How To Become A Petty Officer First Class: What It Is and Career Path

What is a petty officer first class and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a petty officer first class. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.77 an hour? That's $39,045 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 38,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePetty Officer First ClassUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $39,045

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.6

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.58%

Asian 5.78%

Black or African American 12.01%

Hispanic or Latino 17.85%

Unknown 5.30%

White 57.48%

Gender

female 12.89%

male 87.11%

Age - 43

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 - 43

Stress level

8.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.9

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

9.4

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a petty officer first class

Explore petty officer first class education requirements

Most common petty officer first class degrees

Bachelor's

43.4 %

Associate

29.6 %

High School Diploma

15.1 %

Start to develop specific petty officer first class skills

Skills	Percentages
Logistics	6.80%
Law Enforcement	6.56%
Sailors	5.15%
Coast Guard	4.38%
Electrical Systems	4.21%

Complete relevant petty officer first class training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New petty officers first class 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 petty officer first class based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real petty officer first class resumes.

Research petty officer first class duties and responsibilities

Manage and mentore junior sailors and maintain and ensure ship security.
Manage 13 ready-service-lockers containing all shipboard ordinances while personally keeping duty gunner's mate and ammunition handling qualify.
Coordinate all submarine warfare qualifications for enlist sailors.
Perform aircraft crash rescue, firefighting, crash removal, and damage control.

Prepare your petty officer first class resume

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

Choose from 10+ customizable petty officer first class resume templates

Build a professional petty officer first class 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 petty officer first class resume.