Hello everyone, I'm looking at attending a equipment operator school and I'm wondering if it'd be worth it. I'm 23 years old and have worked with my father and his business for the pass four years full time and before that been around heavy equipment my whole life. He runs a small residential excavation business dig foundations installing septic system and drive ways etc. He's trained me to operator compact excavators skids steers dumps trucks and motor graders and all the things that go along with it like basic maintenance reading grade. With the economy the way it is in my area currently I am looking work for a bigger company because setting at the house does not pay the bills of course. Of course you can never have too much experience but my question is would it be worth it for me to go off to a school since I already have the basic experience? Thanks any advice would be welcome!
I never went to school to run equipment. I guess that it is more time in the seat. But I don't think that they give real world experience like contractors want. I have heard in my area that only about 1 out of 10 make it after they go to school. Me I would just go find a contractor looking for help. Then you get the experience that you need and want, while getting paid also. Best of luck
if you have been around it that long you would probley be teaching the teacher.
I went through one of those schools quite awhile ago, it was ATS in WI. It was really interesting, got to run all sorts of different equipment and the teachers at the time were good as well. It was half machine work and half classroom work. The classroom work was about estimating volumes cuts and fills, grade reading and grade rod operation as well as safety. Sure, alot of the stuff was basic and quite a few guys had the "I already know how to do this" attitude. (which is annoying, dont be that guy) Even if you've already learned something one way, I guarantee you there is another way. So keep your mind open and take the best of both ways. Its just another way to increase your knowledge base, by no means does having a little plastic card in your pocket make you an operator, but you know what they say about practice
Thanks everyone for your input and advice!! Of course one can never have too much seat time no matter what and there's always something new to learn. At this point I think I will go to a operators school in the next 2-3 months if business does not pick up around here. Currently I'm looking into Chattanooga State Community College's operators course because its the closes to home. Anyone have any experience with them or know anything about them? Thanks