Forklift technicians repair and maintain forklifts in a warehouse or factory. Forklifts are valuable machinery that help move heavy objects and lift them into place. Forklift technicians make sure that these important pieces of equipment are able to stay in business.
Forklift technicians need to know a lot about maintenance and troubleshooting in order to keep forklifts in tip-top shape. They use a variety of tools, from hand drills to soldering irons, in order to maintain equipment. Forklift technicians also need to be experts in less glamorous aspects of the job, such as following safety regulations and filing paperwork to keep track of the company fleet.
Becoming a forklift technician requires very little formal education. Most forklift technicians have only a high school diploma, although earning an associate's degree or certificate in diesel technology or OSHA standards. It helps if a forklift technician has some practical experience working as a mechanic as well. It takes a little bit of effort to become qualified to work as a forklift technician but it is worth it-they earn an average salary of $46,571 per year.
What is a Forklift Technician?
What Does a Forklift Technician Do
There are certain skills that many forklift technicians have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed dexterity, organizational skills and physical strength.
How To Become a Forklift Technician
If you're interested in becoming a forklift technician, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 7.6% of forklift technicians have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.2% of forklift technicians have master's degrees. Even though some forklift technicians have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Forklift Technician Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of technician you might progress to a role such as team leader eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title plant manager.
Average Salary for a Forklift Technician
What Am I Worth?
Roles and Types of Forklift Technician
There are several types of forklift technician, including:
Technician
Role:
To be a technician, you have to know your stuff. Some may refer to you as an expert in your field or maybe people will know you as skilled in an art or craft. Then again, you may just be needed to look after technical equipment.
Your workload as a technician will vary, depending on what you're trained in. You may be needed to set up a new computer system or maybe you'll need to fix an electricity problem. Either way, you'll probably only need to work 40 hours a week.
The degree of education required for this job depends on what you're specific skillset is. Some technicians only need a high school diploma, others may want to complete an associate's program or earn a certificate to help their employment opportunities. There's definitely something for everyone in the field of technicians.
- Average Salary: $38,045
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Forklift Operator
Role:
As a forklift operator, the majority of your time will be spent riding around on a forklift. You'll use it to move objects around so, unfortunately, there will be no time for any funny business. In fact, you'll probably need to follow some safety rules to ensure no one gets hurt.
There really aren't any formal education requirements, but you will probably need to be trained on how to operate the machine. Since products and materials are shipped at all times, you may need to stay late or even work an overnight shift from time to time.
And you better believe you'll get some overtime hours from being a forklift operator, which will be a nice little surprise when it's payday. Plus, did we mention you get to drive a forklift around. Sure, you have to be careful moving objects and trying to avoid running over your co-workers but, hey, at least you get to drive a forklift.
- Average Salary: $34,213
- Degree: High School Diploma
Maintenance Technician
Role:
A maintenance technician mainly focuses their time on making repairs to equipment and property structures. When the HVAC unit stops working on the hottest day of the year, the maintenance technicians are the ones who will be called on to save the day.
Generally, maintenance technicians only need a high school diploma to get by in their career, although higher positions in the maintenance technician field may require a two-year program of some sort.
You know how we said that maintenance technicians may be called upon in emergency situations? Well, that may mean you'll be working outside of your normal hours. For the most part, you'll work a normal, full-time schedule. But emergencies may get you out of bed or interrupt your weekend. Just be prepared for those emergencies.
- Average Salary: $43,293
- Degree: High School Diploma
States With The Most Forklift Technician Jobs
Number Of Forklift Technician Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 5,721 | $60,416 |
| 2 | Texas | 5,276 | $47,275 |
| 3 | Florida | 4,887 | $39,348 |
| 4 | Georgia | 3,209 | $41,040 |
| 5 | Pennsylvania | 3,131 | $45,143 |
| 6 | Illinois | 3,108 | $54,404 |
| 7 | New York | 3,086 | $45,040 |
| 8 | North Carolina | 2,823 | $41,778 |
| 9 | Ohio | 2,821 | $40,884 |
| 10 | Indiana | 2,137 | $45,103 |
| 11 | Virginia | 1,950 | $47,808 |
| 12 | New Jersey | 1,933 | $46,590 |
| 13 | Tennessee | 1,912 | $40,639 |
| 14 | Michigan | 1,908 | $43,560 |
| 15 | Massachusetts | 1,734 | $64,406 |
| 16 | Iowa | 1,724 | $40,256 |
| 17 | Washington | 1,686 | $50,139 |
| 18 | Minnesota | 1,677 | $56,919 |
| 19 | Colorado | 1,650 | $49,339 |
| 20 | Wisconsin | 1,563 | $43,151 |
| 21 | Arizona | 1,548 | $49,821 |
| 22 | Missouri | 1,479 | $48,645 |
| 23 | South Carolina | 1,459 | $45,990 |
| 24 | Maryland | 1,410 | $49,071 |
| 25 | Kentucky | 1,179 | $44,158 |
| 26 | Alabama | 1,128 | $45,330 |
| 27 | Oregon | 1,092 | $43,811 |
| 28 | Louisiana | 929 | $46,092 |
| 29 | Connecticut | 812 | $48,903 |
| 30 | Utah | 797 | $44,392 |
| 31 | Oklahoma | 756 | $44,729 |
| 32 | Mississippi | 744 | $40,508 |
| 33 | Nebraska | 705 | $37,634 |
| 34 | Kansas | 663 | $46,714 |
| 35 | Arkansas | 621 | $45,442 |
| 36 | Nevada | 619 | $48,755 |
| 37 | New Hampshire | 434 | $48,351 |
| 38 | Maine | 425 | $39,572 |
| 39 | New Mexico | 390 | $40,691 |
| 40 | Idaho | 380 | $39,364 |
| 41 | Montana | 317 | $47,016 |
| 42 | Delaware | 299 | $49,062 |
| 43 | West Virginia | 298 | $49,441 |
| 44 | South Dakota | 248 | $38,507 |
| 45 | Rhode Island | 244 | $51,778 |
| 46 | Alaska | 241 | $51,799 |
| 47 | North Dakota | 227 | $48,908 |
| 48 | Vermont | 198 | $63,114 |
| 49 | Hawaii | 183 | $57,599 |
| 50 | Wyoming | 119 | $46,196 |
Top Skills For a Forklift Technician
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 70.1% of forklift technicians listed troubleshoot on their resume, but soft skills such as dexterity and organizational skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Forklift Technician Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Forklift Technician templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Forklift Technician resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Forklift Technician diversity
Forklift Technician Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among forklift technicians, 4.4% of them are women, while 95.6% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among forklift technicians is White, which makes up 72.4% of all forklift technicians.
- The most common foreign language among forklift technicians is Spanish at 50.0%.
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How Do Forklift Technicians Rate Their Jobs?
Top Forklift Technician Employers
Most Common Employers For Forklift Technician
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crown Equipment | $50,524 | $24.29 | 8 |
| 2 | LAUNCH Technical Workforce Solutions | $46,158 | $22.19 | 5 |
| 3 | NITCO | $43,291 | $20.81 | 3 |
| 4 | Toyota Forklifts of Atlanta | $43,158 | $20.75 | 4 |
| 5 | CFE Equipment | $42,999 | $20.67 | 3 |
| 6 | Naumann/Hobbs Material Hndlng | $42,969 | $20.66 | 3 |
| 7 | Raymond | $42,431 | $20.40 | 3 |
| 8 | Daily Equipment | $41,007 | $19.71 | 3 |
| 9 | Raymond West | $40,987 | $19.71 | 6 |
| 10 | LiftOne | $40,766 | $19.60 | 4 |