How To Become A Pile Driver Operator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a pile driver operator 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 pile driver operator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.0 an hour? That's $37,434 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 22,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePile Driver OperatorUS Average

Salary

2.9

Avg. Salary $37,434

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.3

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.88%

Asian 0.93%

Black or African American 7.07%

Hispanic or Latino 18.56%

Unknown 4.33%

White 67.24%

Gender

female 5.32%

male 94.68%

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

8.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.8

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.1

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a pile driver operator

Explore pile driver operator education requirements

Most common pile driver operator degrees

High School Diploma

48.3 %

Associate

23.0 %

Diploma

12.6 %

Start to develop specific pile driver operator skills

Skills	Percentages
Pile	26.97%
CDL	17.60%
Cranes	11.86%
Construction Equipment	10.97%
GPS	10.18%

Complete relevant pile driver operator training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 2-4 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New pile driver 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 pile driver operator based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real pile driver operator resumes.

Research pile driver operator duties and responsibilities

Operate heavy equipment including cranes, forklifts, and track vehicles.
Rig up equipment, signal crane and track-hoe to be move to a different area with in the job site.
Communicate with crane operator, rig concrete piles and materials, grease and oil equipment on a daily basis, unload trucks
Operate various caterpillar excavators, bulldozers, front-end loaders and other relate equipment to perform demolition on houses and infrastructure.

Prepare your pile driver operator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your pile driver 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 pile driver 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 pile driver operator resume templates

Build a professional pile driver 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 pile driver operator resume.