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

What is a machine helper 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 machine helper. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.37 an hour? That's $31,968 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 69,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreMachine HelperUS Average

Salary

2.5

Avg. Salary $31,968

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.9

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 2.25%

Asian 1.22%

Black or African American 9.27%

Hispanic or Latino 19.38%

Unknown 4.21%

White 63.68%

Gender

female 13.69%

male 86.31%

Age - 39

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 - 39

Stress level

6.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.5

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a machine helper

Explore machine helper education requirements

Most common machine helper degrees

High School Diploma

50.2 %

Diploma

16.6 %

Associate

12.9 %

Start to develop specific machine helper skills

Skills	Percentages
Basic Math	20.73%
Safety Rules	10.12%
Quality Checks	10.04%
Quality Standards	9.99%
Pallets	8.67%

Complete relevant machine helper training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New machine helpers 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 machine helper based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real machine helper resumes.

Research machine helper duties and responsibilities

Inspect and dress reels on face and release ends that are next in line to be run.
Construct, repair, evaluate, troubleshoot and maintain dies and machining parts; determine corrective action.
Cut wood to lengths need for shipping during the week and pull machined parts from a CNC lathe for shipping.
Record statistics on ISO documentation, and coordinate with machine technicians and electrical technicians to keep machines operating at maximum efficiency.

Prepare your machine helper resume

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

Choose from 10+ customizable machine helper resume templates

Build a professional machine helper 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 machine helper resume.