If you want a long-lasting career that pays well, try heavy equipment operations. You can learn to operate virtually any type of heavy equipment in use today on construction sites all around the world. The most popular and rewarding type of heavy equipment can be learned in one course. Here are 7 types of heavy equipment you can learn in one training class at Associated Training Services:

1. Backhoes – A backhoe is used for excavation. It consists of a bucket on the back end of an articulating boom. You’ll often see them on construction sites and are used for digging ditches and trenches. If you want bigger holes, use an excavator.
2. Wheel loaders – Wheel loaders are large pieces of equipment with bigger buckets than backhoes and are used to carry material from one end of the construction site to another. They are close cousins to front-end loaders.
3. Bulldozers – The bulldozer is the workhorse of the construction site. It consists of a large blade and is used for pushing dirt, soil, sand, rock, rubble, and other debris around the worksite. When you just want it out of the way, use a bulldozer.
4. Excavators – When you really need a big hole dug, use an excavator. See how an excavator compares with a backhoe in the video below.

1. Road graders – A road grader has a long blade on it and is used to flatten surfaces, such as gravel roads and construction sites.
2. Dump trucks – When you have a lot of dirt, soil, rock, and other substances to move, use a dump truck.
3. Skid steers – A skid steer, also called a skid steer loader, is a small piece of equipment that allows you to add different attachments to the front for hauling, moving, and lifting things. Watch this fun video of a skid steer in action.

One of the essential pieces of heavy equipment in most municipalities is a motor-grader. The grader operator operates a long blade that is dragged along the surface of a gravel road to keep it level. It also becomes a snow plow in the winter in some cases. This process is necessary for any area that has a need for roads to be smooth and clear.

Graders prepare the surface for asphalt, fine-tune the curves in the highways, level the ground for the pouring of concrete, and much more. They don’t do a lot of different things, like a backhoe, but they sure do what they are designed to do and they do it to perfection if the operator is skilled. Any time a smooth flat surface is needed, the blade of the grader can scrape that surface to a beautiful finish.

Many rural areas depend on the grader operator to keep the roads in shape. Construction companies, mining operations, and other industries rely on graders, too. Good grader operators are never without a possible job because so many places rely on this functional machine.

Need Skilled Grader Operator

The grader isn’t a machine that does the job alone. The way it is operated has a direct effect on the way the surface is scraped. It’s like the difference between an amateur trying to finish cement and the professional who gets that surface perfect — the same trowel might be used, but the difference is obvious.

The way to begin developing the skill a grader operator needs is by taking the time to be trained at ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Training School. There isn’t a better way to get the fundamental skills and in-depth knowledge of heavy equipment operation that ATS offers in the heavy equipment operation programs.

Finish graders apply the finicky final touches to a surface to get it perfect. That smooth runway and carefully cambered road is due to the skill of an experienced finish grader. The bulldozer started the job, but the grader will finish it and get it ready for asphalt or whatever comes next. It’s an important step in the construction process and you aren’t going to be able to do that job right out of training school because it takes more than a few weeks to get the skill to do it to the precise angles on the engineer’s plan.

It used to be harder for a finish grader to get it perfect but now there’s additional tools like GPS and laser leveling to help them do their job. It still takes that seat-of-the-pants skill, though, that no amount of tech tools can replace. Graders are in demand for roadwork, leveling ground at construction sites, and even snow removal, so the paycheck can go into the winter months.

If a grader operator has been poorly trained, the foundation is pretty shaky for their skill building. It isn’t that perfect, level surface that you need to do the next step. You could think of it this way; getting your heavy equipment training at ATS is like the final leveling of a finish grader clearing the way for the next process to be done on the project. You get the training and the certifications that prove you know your stuff, then an entry level job will allow you to build up those skills to become the grader operator the boss looks for when perfection is required.

It used to be said that when it came to heavy equipment operators bulldozer operators where a dime a dozen. These days, the opposite is almost true with most new operators looking at the more technical equipment such as excavators and road graders. There are still a lot of good bulldozer operators out there, and their ranks are slowly growing as new operators join them. Great operators are harder to come by these days, especially as our older operators start to retire. So if there are good operators around, what makes a great operator?

There is really only one way to become a great operator – and that’s through experience. However, experience alone will not suffice unless that experience has been one long learning curve. And that really is what makes a great operator – someone who treats every job as a learning experience. Every piece of dirt reacts differently. There are buried rocks, tree stumps, and all sorts of odds and ends. A recent story was more than interesting – a bulldozer unearthed a buried car, and yes, it had been stolen ten years earlier and buried – that was certainly a learning experience for that operator.

It’s true of most heavy equipment now. Every job has the potential for a new experience and that alone offers the opportunity to learn something new. A good bulldozer operator starts by laying a good skills foundation. This can only be achieved by completing a good quality heavy equipment training program. Follow that up with relevant work that allows you to build on that training and you’re well on the way to becoming a good bulldozer operator.

If you can continue to learn, rather than just turning up each day to do a day’s work, then you’ll quickly become a great operator – someone who can work on a variety of different surfaces, under a variety of different conditions, using different bulldozers each time. That’s experience that’s been put to good use – and a great operator in the making.

There are many professions that rely on a range of senses. Cooks are the most obvious – they rely on eyes, ears, their noses, a sense of touch and, ultimately, their sense of taste. Heavy equipment operators also rely on a range of senses and it can be a difficult area to train novices in. When it comes to road grader operators, the best way to learn to use these senses is through hands-on-training, and by ongoing experience. So which senses play a major role in operating a road grader?

• Eyes – Eyes are an obvious area and while spectacles are not really a problem, keeping them up-to-date with your eyesight is. Road grader operators need to be able to precisely follow a range of signs or signals to ensure they are grading at the right angle and height.
• Touch – If you are an experienced car driver, then you’ll know what I mean when I say you can ‘feel’ so much through your vehicle’s controls. The same is true for a road grader operator. That sense of touch can tell when a grader is cutting too deeply, or meeting more resistance than expected.
• Ears – Like the sense of touch, your ears can tell you what is happening with the motor. You experience the same with a manual shift car, changing gears when you hear the motor reaching the right revs. With a road grader, a change in revs can mean the grader is starting to struggle, or is operating smoothly.
• Nose – While not as important as the other senses, the nose will warn you of any problems related to your road grader. A sudden smell of smoke, oil, or fuel can be an early warning to a major problem.

While computers are starting to play an important role in the operation of a road grader, there’s no denying that those senses becomes an operators best friend. Learn to develop those senses while operating a road grader and you’ll quickly rise to become a fine grader, these are the finishing operators that work to very fine measurements – and the operators that draw the best pay checks. It all starts by learning to operate a road grader – from there, you’ll quickly develop those senses to become an effective operator.

Heavy equipment is generally associated with construction and whilst most heavy equipment careers involve the construction industry, you could also work in mining, forestry, oil drilling, farming or, in some cases, production. The construction sector is by far the single biggest employer of heavy equipment operators.

The classification of heavy equipment can be difficult with gray areas covering some of the smaller machines used. However, if you accept that heavy equipment is used to move heavy material then you would be close to the mark. A career in heavy equipment then is the operation of machinery that falls into this category. This machinery includes equipment that:

• clears and grades land
• digs trenches
• hoists heavy construction materials
• assists in constructing oil rigs
• applies asphalt and concrete

This is just a small example of the type of work performed. Machinery that could be used in these tasks include:

• Bulldozers
• Road Graders
• Wheel Loaders
• Excavators
• Pile Drivers
• Mobile or Fixed Cranes
• Paving Machines

This list doesn’t include specialist machinery such as forestry equipment, mining equipment or equipment such as the specialist gantry cranes used in ports and harbors. Most heavy equipment operators start their careers operating equipment you see everyday. Bulldozers, excavators, loaders and mobile cranes are the most common entry level positions. Operators can also enter the workforce through road graders although for major construction work like road building, the preference is for experienced operators.

The one key ingredient to a successful career as a heavy equipment operator is the initial training received. Quality training across a broad range of heavy equipment is the best start you get. This provides you with hands on experience and a thorough understanding of workplace safety. With the basic skills under you belt you can move into the workforce and experience a long and lucrative heavy equipment career.