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

What is a forming 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 forming machine operator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $16.95 an hour? That's $35,252 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 56,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreForming Machine OperatorUS Average

Salary

2.8

Avg. Salary $35,252

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.4

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.21%

Asian 6.98%

Black or African American 11.25%

Hispanic or Latino 16.42%

Unknown 3.41%

White 60.73%

Gender

female 21.66%

male 78.34%

Age - 46

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 - 46

Stress level

4.4

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.6

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.8

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a forming machine operator

Explore forming machine operator education requirements

Most common forming machine operator degrees

High School Diploma

47.3 %

Associate

22.3 %

Bachelor's

14.3 %

Start to develop specific forming machine operator skills

Skills	Percentages
Quality Standards	17.69%
Safety Rules	9.84%
Troubleshoot	7.22%
Tape Measure	6.20%
Pallets	6.12%

Complete relevant forming machine operator training and internships

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

Research forming machine operator duties and responsibilities

Design all extrusion dies and their support tooling.
Utilize CNC machinery for shaping and routing of materials for final product.
Trouble shooting CNC programs and re writing programs to edit to meet measurement specification.
Machine parts according to customer specifications utilizing calipers.

Prepare your forming machine operator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your forming 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 forming 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 forming machine operator resume templates

Build a professional forming 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 forming machine operator resume.