What Does a Maintenance Operator Do?

In this section, we compare the average maintenance operator annual salary with that of an operations and maintenance technician. Typically, operations and maintenance technicians earn a $18,260 higher salary than maintenance operators earn annually.

While the salaries between these two careers can be different, they do share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both maintenance operators and operations and maintenance technicians positions are skilled in hand tools, preventative maintenance, and mowing.

There are some key differences in responsibilities as well. For example, a maintenance operator responsibilities require skills like "cdl," "dump truck," "dot," and "safety rules." Meanwhile a typical operations and maintenance technician has skills in areas such as "cleanliness," "windows," "cmms," and "mechanical maintenance." This difference in skills reveals how truly different these two careers really are.

Operations and maintenance technicians receive the highest salaries in the energy industry coming in with an average yearly salary of $60,926. But maintenance operators are paid more in the energy industry with an average salary of $41,741.

Operations and maintenance technicians tend to reach similar levels of education than maintenance operators. In fact, operations and maintenance technicians are 0.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

The next role we're going to look at is the preventive maintenance technician profession. Typically, this position earns a higher pay. In fact, they earn a $5,515 higher salary than maintenance operators per year.

Not everything about these jobs is different. Take their skills, for example. Maintenance operators and preventive maintenance technicians both include similar skills like "hand tools," "preventative maintenance," and "blowers" on their resumes.

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences that are worth noting. For example, maintenance operator responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "cdl," "mowing," "safety procedures," and "dump truck." Meanwhile, a preventive maintenance technician might be skilled in areas such as "customer service," "dishwashers," "water filters," and "production equipment." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

On average, preventive maintenance technicians earn a higher salary than maintenance operators. There are industries that support higher salaries in each profession respectively. Interestingly enough, preventive maintenance technicians earn the most pay in the automotive industry with an average salary of $47,655. Whereas, maintenance operators have higher paychecks in the energy industry where they earn an average of $41,741.

In general, preventive maintenance technicians study at similar levels of education than maintenance operators. They're 0.5% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The industrial maintenance mechanic profession generally makes a higher amount of money when compared to the average salary of maintenance operators. The difference in salaries is industrial maintenance mechanics making $14,662 higher than maintenance operators.

Using maintenance operators and industrial maintenance mechanics resumes, we found that both professions have similar skills such as "hand tools," "blowers," and "loaders," but the other skills required are very different.

As mentioned, these two careers differ between other skills that are required for performing the work exceedingly well. For example, gathering from maintenance operators resumes, they are more likely to have skills like "cdl," "preventative maintenance," "mowing," and "safety procedures." But a industrial maintenance mechanic might have skills like "production equipment," "conveyor systems," "production machines," and "cranes."

Interestingly enough, industrial maintenance mechanics earn the most pay in the construction industry, where they command an average salary of $52,513. As mentioned previously, maintenance operators highest annual salary comes from the energy industry with an average salary of $41,741.

Industrial maintenance mechanics typically study at similar levels compared with maintenance operators. For example, they're 0.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The fourth career we look at typically earns higher pay than maintenance operators. On average, facility maintenance technicians earn a difference of $4,155 higher per year.

According to resumes from both maintenance operators and facility maintenance technicians, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "hand tools," "cdl," and "mowing. "

Even though a few skill sets overlap, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a maintenance operator might have more use for skills like "preventative maintenance," "dump truck," "dot," and "equipment operation." Meanwhile, some facility maintenance technicians might include skills like "customer service," "good communication," "minor maintenance," and "facility equipment" on their resume.

Now, let's take a closer look at the financials in each career. The manufacturing industry tends to pay more for facility maintenance technicians with an average of $45,090. While the highest maintenance operator annual salary comes from the energy industry.

The average resume of facility maintenance technicians showed that they earn similar levels of education to maintenance operators. So much so that the likelihood of them earning a Master's Degree is 0.9% more. Additionally, they're less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.2%.