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

What is a technical machine 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 technical machine operator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $16.26 an hour? That's $33,812 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 56,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreTechnical Machine OperatorUS Average

Salary

2.6

Avg. Salary $33,812

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.4

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.26%

Asian 8.11%

Black or African American 12.11%

Hispanic or Latino 16.03%

Unknown 3.52%

White 58.98%

Gender

female 20.76%

male 79.24%

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

4.4

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.6

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.8

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a technical machine operator

Explore technical machine operator education requirements

Most common technical machine operator degrees

High School Diploma

38.1 %

Associate

26.9 %

Bachelor's

16.2 %

Start to develop specific technical machine operator skills

Skills	Percentages
Basic Math	9.82%
Safety Procedures	8.64%
Math	7.61%
Preventative Maintenance	6.91%
Safety Regulations	6.30%

Complete relevant technical machine operator training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New technical machine 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 technical machine operator based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real technical machine operator resumes.

Research technical machine operator duties and responsibilities

Detail orient; familiar with ISO standards and procedures.
Maintain a safe and organize area while wearing proper PPE and following all safety protocols.
Oversee extrusion production line, remove finish product, process packaging and stack accordingly to production work orders.
Modify belts by punching holes, skive, or cut fingers depending on belt type and/or per FDA approval.

Prepare your technical machine operator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your technical machine 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 technical machine 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 technical machine operator resume templates

Build a professional technical machine 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 technical machine operator resume.