Which Industries Offer Heavy Equipment Careers

When looking at heavy equipment careers you may wonder which industries offer the best opportunities. Heavy equipment by definition is any heavy machinery, not just earth moving machinery. A crane could be considered heavy equipment as could a rock crusher and tree lopper so the breadth of industries is quite large. Below is a list of the more popular industries that provide career opportunities for heavy equipment operators.

Heavy equipment career in construction

The most popular career path for heavy equipment operators is through the field of construction. This in itself has a wide range of opportunities. You have the traditional road construction crews that spend their working lives building roads, tunnels and bridges. This sector is one of the largest employers of heavy equipment operators.

The second biggest sector is that of commercial construction. This is the building of office blocks, factories, shopping centers and housing projects to name just a few. Heavy equipment is used on some construction sites from start to finish and provides one of the most varied careers when it comes to heavy equipment operations.

Heavy equipment careers in mining

Mining is the second largest industry to offer heavy equipment careers and includes both above and under ground mining projects. Mining heavy equipment ranges from small excavators and front end loaders to massive, and I do mean massive, excavators. Since mining projects are generally in isolated areas and involve degrees of danger, these careers can be amongst the most lucrative.

Heavy equipment careers in agriculture

Heavy equipment in the form of bulldozers had their origins in agriculture with the first bulldozers being nothing more than a farm tractor with a blade attached to the front. The use of heavy equipment in agriculture waned for a while but it is being used far more frequently now. There are teams of operators that now work exclusively in the agricultural sector building dams and clearing scrub land.

Forestry is another sector that is starting to rely on heavy equipment. This is one sector where new technology is constantly being introduced to help control the growth of trees, perform pruning on a large scale, and of course to fell the trees in a controlled way.

Those are the three largest industries to use heavy equipment. Other industries that could offer heavy equipment careers include the military and waterfront. Smaller niches include snow plowing, landscape gardening, pipe laying and small constructions like in-ground swimming pools.

There are heavy equipment careers in almost all industry sectors in the country. It is really a case of thinking about what sort of work you would really like doing. Is it building roads, or building houses; perhaps working in the mines, or working on large landscape gardening projects. Find a sector that appeals to you, undertake the heavy equipment training required, and your career in heavy equipment awaits.