How to become Pile Driver Operator in 2024

Pile Driver Operator Operate pile drivers mounted on skids, barges, crawler treads, or locomotive cranes to drive pilings for retaining walls, bulkheads, and foundations of structures such as buildings, bridges, and piers.

Pile Driver Operator is Also Know as

In different settings, Pile Driver Operator is titled as

  • Pile Driver
  • Pile Driver Operator
  • Pile Driving Operator

Education and Training of Pile Driver Operator

Pile Driver Operator is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Pile Driver Operator

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Education Required for Pile Driver Operator

These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Degrees Related to Pile Driver Operator

Training Required for Pile Driver Operator

Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Pile Driver Operator in different industries are

What Do Pile Driver Operator do?

  • Move hand and foot levers of hoisting equipment to position piling leads, hoist piling into leads, and position hammers over pilings.
  • Conduct pre-operational checks on equipment to ensure proper functioning.
  • Drive pilings to provide support for buildings or other structures, using heavy equipment with a pile driver head.
  • Move levers and turn valves to activate power hammers, or to raise and lower drophammers that drive piles to required depths.
  • Clean, lubricate, and refill equipment.

Qualities of Good Pile Driver Operator

  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Pile Driver Operator

  • Allen wrenches
  • Chain slings
  • Diesel hammers
  • Digital ammeters
  • Digital torque wrenches
  • Emergency first aid equipment
  • Excavator mounted pile drivers
  • Extension ladders
  • Filter wrenches
  • Fixed leads
  • Four-point harnesses
  • Global positioning system GPS receivers
  • Gravity drop hammers
  • Ground release shackles
  • Hand-operated pumps
  • Hoisting equipment
  • Hour meters
  • Hydraulic impact hammers
  • Life jackets
  • Lifting sling
  • Lubricant dispensing funnels
  • Mobile radios
  • Multipurpose fire extinguishers
  • On-board computers
  • Pile driving analyzers
  • Pile driving equipment
  • Pile extractors
  • Pile threaders
  • Portable air compressors
  • Portable generators
  • Protective ear muffs
  • Quick-disconnect hose couplers
  • Ratchet release shackles
  • Remote control pendants
  • Rope taglines
  • Safety goggles
  • Saximeters
  • Spreader beams
  • Swinging leads
  • Wire ropes

Technology Skills required for Pile Driver Operator

  • Email software
  • Global positioning system GPS software
  • GRL Engineers Wave Equation Analysis Program GRLWEAP
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Pile Dynamics Case Pile Wave Analysis Program CAPWAP
  • Pile Dynamics Pile Driving Analyzer PDA