Heavy Equipment Operator School
OK, you saw those brilliant people, manipulating all those huge monster machines, and you thought you’d like that for making a living on your own. As your driver’s license is surely not enough to give you the qualification to drive heavy equipment, you’ll need to acquire a special certificate such as a crane operator certification, in case you want to become a gantry crane operator, and so on. For each category of operations or industries, there’s a special heavy equipment operator school, special trainings you have to attend and pass the exams, in order to become certified for that occupation. After graduating your school, you’ll probably have a solid theory base, and probably some practice with the equipment you wish to end up by driving and manipulating at excellent standards.
Where To Find Heavy Equipment Operator School Or Training In My Area
One of the places to start can be N.A.H.E.T.S., which stands for The National Association of Heavy Equipment Training Schools. This is the authority which certifies and approves the heavy equipment training schools. In order for a heavy equipment operator school to be approved by NAHETS, it must meet strict standards in the following areas: heavy equipment operating safety, graduate career resource centers, operator job placement assistance, heavy equipment employer development programs, faculty development, heavy equipment project orientation, and heavy equipment operations.
In our future articles, we are going to take a deeper look into the heavy equipment operator school classes and training programs approved by NAHETS.
Heavy Equipment Operator Jobs
After you got your heavy equipment operator training, you start looking for appropriate jobs, so you can get your investment back and make a good living for you and your family, doing something you like. But finding such jobs immediately after finishing school can be a tough enterprise, because you lack the work experience which you cannot acquire during your training courses, no matter how good they are.
If you are new, you can seek first for an apprenticeship program, and here the International Union of Operating Engineers may be able to help you. Another way to start your job search can be to gather information on the registered apprenticeship system with links to State apprenticeship programs on the U.S. Department of Labor’s Web site: http://www.doleta.gov/atels_bat. Apprenticeship information on heavy equipment operator jobs can be acquired from the U.S. Department of Labor’s toll free helpline: (877) 872-5627.
Heavy Equipment Operator Jobs Salaries
As always, salaries in the heavy machinery operating field vary very much with the type of job, the responsibilities, the company, the area. There are just so many factors that influence the earnings of a heavy equipment operator, that it is hard to give an average value as reference.
This is an excerpt showing median hourly rates for heavy equipment operator jobs at the level of May 2006:
In May 2006, median hourly earnings of wage and salary piledriver operators were $22.20. The middle 50 percent earned between $16.31 and $31.65. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $12.83, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $37.28. Median hourly earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of pile driver operators were as follows:
- Other heavy and civil engineering construction $28.60
- Highway, street, and bridge construction 22.50
- Other specialty trade contractors 20.60
- Utility system construction 18.62
Source: bls.gov
You can see from the above example what a difference of hourly rates can be within the same industry.