How To Become A Portable Sawmill Operator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a portable sawmill operator 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 portable sawmill operator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.82 an hour? That's $37,063 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 8,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePortable Sawmill OperatorUS Average

Salary

2.9

Avg. Salary $37,063

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.0

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.04%

Asian 1.06%

Black or African American 12.13%

Hispanic or Latino 15.07%

Unknown 4.80%

White 65.90%

Gender

female 7.07%

male 92.93%

Age - 45

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 - 45

Stress level

5.0

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.5

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a portable sawmill operator

Explore portable sawmill operator education requirements

Most common portable sawmill operator degrees

High School Diploma

50.0 %

Associate

26.9 %

Bachelor's

15.4 %

Start to develop specific portable sawmill operator skills

Skills	Percentages
Bobcat	100.00%

Complete relevant portable sawmill operator training and internships

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

Research portable sawmill operator duties and responsibilities

Manage the master calendar and schedule resources such as communication equipment, weapons, transportation and ammunition forecast and delivery.
Resize timber with portable see mill.
Operate equipment to sort/stack lumber and feed lumber through planers.
Use proper procedure for lock-out/tag-out, use proper personal protective equipment (PPE).

Prepare your portable sawmill operator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your portable sawmill 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 portable sawmill 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 portable sawmill operator resume templates

Build a professional portable sawmill 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 portable sawmill operator resume.