Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators
Operate one or several types of power construction equipment, such as motor graders, bulldozers, scrapers, compressors, pumps, derricks, shovels, tractors, or front-end loaders to excavate, move, and grade earth, erect structures, or pour concrete or other hard surface pavement. May repair and maintain equipment in addition to other duties.
Most important skills
- Operation and Control
- Operations Monitoring
- Equipment Maintenance
- Monitoring
- Active Listening
- Troubleshooting
- Time Management
- Reading Comprehension
Key knowledge
- Mechanical
- English Language
- Public Safety and Security
- Mathematics
- Administration and Management
- Customer and Personal Service
- Education and Training
- Transportation
What the work involves
- Learn and follow safety regulations.
- Take actions to avoid potential hazards or obstructions, such as utility lines, other equipment, other workers, or falling objects.
- Adjust handwheels and depress pedals to control attachments, such as blades, buckets, scrapers, or swing booms.
- Start engines, move throttles, switches, or levers, or depress pedals to operate machines, such as bulldozers, trench excavators, road graders, or backhoes.
- Locate underground services, such as pipes or wires, prior to beginning work.
- Monitor operations to ensure that health and safety standards are met.
- Align machines, cutterheads, or depth gauge makers with reference stakes and guidelines or ground or position equipment, following hand signals of other workers.
- Load and move dirt, rocks, equipment, or other materials, using trucks, crawler tractors, power cranes, shovels, graders, or related equipment.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (81.7% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (36.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (36.8%)
- 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 Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators 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 | High | Higher on contact with others than 73% of occupations compared | 67% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Higher on dealing with the public than 52% of occupations compared | 31% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 68% of occupations compared | 47% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 62% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 65% of occupations compared | 52% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Lower on conflict situations than 51% of occupations compared | 46% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 53% of occupations compared | 49% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 99% of occupations compared | 95% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- 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: 0.12%
- Occasional contact with others: 0.16%
- Contact with others about half the time: 2.02%
- Contact with others most of the time: 30.27%
- Constant contact with others: 67.44%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 19.06%
- Fairly important: 4.59%
- Important: 15.1%
- Very important: 30.66%
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2020
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0.12%
- Fairly important: 14.8%
- Important: 2.3%
- Very important: 46.61%
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2020
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0.32%
- Very little freedom: 15.14%
- Limited freedom: 3.6%
- Some freedom: 45.11%
- A lot of freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2020
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 15.45%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 16.88%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 16%
- Every day: 51.66%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2020
Conflict situations
- Never: 1.8%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 46.49%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 20.42%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 30.46%
- Every day: 0.83%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 34.21%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 49.38%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 15.76%
- Every day: 0.65%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2020
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 0.12%
- Fairly serious: 4.16%
- Serious: 0.17%
- Very serious: 0.44%
- Extremely serious: 95.11%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2020
Is this career right for me? Find jobs with conditions you prefer
Where people with this background could move
- Analyze
Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining
Closeness 95/100
- Analyze
Helpers--Extraction Workers
Closeness 94/100
- Analyze
Logging Equipment Operators
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Crane and Tower Operators
Closeness 93/100 · job zone +1
- Analyze
Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders
Closeness 93/100
Find more alternativesCompare skills with another job
O*NET-SOC 47-2073.00 · SOC 47-2073 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8