Earth Drillers
Blast Hole Driller,
Drill Operator,
Driller,
Well Driller
What they do: Operate a variety of drills such as rotary, churn, and pneumatic to tap subsurface water and salt deposits, to remove core samples during mineral exploration or soil testing, and to facilitate the use of explosives in mining or construction. Includes horizontal and earth boring machine operators.
- DemandHigh
- state Avg. Salary $$$$$$49,830Download Career Flyer
What do they typically do on the job?
- Operate controls to stabilize machines and to position and align drills.
- Start, stop, and control drilling speed of machines and insertion of casings into holes.
- Regulate air pressure, rotary speed, and downward pressure, according to the type of rock or concrete being drilled.
Personality
Interests
Career interests describe the perspectives and interests of people who enjoy the type of work involved in this career.
Discover what your interests are by taking the Interest Profiler Quiz
Abilities
Whether you have received formal training or not, these types of abilities are helpful in this career.
Hand and Finger Use
Keep your arm or hand steady
Hold or move items with your hands
Controlled Movement
Quickly change the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat
Use your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down
Verbal
Listen and understand what people say
Communicate by speaking
Visual Understanding
Quickly compare groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things
Skills
People who want to pursue this career have skills in these areas.
Basic Skills
Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem
Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements
Problem Solving
Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it
Does this sound like something you'd like to do?
1. Do some research
- Identify how your interests, values, and strengths match this occupation
- Talk to someone who works in this field or spend a day job shadowing
- Use the colleges and training directory to explore programs related to this career
2. Plan your next move
- Talk to your college and career counselor or school admissions staff
- Visit Idaho Launch
- Search for available Earth Drillers jobs on Idaho Works
Data for NSI career cards comes from the following: Idaho Department of Labor, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, O*NET, MyNextMove, and Career OneStop