Career
Continuous mining machine operators
Run machines that mine underground.
$61,810
Median pay
+3.2%
Job growth, 2025–35
1,400
Openings a year
No formal educational credential
Typical education
None required
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Hang ventilation tubing and ventilation curtains to ensure that the mining face area is kept properly ventilated.
- Conduct methane gas checks to ensure breathing quality of air.
- Check the stability of roof and rib support systems before mining face areas.
- Operate mining machines to gather coal and convey it to floors or shuttle cars.
- Drive machines into position at working faces.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on objects & tools, then information & systems?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Hang ventilation tubing and ventilation curtains to ensure that the mining face area is kept properly ventilated.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Operation and Control, Operations Monitoring, Equipment Maintenance, Troubleshooting.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though moderate-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $61,810 a year and 1,400 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Construction/Heavy Equipment/Earthmoving Equipment OperationCIP 49.0202
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators$59,850 · +4.6%
- Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining$57,430 · +1.0%
- Helpers--Extraction Workers$47,730 · +1.7%
- Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas$60,190 · +3.6%
- Loading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Mining$74,500 · -15.8%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.