The position of heavy equipment operator is always full of interest. Every day brings new challenges, even if you are working on the same project. If you’re building roads, then everyday is going to bring changes in terrain types and with it changes in the equipment, the equipment settings or attachments and changes in the work required. The life of a heavy equipment operator is never boring.

Question is, is this the career for you? Are you ready to work in a field that is ever changing, rarely monotonous or boring and a field that is full of interesting characters? The ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools has a full featured video on the role of a heavy equipment operator. If you are in the slightest interested in heavy equipment operations as a role then I suggest you view it.

Training to be an operator is not really difficult. It does not take a rocket scientist to operate the heavy equipment, even the most up-to-date models. What is needed is an interest in the job as a career. There are very few operators who will claim to dislike their job, that in itself is an endorsement of the job as a career.

If you are still unsure about heavy equipment operations as a career then why not sign up for the free online training program that will introduce you to the role of an operator. The training covers important areas such as safety, a compulsory topic in all construction industry training. The free training will also introduce you to the different types of heavy equipment used, the roles of the operator and some of the basic operating techniques.

The online training program, your only commitment is to time. Once you gain an understanding of heavy equipment operations, and the ‘bug’ bites, there will be no stopping you. If you think about it, whilst the job is important, it is also a career where you get to play with big toys, every small child’s dream as they are growing up.

When times are tough employers look more to those that are qualified when looking for new employees. This is particularly true in the field of construction and heavy equipment. When times are good, some employers will take on new workers based on solely on five or ten years experience – not today, a qualified operator will almost always get the nod over an unqualified operator.

Now is probably a good time for those heavy equipment operators who learned “on-the-job” to perhaps think about getting that piece of paper that says they are qualified to operate construction equipment. While gaining a formal qualification they will be introduced to a broader range of heavy equipment which in turn widens their employment options.

If you’re a bulldozer operator then adding a truck license (CDL) to your list of skills will definitely make you more employable. Not only are you able to operate the bulldozer, you can truck it to the job and back again. If there is no bulldozer work available, there may at least be transport work available.

Being able to operate a range of heavy equipment not makes you more employable, it also adds variety to your own working life. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools provides accredited training to national standards. They can certainly formalize your current skills, at the same time they can add an additional range of skills to your repertoire.

Almost every kid has a dump truck at some stage of their life, even girls although in the past they probably had to take their brothers. That little dump truck is an important part of a child’s informative development. It is probably one of the first real life job simulations that children go through. It can also spark a life long interest in the field.

It’s not long before the dump truck is replaced by the police car or fire engine, or perhaps the bulldozer and front end loader that fills that little dump truck. Dump trucks are easy toys to play with. Fill them with sand and move it to a new location then dump the sand out. It would be nice if we could do the same in real life.

Real life dump truck driver often requires a multi layer of skills. Drivers need to learn a waiting game, waiting to be filled, waiting to be emptied and waiting for others. Dump trucks do serve a multitude of purposes. Whilst removing waste is on of their prime jobs, it is not the only one.

One of the trickiest job involves driving slowly with the tailgate open and the angle set right. As the driver moves forward the amount of loose material is evenly spread across the desired area. You can often see this on highway constructions.

If you still have the passion to drive dump trucks then check out the training through ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools. We not only have the training – we may also be able to help you find your first job.

Are you considering working in the field of construction, perhaps as a heavy equipment operator? What is stopping you? One of the biggest concerns for anyone is to dedicate time to training and gaining a qualification only to find there are no openings available. Perhaps a dedicated job placement assistance service could be the answer.

One of the strengths of ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools is the job placement assistance we provide. Our team attend Job Fairs whenever possible to promote our services to both employers and prospective students. Because of our reputation for providing highly skilled heavy equipment operators to industry, we find that hundreds of employers are using our services to offer employment to graduates.

Our job placement assistance includes:

• Job Placement Assistance Database
• you can search for potential employers by state, city, or zip code
• National Job Placement Assistance Coordinator
• our placement department produces a list of potential employers in your desired area
• Campus Job Placement Assistance Department
• job placement assistance is a cooperative effort between the School and the student – we work together to achieve a successful job placement
• Placement Assistance Follow-up
• we follow up with every graduate regarding his/her job placement success
• Job Placement Assistance Website
• website dedicated to providing job placement help and employee resume tools

Once you commence training you can access these services and talk the staff involved. Our aim is to go beyond just providing a training service. You continued success in the industry is our success so if employment doubts exist – contact one of our schools for more information on how we may be able to help.

Learning to operate heavy equipment is not too difficult especially if you have good trainers with you. Hands on learning should be just that – hands on with you handling the controls. However there are sever different ways to undertake ‘hands on’ training.

In the ‘good old days’ hands on training was a case of, here are the keys, jump in and off you go. Some training establishment have a similar philosophy. The trainer stands on the ground yelling out instructions that you can hardly hear over the noise of the heavy equipment.

Other trainers will go through the basic controls in a classroom then expect you to remember them when you hop into the operators seat. Heavy equipment is more than just operating leavers. Where proficiency comes in is when you need to coordinate levers to maintain a smooth action.

The best trainers are the ones that hop into the cab with you and show you how to coordinate those levers. They watch and provide advice from alongside you. An experienced car driver can tell you a lot about the car and road, simply through the steering wheel and the foot pedals. The same is true of an experienced heavy equipment operator. They can tell you how hard the ground is; in fact some operators can tell you what type of earth you’re digging into from the feel of the controls.

Having one to one ‘hands on training’ provides the trainee with the best training experience possible. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools believe in providing their students with the best hands on experience possible. This includes having a qualified instructor in the cab with you to show you the way.

Don’t worry. Whilst having the instructor with you is a valuable training experience, you also get to fly solo, undertaking tasks using the skills developed to that time. If you are looking to be trained in heavy equipment then make sure the training is the very best possible, including guided and solo hands on training.

There are certain skills that are required to operate heavy equipment and these can be gained through appropriate training. There are, however, certain personal attributes that cannot be taught. You either have them already or you are willing to make a conscious effort to take them on.

The most obvious personal attribute that every employer wants is reliability. This is particularly true in the field of heavy equipment operations. Not turning up for work can hold up construction, particularly if you are working as part of a team. Road crews are a good example since it is a progressive job. The work you were required to do today could be the area that someone else will work on tomorrow. If you fail to turn today, your work is not done which means the next person cannot do their work tomorrow. Reliability is an essential attribute to the smooth running of any operation.

Patience is another attribute that can be very important in heavy equipment operators. If you’re a grader operator, you may need to go over the same area five or six times to get it right. An impatient operator may try to do too much with fewer passes with the end result being too much dirt removed. Crane operators are another role that requires patience. You may have to wait for the wind to drop, or for a vehicle to move on, or for a group of people to clear the area. If you’re impatient and start moving the load to early, you could cause real safety issues.

Being willing and able to follow directions is extremely important when operating heavy equipment. The crane operator is one person who relies on directions from the person on the ground. Every other piece of heavy equipment needs to follow the instructions of the site manager when it comes to the how, when and where of a job. Being able to follow those instructions to the letter is the only way to get a project completed on time.

There are many other attributes that may be important, however those three are by far the most important. If you have those attributes then learning to become a heavy equipment operator is not going to be too difficult.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools can provide train you in the skills required to operate heavy equipment. The personal attributes required will need to come from your commitment to working as a heavy equipment operator.

For many novices, talking about a piece of heavy equipment often leaves them in the dark, or with the wrong impressions. There a many people, especially of the younger generation, who have no idea what an excavator looks like, or front end loader for that matter.

Of course most people are familiar with motor graders although they may not their name. This is the heavy equipment used to help make our roads. Training on a grader can be similar to training for an excavator, at least in theory. However, hands on training leads to different skills. The grader is designed to scrape or smooth the surface. The excavator is designed to dig – for example, to dig trenches for pipes or foundations.

When looking to undertake training on heavy equipment, check to see what sort of training they provide. Do they have dedicated training ground where you can actually dig using an excavator; do they have an area where you can put your motor grader skills to work? Learning the theory is fine, and learning to drive a piece of heavy equipment up and down a road is fine. However, the real training comes when you have to do the real work – dig, grade or push.

At ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools we use real equipment on a realistic training field thereby providing all students with a real world training experience. Take a look at more pictures of heavy equipment and heavy equipment training from our operator schools.

Possessing a CDL – or Commercial Driver’s License – can be a great asset when times are tough. The CDL enables the holder to drive commercial trucks. If you think about it, no matter how tough the economy is, we still have to eat that food has to get to the processing plants and onto the supermarket shelves somehow.

To gain a truck driving license you will need to meet certain requirements laid down by the various states. You will need to do a written and driving test similar to your car license requirements.

The easiest way to achieve this is by undertaking training through an accredited truck driving school. ATS Heavy Equipment Operators Schools have been training truck drivers for over 40 years. We know the legislative requirements to gain your license and so provide thorough training in all required areas.

You may decide that a truck driving career is not your first choice, particularly if you prefer operating heavy equipment. However, that commercial truck driving license may just make the difference when applying for a job. You may also find that if things do get tough, you have an alternative skill to fall back on.

The next 12 months may see an increase in the number of vacancies for skill heavy equipment operators as public spending on infrastructure increases. We live in a fickle world where government promise big spending on capital projects to boost an economy, but it takes up to twelve months for these projects to come to fruition. This is not a political comment, rather a statement of fact.

If you take into account the possible improvement in the economy over the next 12 months globally and the public infrastructure spending coming to a head, the demand for heavy equipment operators from both the public and private sector will be quite large. We will be back to a situation where potential customers have to wait three or months for an operator to be free to get their land cleared.

Now is the time to prepare yourself for a career as a heavy equipment operator if that type of work appeals to you. Get the training done now. Get as much experience as possible on a variety of different types of equipment so that when the demand for operators spikes, you are in a position to take the jobs best suited to your situation.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools can provide you with training required to get started in the workplace. We may also be able to help you find employment to gain the experience necessary to move on in your career. Check out our online video to see if heavy equipment operations is the right career for you.

Today’s workplace legislation insists on crane operators being certified before they can commence work operating a crane. There are many reasons for this, the prime one being safety – safety of the operator, safety of the people around the crane and safety of the property are all important areas. In recent years there have been too many injuries to people and property, often due to simple carelessness or a lack of operator safety knowledge. Effective training and certification will hopefully reduce the number of incidents.

In theory, to become a certified crane operator is a simple as passing a written and practical exam through the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO). Of course, in practice you would have little chance of passing either the practical or the written without first undergoing a training program that addresses all the areas within crane operators competency requirements.

At ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools we have a dedicated crane training division. The training offered is accredited and designed to provide you with the skills and knowledge to pass the NCCCO written and practical exams. The training program is an intensive three week course from Monday to Friday that is broken into a convenient three level structure.

Once you have completed the training you will be ready to undertake the certification exam. On completion of the exam, and passing, you will be ready to confidently tackle the workplace as a qualified and certified crane operator. If your interested in crane operations as a career, request a free information packet containing a DVD, curriculum information, job placement assistance, class calendars, pricing and Enrollment/Financial Assistance Applications. There is no obligation so you have nothing to lose by viewing the information pack.