Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
Operate a variety of drills such as rotary, churn, and pneumatic to tap subsurface water and salt deposits, to remove core samples during mineral exploration or soil testing, and to facilitate the use of explosives in mining or construction. Includes horizontal and earth boring machine operators.
Most important skills
- Operations Monitoring
- Operation and Control
- Critical Thinking
- Equipment Maintenance
- Monitoring
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Coordination
Key knowledge
- Mechanical
- Administration and Management
- Transportation
- Public Safety and Security
- Design
- Mathematics
- Production and Processing
- Law and Government
What the work involves
- Monitor drilling operations, by checking gauges and listening to equipment to assess drilling conditions and to determine the need to adjust drilling or alter equipment.
- Regulate air pressure, rotary speed, and downward pressure, according to the type of rock or concrete being drilled.
- Verify depths and alignments of boring positions.
- Start, stop, and control drilling speed of machines and insertion of casings into holes.
- Select the appropriate drill for the job, using knowledge of rock or soil conditions.
- Operate controls to stabilize machines and to position and align drills.
- Select and attach drill bits and drill rods, adding more rods as hole depths increase, and changing drill bits as needed.
- Operate machines to flush earth cuttings or to blow dust from holes.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (72.8% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (30.3%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (27.6%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Low | Lower on contact with others than 76% of occupations compared | 39% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Low | Lower on dealing with the public than 79% of occupations compared | 35% of surveyed respondents chose “Not important at all” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 94% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 81% of occupations compared | 66% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 94% of occupations compared | 25% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 87% of occupations compared | 54% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 77% of occupations compared | 62% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 87% of occupations compared | 52% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 12%
- Contact with others about half the time: 15.87%
- Contact with others most of the time: 32.8%
- Constant contact with others: 39.33%
n = 20, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 35.37%
- Fairly important: 9.07%
- Important: 19.54%
- Very important: 31.45%
- Extremely important: 4.56%
n = 20, Incumbent 07/2017
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 27.1%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 26.53%
- Very important: 12.33%
- Extremely important: 34.04%
n = 20, Incumbent 07/2017
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 1.44%
- Limited freedom: 11.66%
- Some freedom: 21.22%
- A lot of freedom: 65.68%
n = 20, Incumbent 07/2017
Time pressure
- Never: 18.02%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 25.1%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 15.67%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 20.81%
- Every day: 20.39%
n = 20, Incumbent 07/2017
Conflict situations
- Never: 15.29%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 53.68%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 23.49%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 7.53%
- Every day: 0%
n = 19, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 14.27%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 62.25%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 6.57%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 7.53%
- Every day: 9.37%
n = 19, Incumbent 07/2017
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 6.13%
- Fairly serious: 12.19%
- Serious: 14.61%
- Very serious: 14.84%
- Extremely serious: 52.23%
n = 20, Incumbent 07/2017
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O*NET-SOC 47-5023.00 · SOC 47-5023 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8