Excavators come in a variety of sizes these days. From giant lumbering beasts to compact units that can get into some pretty tight places. Not only are they available in a range of sizes, they also have a wide range of attachments, making them extremely versatile machines. Gone are the days when an excavator was only useful for digging trenches – show me a hand tool and I can almost guarantee there is an excavator attachment to match.

Despite the range in sizes, the wide variety of attachments that an excavator can use, learning to operate one is not as difficult as it sounds. In fact, you can go from zero to a competent operator in as little as three weeks. Not only that, but along the way you could also pick up operator skills in bulldozers, graders, backhoes and loaders.

Exposure to a range of equipment during training helps you appreciate their power and their limitations, important knowledge when you are working as part of an earth moving team. The main role of an excavator is still to dig trenches. Their attachments help them to achieve this quickly without having to call in other equipment. However, they are not restricted to trenching.

Excavators have been used as part of demolition teams, in the mining industry, and in very different roles such as removing silt from the bottom of rivers to make them deeper. The role of an excavator operator is varied, challenging and well paid.

Does a career as an excavator sound interesting? Find out more by contacting us at ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools to see when our next heavy equipment training program starts.

If you are, or have been, a member of the military, or a spouse or dependent of a member of the military, past or present, then you may be eligible for financial aid that may help you undertake one of our training programs. Now that sounds like a mouthful so let’s break it down into actual details.

For current service members and their spouses, financial aid is available in the following forms:

For active members: $4,500 is available under The Armed Forces Tuition Assistance Program (TAP). This is for all active members in the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and the Coast Guard. There is specific criteria attached to the funding.

Souses of active members: the MyCCA (Military Spouse Program) provides funding of up to $6,000 for education, training, licenses, certificates and degrees leading to employment.

Veterans: Nearly all ATS training schools are approved for the use of Veterans Educational Benefits. If injured on active service, veterans may also be eligible for vocational rehabilitation training.

Dependents of veterans: Dependents of active members injured while on active service may also be eligible for vocational training.

If you are considering undertaking a training program through ATS and you feel you may be eligible for one of these financial aid options, contact us for more information on the training programs available for funding.

I must add that these programs and the funds available were correct at the time this post was published. If you are reading this at a later date then please refer to the military websites for the latest training program funding available.

Everywhere you look there is bound to be a unit of heavy equipment hard at work. There are bulldozers clearing land, graders preparing roads, excavators and backhoes digging trenches and loaders moving what ever it is that needs moving. But which unit of heavy equipment is the most popular? Now, by most popular, I refer to most number of units sold and most number of units in operation at any one time. The answer may surprise you although on reflection, it shouldn’t. The answer? Believe it or not it’s the skid-steer loader.

I said that, on reflection, you can understand why. First, it is the largest unit of heavy equipment sold. Second, there are more skid-steer loaders in operation today than any other unit of heavy equipment. The reasons are fairly understandable too. They are cheap to buy, efficient when it comes to fuel use, easy to maintain and easy to transport. Add to that the versatility with the range of attachments and the fact their lighter weights cause little damage during operations and you have one handy little piece of equipment. It also helps that they are fairly easy to learn to operate as well.

Just about every construction yard, construction company and local government authority has a skid-steer loader. Most heavy equipment operators could jump into the seat of a skid-steer loader and operate it as well – perhaps not as efficiently as a full time operator, but they could get the job done.

Learning to operate a skid-steer loader is not that difficult. Most respectable training companies like ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools include skid-steer loaders in their heavy equipment training programs because of their popularity. If you want to get behind the controls of one of the countries most popular units of heavy equipment, give us a call to discuss your possible training options.

Heavy equipment careers cover a broad spectrum in both machinery types and industries. You could work in construction, mining, forestry, agriculture and/or landscaping – just to name a few. You can find work in almost every corner of the world, even here at home. When it comes to machinery, I don’t have enough room on this page to list them all. You can break them down into generalized categories. These include:

• Pushing – this includes bulldozers and graders
• Excavating – this includes excavators and backhoes
• Carriers – this includes front end loaders, backhoes and fork lift trucks

I have been very brief in each description. For example, some of those units of equipment could be further broken down to skip loaders or mini excavators, for example, and I haven’t even covered heavy equipment like scrapers. If you enter the mining industry then you will be introduced to specialized equipment like shovels – in reality, massive excavators that spend all day shoveling tons of rock into trucks. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

There are jobs everywhere for heavy equipment operators, even in the military. If you have experience with heavy equipment you could even find work in our ports, on oil wells, at rail yards and in some of our largest factories. You would be surprised at which sectors of the workplace use heavy equipment – you would also be surprised at what sort of work they do.

There is one common thread that runs through these roles in heavy equipment. A successful heavy equipment career starts with a training program that provides experience on a range of equipment. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools is accredited to delivering and assess students in the use of heavy equipment. If you are looking for a heavy equipment career – contact us here at ATS – we will get your started.

Heavy equipment technology is gaining new ground all the time. Sometimes, the technology is not necessarily with the heavy equipment, but with the tools used alongside heavy equipment. Take excavating as an example. Excavators have changed remarkably over the last 20 years and so have some of the tools. When I say tools, I am not referring to the attachments.

Excavators dig trenches. However, trenches can create problems, particularly if the sides start to back in to the trench. To stop this, and to provide a safe work place, shoring is used to hold the walls together. What does this have to do with the excavator? Plenty. First, as an operator you find that a trench can be dug in half the time compared to ten years ago. Secondly, excavator operators now need to learn how to work around any shoring that has been erected- the need to develop new skills.

New heavy equipment technology means that all operators require a level of training that enables them to learn to work with that new technology. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools prides itself on being up-to-date with the latest trends in heavy equipment. We pass this along to our students so they can, where appropriate, put them into use once they have completed their training.

Does a career in heavy equipment call? If so, contact us at ATS to see where and when our next heavy equipment training course commences. Your new career could start in as little as three weeks and you may well be up to date with all the latest in heavy equipment technology.

It is fairly early in the year, but I am starting to see bulldozers out and about. In some areas, the weather is such that bulldozer operators can grab an early start to the year. Their tasks at present are limited to preparing land for projects. Some are road projects where everything is taken out. Others are working on housing projects where many trees and some vegetation is left behind.

The other thing I am noticing is the growing demand for bulldozer operators. At this time of the year it is often to handle snow plows and the like, however, this year there are increasing requests for general land clearing bulldozer operators. This could be the perfect opportunity for anyone considering a career change.

It only takes three weeks. That’s all. Put yourself into the hands of a qualified instructor at ATS Heavy Equipment Operator school and they will have trained you and have you ready to accept your first job. The only effort you need is to commit yourself to the training. We have decades of experience training heavy equipment operators and we also know the labor market and what skills and attributes they require of their workers.

If a job as a bulldozer operator sounds attractive, give us a call to discuss your training options. We can also provide assistance with finance and finance applications and, once successfully through the training program, job placement assistance to find that first job. We offer a one stop solution for all your heavy equipment training needs. Employers are looking for bulldozer operators – are you our next success story?

Backhoes are one of the most in-demand machines when it comes to construction and general excavating work. Because they incorporate the digging system of an excavator and the loading ability of a front end loader, they can do the work of these two machines with less cost to a business. Backhoes together with bulldozers are often the first heavy equipment purchased by a new earth moving business because of the range of work they can perform.

How do you become an in-demand operator? It goes beyond operator skills, although they are important. In-demand operators are those that know their soil types well, can complete a job on time (or sooner) and according to the plans, and do so with the right attitude to safety and the employer. Operators that fit this description soon earn a reputation and it is that reputation that creates the demand. Operators that have a strong reputation can often demand good wages, good work conditions and are rarely out of work.

So how do you gain those skills? It doesn’t start with your training – it starts with your attitude. If you have a positive outgoing nature, get on well with people, and can work to a set of plans then you’re ready for training. If you’re the kind of person that is always right, and everyone else is wrong then perhaps you should reconsider you career plans – the backhoe may not be your best choice.

If you have the right attitude then you’re ready for training and that means getting your training through the best possible training school. Guess what – ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools is one of the best in the business. Our graduates are well respected by employers and often find employment soon after graduating. If you take that positive attitude into our heavy equipment training program, and can acquire the skills quickly, you will become one of those skilled and in-demand backhoe operators.

Associated Training Services has been delivering training since 1966 – that’s almost forty-five years of training. Not only is it over forty-five years of training, it is more than 50,000 students passing through our training facilities. Over the years we have delivered training in carpentry, truck driving, heavy equipment operations, crane operations, and GPS technology. We have ten training centers located in:

Wisconsin (1963),
Florida (2002),
New Hampshire (2004),
Ohio (2003),
Virginia (2005),
Colorado (2006),
South Carolina (2006),
Southern California (2007),
Northern California (2008), and
Texas (2008).

If you want to see Associated Training Services in action, I suggest you head on over to the ATS Training Channel on YouTube. We have eleven videos available that proudly display our training over the years. In fact, check out this video an you can see some of the machinery we currently use to train students. You should also make note of the range of ages and gender. Yes, women undertake training as well. Check out the ATS training video on YouTube.

Interested in a career in heavy equipment? I will assume you are since you are here reading this post. Visit our main site – there are a range of options available to you. You can:

Review training options,
Apply for training,
Sign up and take our free online training program,
Grab a free brochure and DVD,
Find more information on job placement, certification and accreditation,
Apply for financial assistance,
and much more

If you are serious about becoming a truck driver, crane operator or heavy equipment operator then check out the videos and visit our main site. There is plenty of work available for operators with good skills and the right attitude. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools can provide you with the skills – do you have the right attitude?

It may be winter and the ground may be frozen solid, but if a trench is needed, the excavator is the machine for the job. Frozen ice may be too hard for the bucket, but excavators come with a range of tools that can used, including ground breaking picks. They say that backhoes are versatile, but so too are excavators.

Backhoes are versatile machines and often a lot easier to use when it comes to tight spaces. However, for every attachment that a backhoe has, an excavator has an equivalent. Where the excavator often excels is in in pure power. Size for size, the excavator can often exert a lot more grunt so when it comes to icy ground – call in the excavator, they are muscled up and ready.

Excavator operators are often multi-skilled as well. If you can operate an excavator then you should be able to transfer some of those skills to the backhoe. The reverse is true also. If your original training is undertaken through an accredited training company then there is a good chance you have been trained on both – and the loader as well.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools train their students across a range of heavy equipment that includes excavators and backhoes, loaders, bulldozers as well as graders. These are the main machines used in excavating, construction and mining, the major users of heavy equipment operators. For those looking to enter the field of heavy equipment, we have new heavy equipment training programs starting all the time so the wait for the next course is always minimal.

If you are looking for a job operating an excavator – you need the training first. Contact us and we can discuss your training options and what is needed to become qualified.

If you were to choose a career in heavy equipment, which machinery would you specialize in? There is a wide variety to choose from, one being the grader – or motor grader. Why should you select the motor grader instead of a bulldozer or excavator? They are both great machines, however, the motor grader has a couple of extras going for it. These include:

• Technology: Graders lead the way when it comes to technology. They use GPS, laser and on-board computers. Whenever there is a new technology being tested – you can almost guarantee that graders will be a part of that trial.
• Skills: Grader operators are amongst the most skilled when it comes to heavy equipment. They have to be, they are the finishers when it comes to many projects. Where bulldozers use brute force to move dirt, graders use fine controls, exacting angles and precision driving to achieve that finished result.
• Money: Money is always mentioned when it comes to comparing grader operators to other heavy equipment. But then, they are often paid more – need I say any more?
• Pride: While all operators take pride in their work, grader operators often take just a little more. The reason for that is because you can see their finished results. Using the bulldozer and road building as an example again, they carve out ground but then the grader comes in and reworks what the bulldozer has done. It is the grader operator that puts the final touch when it comes to evenness and slope and everything that goes into preparing a road for sealing.

That’s four good reasons I can think of for selecting a career as a grader operator. Here’s a fifth. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools are highly skilled at training heavy equipment operators, grader operators included. They can have you trained and ready to start work in as little as three weeks. Are you ready for an interesting career as a grader operator? If so, contact us at ATS for more information on our next training program.