There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a heavy machinery operator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $12.2 an hour? That's $25,368 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 10% and produce 44,000 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many heavy machinery operators 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 physical strength, unafraid of heights and mechanical skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a heavy machinery operator, we found that a lot of resumes listed 19.5% of heavy machinery operators included safety rules, while 15.5% of resumes included heavy machinery, and 10.4% of resumes included dump truck. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
If you're interested in becoming a heavy machinery operator, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 18.9% of heavy machinery operators have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 0.8% of heavy machinery operators have master's degrees. Even though some heavy machinery operators have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a heavy machinery operator. When we researched the most common majors for a heavy machinery operator, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on heavy machinery operator resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a heavy machinery operator. In fact, many heavy machinery operator jobs require experience in a role such as cashier. Meanwhile, many heavy machinery operators also have previous career experience in roles such as machine operator or mechanic.
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As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a heavy machinery operator can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as forklift operator, progress to a title such as technician and then eventually end up with the title service manager.
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Use Zippia's Salary Calculator to see how your pay matches up.
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, 19.5% of heavy machinery operators listed safety rules on their resume, but soft skills such as physical strength and unafraid of heights are important as well.
1. Alaska
$40,430
Avg. Salary
2. North Dakota
$32,796
Avg. Salary
3. Wyoming
$31,731
Avg. Salary