It’s always a good idea to get training and receive national credentials when you are hoping to be employed in a skilled trade. But there’s a big difference between the kind of training you’d get in the backfield practicing with the farm’s equipment and the kind of training you will get at a nationally accredited training facility like ATS.

That farm equipment practice is a valuable experience, no doubt about it. You have developed a sense of where you are when operating the big machine and you have learned how to adapt to changing conditions. But you haven’t met any recognized standards of performance and a potential employer will want to know how you measure up to the standards in the industry.

Accreditation Proves You Are Professional

National credentials are accepted by educational institutions, government agencies, and industry professionals as proof you have met certain standards. The two organizations Associated Training Services works with are:

• National Center for Construction Education & Research (NCCER)
• National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO)

Many employers will insist that you have one of these certifications before letting you on the job site because their insurance company tells them it is a good idea. It proves the standard of training has been met. You might be up to that standard simply by having a lifetime of experience, but without the credentials, it is not easy to prove.

The experience you get on the farm or a job site is an important part of what you bring to a potential employer. Taking the time to get additional training at ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Training School puts legitimacy into your resume by adding the appropriate credentials to prove it.

Sometimes the skilled trades, like heavy equipment operation, seem like an invisible career. The only guy who seems to be famous and blue-collar is Mike Rowe, the guy who has become famous for trying out dirty and unusual jobs on TV. But as Mike would say, “somebody’s gotta do it”, and think about what happens if nobody does that job?

Skilled Trades Have Permanent Physical Impact

In any skilled trade, the result of a job well done is a change in the surroundings somehow. With heavy equipment, that change is pretty obvious, but somehow society forgets that something like plumbing depends on somebody being able to dig a ditch. All the changes to the landscape that make life easier happen because somebody knows how to operate heavy equipment.

The big jobs that are done with big machinery are jobs that change the world. If you can do a job that changes your world, straighten up and stand tall because you make a big difference in a lot of lives.

Skilled Trade Professionals Have Credentials

The two national organizations that ATS works with to provide credentialing for the heavy equipment workforce are:

• NCCER — the National Center for Construction Education & Research
• NCCCO — the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators

Being able to show a potential employer that you have these certifications shows that high standards have already been met in your training and that you have passed the tests required to show mastery of the skills required. As a result, these credentials are valued throughout the industries that rely on heavy equipment to get a job done.

If you are a skilled heavy equipment operator with the credentials to prove it, you can stand up taller in confidence that you are a valuable professional.

Moving earth and heavy debris around doesn’t seem like technology comes into play much, does it? After all, you are pushing dirt around far away from a computer on a desk. But today’s high-tech heavy equipment often has very sophisticated technological advantages the machinery of the past was not capable of accessing.

Global Positioning Systems (GPS) have been around for years. Most smartphones have them, and lots of people use their GPS to find the nearest restaurant or get directions to an unfamiliar address. Heavy equipment operators use a GPS to match the contours of the site to the designed plans. The system can be fairly simple, or incredibly intricate depending on what has been put into place.

GPS and related technology can track where machinery is located, tell a central monitor how fast it is going, monitor maintenance issues, and a host of other things. Many companies use high-tech stuff in their heavy equipment, and a good operator isn’t intimidated by it because it helps you do your job.

If your training school isn’t accredited by the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) you probably will not be getting recognition for your efforts, even if you learn the latest technological advances in heavy equipment operation. This is because employers recognize NCCER and respect its standards.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Training School holds National Credentials with NCCER and this gives our graduates that respect.

Whether it is the latest GPS technology or the latest thing being invented, ATS keeps up with what is happening in the industry and works that develop into our training. At the same time, we know that a lot of job sites will be using older equipment, so you get experience with the classics, too.