Talk to your school counselor about programs and classes like woodworking that are offered at your school so you can start learning skills that will get you started in this field.

Find a class to jump-start your construction skills.

Look into training and apprenticeship programs to help you gain experience in this trade career. Check out OPCMIA or research training programs in your area.

Research cement mason apprenticeship programs.

Search online for how-to videos to see how hard this work is to master--and whether it's something you think you'd like. Does seeing this kind of work in action make you more interested in trying it?

Watch tutorials on how to do this kind of work.

Paving and Surfacing Equipment Operators

Operate equipment used for applying concrete, asphalt, or other materials to road beds, parking lots, or airport runways and taxiways, or equipment used for tamping gravel, dirt, or other materials. Includes concrete and asphalt paving machine operators, form tampers, tamping machine operators, and stone spreader operators.

Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Realistic

Second Interest High-Point

Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Conventional

Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Enterprising

Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

Investigative

Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Artistic

Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Social

First Interest High-Point

Third Interest High-Point

Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators

Construction Equipment Operators

Construction and Extraction Occupations

Construction Trades Workers

Start machine, engage clutch, and push and move levers to guide machine along forms or guidelines and to control the operation of machine attachments.

Inspect, clean, maintain, and repair equipment, using mechanics' hand tools, or report malfunctions to supervisors.

Operate machines to spread, smooth, level, or steel-reinforce stone, concrete, or asphalt on road beds.

Operate oil distributors, loaders, chip spreaders, dump trucks, and snow plows.

Operate tamping machines or manually roll surfaces to compact earth fills, foundation forms, and finished road materials, according to grade specifications.

Drive machines onto truck trailers, and drive trucks to transport machines and material to and from job sites.

Observe distribution of paving material to adjust machine settings or material flow, and indicate low spots for workers to add material.

Light burners or start heating units of machines, and regulate screed temperatures and asphalt flow rates.

Control paving machines to push dump trucks and to maintain a constant flow of asphalt or other material into hoppers or screeds.

Set up forms and lay out guidelines for curbs, according to written specifications, using string, spray paint, and concrete or water mixes.

Fill tanks, hoppers, or machines with paving materials.

Drive and operate curbing machines to extrude concrete or asphalt curbing.

Cut or break up pavement and drive guardrail posts, using machines equipped with interchangeable hammers.

Install dies, cutters, and extensions to screeds onto machines, using hand tools.

Operate machines that clean or cut expansion joints in concrete or asphalt and that rout out cracks in pavement.

Place strips of material, such as cork, asphalt, or steel into joints, or place rolls of expansion-joint material on machines that automatically insert material.

Adjustable wrenches

Asphalt distributor trucks

Asphalt heating equipment

Asphalt mixing equipment

Asphalt paving machines

Asphalt rakes

Automatic paving control systems

Chip spreaders

Claw hammers

Cold in-place recyclers

Cold planers

Compactors

CAREER

Paving and Surfacing Equipment Operators

Overview

Salary Median (2017)

Projected Job Growth (2016-2026)

Most Common Level of Education

Career

What Paving and Surfacing Equipment Operators Do

Other Job Titles Paving and Surfacing Equipment Operators May Have

Tasks & Responsibilities May Include

Construction / Heavy Equipment / Earthm...

CAREER

Paving and Surfacing Equipment Operators

Overview

Salary Median (2017)

Projected Job Growth (2016-2026)

Most Common Level of Education

Career

What Paving and Surfacing Equipment Operators Do

Other Job Titles Paving and Surfacing Equipment Operators May Have

Tasks & Responsibilities May Include

Education

Level of Education Attained by Paving and Surfacing Equipment Operators

Most common level of education among people inthis career: High School Diploma (43%)

High School Diploma

Less than a High School Diploma

Post-Secondary Certificate

Other*

Majors Related to Career

Construction / Heavy Equipment / Earthm...

Related Careers

Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators

Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators

Highway Maintenance Workers

Pile-Driver Operators

Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers

Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Op...

Most common level of education among people in
this career: High School Diploma (43%)