Bachelor's

31.5 %

Associate

10.5 %

Start to develop specific excavator skills

Skills	Percentages
Asphalt	24.53%
CDL	15.86%
Hand Tools	13.84%
Plumbing	9.86%
Safety Procedures	8.14%

Complete relevant excavator training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New excavators 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 an excavator based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real excavator resumes.

Research excavator duties and responsibilities

Lead excavation crews in underground plumbing jobs.
cat d6t tremble gps dozer.
Determine GPS coordinates on site.
Install natural gas pipeline, run a excuvator to dig ditch and tie in pipe.

Prepare your excavator resume

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

Choose from 10+ customizable excavator resume templates

Build a professional excavator 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 excavator resume.