You won’t see heavy equipment operators working in tandem all that often so if you ever do get a chance, stop and watch awhile. The most common heavy equipment vehicles to be used in tandem are the bulldozer and the grader. Graders are particularly interesting as their work is generally on the finishing side of a project.

Working in tandem takes a lot of skill and a lot of concentration. With graders (and often bulldozers), the two (or three or four) machines work in a staggered pattern with the second machine to one side and behind the one in front. As the first machine carves the ground, it pushes dirt to one side. The following machine then pushes this dirt further across. I have seen videos of four graders working together in this formation on a new airport runway – the precision of the operators is fascinating to watch.

It does take a lot of skill and a lot of experience to work in these formations. Gaining these skills can be difficult since there are not that many opportunities to work together in a formation. Most construction companies use the one machine to do the complete job.

In order to work as a team, grader operators require good initial training that provides a solid platform on which to build. While you can learn to operate a grader from another operator, there is a good chance you will also be learning some of their bad habits. You will also quickly find that most employers will not recognize that as being formal training so employment options will be severely limited.

Training provided by a recognized and well respected heavy equipment training organization delivers skills that can be built upon, and skills that future employers will acknowledge. Grader operators are required to work to precise measurements in today’s construction industry – that requires real training from real training organizations.

No employer can afford to have idle employees. When it comes to construction, you have the added problem then of idle heavy equipment. In today’s business environment, construction companies want to gain the maximum out of both their equipment and their employees. To deliver maximum earning potential, operators and their heavy equipment are scheduled to fairly fine time lines, a factor that heavy equipment operators always have at the back of their minds.

If you were to look at a typical construction project, a construction company may schedule a bulldozer and operator to work for a set period of time. A loader and dump truck may be called in at some stage to remove the waste that the bulldozer has removed. As soon as the bulldozer work is done, it will be sent off with its operator to another job.

In the meantime, a backhoe or excavator may come onto the site to dig foundations, or in the case of road construction, a grader may be called to do its work. Again, support heavy equipment such as loaders and dump trucks may be scheduled. For roads, rollers and hot mix units will be scheduled to begin their work on certain days. For a building that has had foundations dug, the day for pouring cement will already be scheduled.

As a heavy equipment operator, you need to be aware of your place in this scheduling arrangement and the importance of completing work according to a schedule. Although you may be operating one piece of machinery, you are a part of a large team, a team that has one goal, getting the job done on time. By completing work on time, the construction company maintains a reputation for reliability and thus is able to contract ongoing work – ongoing work that keep you, the heavy equipment operator in work.

Heavy equipment training can provide the skills to get a job done on time – only you can deliver the commitment that sees a team complete a job on time. If you can work to a schedule, enjoy working as part of a large team, and enjoy working in the outdoors, then perhaps heavy equipment is a career worth considering.

If you’re a heavy equipment operator, then adding a commercial drivers license (CDL) to your list of skills could be a wise decision. If you ever hope to become an owner-operator, then you will most likely need to have one anyway. In the meantime, being in a position to haul your equipment to a work site yourself could be an added bonus to any future employees.

For many construction companies, having separate truck drivers and heavy equipment operators makes sense. The truck drivers spend their day carting heavy equipment from job to job. Heavy equipment operators spend their day operating that equipment. For smaller companies, they often cannot afford the luxury of having two operators, one for the truck and one for the heavy equipment. Having an operator that can do both saves them time and money and so makes that operator more valuable to the business.

The reverse is also true, of course. If you’re a truck driver, then adding heavy equipment operations to your list of skills should broaden your range of employment options. In either case, training can be completed in a few weeks with those undertaking truck driver training only needing to pass the CDL tests to obtain their license.

We live in an era where employers are looking for multi-skilled employees. Being able to operate a range of heavy equipment and drive the transporting truck is a good example. One of the benefits to you is that you can decide to specialize at any time, yet revert to either when times are tough and the economy struggling. Being mult-skilled opens up employment opportunities and helps to keep you in work – and multi-skilled operators are often the last to lose their job when there’s little work around.

If you are experienced as a heavy equipment operator, then consider undertaking CDL training – if you’re a truck driver, then consider undertaking heavy equipment training – in both cases, you’re suddenly going to be more employable.

Our society has become far more sophisticated over the last fifty years and this is reflected in the way employers recruit personnel for their workplaces. Governments are also legislating to make some employment criteria compulsory for employers. If you add to this the pressure that comes from other interests such as insurance bodies, employers have had to refine how and who they recruit. This has been particularly evident in the construction industry, especially when it comes to areas such as heavy equipment operations.

Today, when an employer requires operators for their heavy equipment, they have a list of requirements that job seeker must meet before their application is even considered. Some of these requirements include:

• Proof that the applicant can operate heavy equipment
• Proof that the applicant has completed safety training
• Proof that the applicant has completed heavy equipment training

There is one word that stand out in that list – proof. For experienced heavy equipment operators, they can point to previous employers and an employment history to prove their abilities. For new entrants into the industry, they require documentation from a training organization.

If the job applicant has received their training through a well recognized professional training organization, the employer is quite likely to at least consider that person’s application. If the job applicant comes to them without any proof of their abilities, the employer will most likely reject the application without a second look.

While there are a lot of vacancies for heavy equipment operators, that doesn’t mean employers are becoming desperate to fill them. The last thing any employer needs in today’s economy is a large lawsuit after an incident that claims, amongst other things, that they were negligent when employing poorly trained heavy equipment operators. If safety training is missing, then there could be legal ramifications under state or federal law as well.

Professional heavy equipment training will ensure that your job application is at least looked at. The better credentialed that training body is, the more likely you are to land that job. If you’re considering undertaking heavy equipment training, be sure your training provider is well respected and that their training is comprehensive – your future career could depend on it.

Technology has changed the lives of just about everyone in our society. Whether it’s in the kitchen at home, in the office, driving your car, or operating machinery such as heavy equipment, technology has made huge changes over the last 20 years. Changes in heavy equipment technology has occurred on several fronts – in the cab, in the equipment, and on the ground.

Inside the cab of most heavy equipment, you’re likely to be confronted with digital gauges, fingertip sensitive controls, and perhaps even small computer screens connected to ground-based units. In the equipment itself, hydraulics and fuel mixing is now often controlled by computer components while on the ground. The use of lasers and computer technology is now replacing tasks such as measuring and grade reading.

GPS has found its way into heavy technology both as a security measure and as an aid to fine tuning an operator’s work. Operators from 20-30 years ago would be astounded to see the changes that have occurred. 30-40 years ago, operators required physical strength to operate their equipment. Today, a child could almost manage the task. That’s not to say that heavy equipment operations is child’s play. It’s still far from it.

While changes have been rapid when measured over time, they have still been incremental, unlike office workers that went from a typewriter to a computer – that was a huge change. Despite the changes in heavy equipment technology, students can still complete heavy equipment training in just a few weeks. Following training, graduates are ready for entry level employment where they can fine tune their skills on the job. Technology is changing our lives everywhere, and heavy equipment operations is no different.

Everyone wants to work in a safe environment. When it comes to construction, there are a lot of safety issues to consider. What we do know is that too many people have been injured, some seriously, or even killed through accidents that could have been prevented. Heavy equipment safety is particularly important because when they cause accidents they are often spectacular and often lead to a lot of people being injured.

Governments at both state and federal level have, over the years, introduced safety legislation with varying degrees of success. The most successful has been the certification of crane operators and the requirement for all employers to provide some form of safety training for their employees.

This has led to employers in general relying on training providers to include comprehensive safety training in their overall training programs. Heavy equipment training is one area that now has a significant safety aspect. While specific safety issues are handled as a heavy equipment safety module in training programs, good training providers include safety aspects at every opportunity, especially when it comes to the in-the-cab training component.

If you are considering a career as a heavy equipment operator, you should ensure that the training provider you select includes a well documented and nationally recognized safety component. Employers are now expecting new operators to have this training and, without it, new entrants will find it difficult to find employment. Employers are not interested in hiring new operators, and then having to deliver that heavy equipment safety. Do yourself a big favor, undertake that training as part of your heavy equipment training program – you’ll be immediately employable.

Heavy equipment operators generally work as part of a larger team. However, bulldozer operators are often the one member of that larger team that have the freedom to work alone. While they need to work to set plans, they generally don’t require other heavy equipment to complete their task – that equipment generally takes over once a bulldozer has moved on.

For some freelance operators, working alone is what makes the job appealing. They can be hired to prepare a dam on a farm one day, be out bulldozing a road following winter’s snow damage another day, then out on a construction site preparing the ground for a new building. There is variety. There is often a real test of an operator’s knowledge of soils and vegetation, and that freedom that many crave.

Bulldozer operators learn many of their skills on the job. It takes experience to really gain an understanding of what soils will do under the power of a bulldozer’s blade, and they do react very differently. One of the components of any heavy equipment training program is a module that deals with soils and how to identify them. Sandy soils, for example, will fall back at the edges while real heavy clay soils can be peeled away – and that’s just a small observation of soils.

If the freedom of life as a bulldozer operator sounds appealing, then here’s an invitation to check out what heavy equipment training can offer you. You can be working as a bulldozer operator within a few weeks of starting your training and within months you’ll operating that bulldozer like an old hand.

The only way to build a career as a heavy equipment operator is by gaining employment that will continue to build on your initial training. There is work available for heavy equipment operators. In fact, we are now entering one of the busiest times for construction and that builds demand for operators. We also have an aging workforce with baby boomers now entering retirement age.

There are two essential requirements to developing heavy equipment careers – training and employment. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools are masters at both. We have over forty years experience in training individuals for work as truck drivers, crane operators, and heavy equipment operators. What really works to kick start a career is our Career Services program.

When a student commences their training at ATS, a member of the Career Services department will work with that student to determine the field of work they are interested in, and the regional area they would prefer to work in. They are then provided with a career package that includes potential employers that match their requirements.

For students, the Career Services Coordinator is available each day to help with tasks such as applications, refining resumes, or providing advice on how to approach employers. Students are also provided with soft skills training in areas such as application procedures, interviewing techniques, and networking methods.

Current and former students also have access to a database of potential employers and a dedicated employment site at http://www.the-job-site.com/. Job seekers can leave their resume on this site while employers can list vacancies and peruse the resumes of suitable job seekers. ATS Heavy Equipment Training Services don’t just train students, we also offer as much assistance as possible to complete that all important second set – getting their first job in the industry.

Backhoes are one of the strangest looking vehicles in a construction yard. They always remind me a little of a scorpion, sitting there with a stinger folded back behind them. What a backhoe offers to an operator is the combined capabilities of a front-end loader and an excavator – all in the one vehicle.

For operators who have been trained in the right environment, there is a good chance they will be skilled in all three machines. This adds a broader range of machinery to their employment options and can make a difference between being in work and having days or weeks between jobs. Being multi-skilled can make a huge difference to an operator’s career.

ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools offer students experience in a variety of heavy equipment including backhoes, loaders, and excavators. When a student graduates, they can choose whichever path best suits their skills (and ideals) – or they can choose to follow the multi-skilled path operating a variety of equipment.

Longer term, the two most popular vehicles chosen by operators when starting their own business is the backhoe and the loader. Of course, cost plays a big role in this decision with these two vehicles often being the lowest price in the heavy equipment field. However, bulldozers come in a close third, and they are not exactly inexpensive to acquire.

Backhoes really do bring together the best of loaders and excavators. At the same time, backhoes have challenges of their own for operators to navigate. The next time you look at a backhoe, don’t look at it as being a cut down version of a loader and excavator. They are vehicles that have a real life of their own – and in today’s construction industry, a very important role.

Employment-related training is rarely free these days. However, for certain sections of the community, most if not all of the cost could be covered by one or more government programs. These days there seems to be state or federal programs related to every sector of our community, and if you meet the requirements for just one of those programs you could be attending a heavy equipment training program at no cost and on your way to a lucrative career as a heavy equipment operator.

Some of the government programs include:

• Workforce Investment Act (WIA)
• Department of Workforce Development
• Trade Adjustment Act (TAA)
• Displaced Workers
• Displaced Farmers
• Vocational Rehabilitation
• Tribal Education (BIA)
• Veteran’s Benefits (VA)
• Active Service Personnel
• Guard and Reserve Members

These programs are changing all the time so you will need to check with the relevant bodies to determine your eligibility and the size of the grant. If you are eligible, you may be surprised at how much is available for employment-related training.

In some cases, you may not be eligible for a grant in the normal sense. For example, you may not be a veteran, but there are some benefits that are available to the spouses and children of veterans or currently serving personnel. This is why it is important to look closely at what benefits are available right now.

If you are eligible for a tuition grant, talk to one of our admissions staff members about how you can enroll into one of training programs using that grant. Heavy equipment is a career where demand is on the increase and new operators always welcome.