What Kind Of Career Do You Want?

There are all sorts of heavy equipment careers. What kind of career you want if you’re willing to work hard for it. The first step is training, and you want to be trained by the best, I’m sure.

Have you done a career outlook study yet? If not, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes an annual outlook on careers in the U.S. A quick look at the construction industry shows that the median income for construction equipment operators in 2010 was $39,460.

That’s the median, which means half the salaries were above that.

Tractor-trailer truck drivers made slightly less than that. But if you look at the number of jobs in 2010, there were over 1 million. Growth expectation is 21%, higher than average.

The BLS website is a wealth of information on all sorts of careers. You should check it out and chart the kind of career in heavy equipment you want to have. What the information doesn’t show is a specialization within these fields. If you have your crane certification, for instance, you can command more income. If you have crane certification and a commercial drivers license, then you can earn more.

Talk to a few heavy equipment operators in your area and find out how much they earn. Different parts of the country have different costs of living and therefore different salary expectations.

One thing is clear. You can have the career you want with the proper planning.