Career
Dredge operators
Run dredges that clear waterways.
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Move levers to position dredges for excavation, to engage hydraulic pumps, to raise and lower suction booms, and to control rotation of cutterheads.
- Start and stop engines to operate equipment.
- Start power winches that draw in or let out cables to change positions of dredges, or pull in and let out cables manually.
- Pump water to clear machinery pipelines.
- Lower anchor poles to verify depths of excavations, using winches, or scan depth gauges to determine depths of excavations.
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?
“Move levers to position dredges for excavation, to engage hydraulic pumps, to raise and lower suction booms, and to control rotation of cutterheads.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Operation and Control, Operations Monitoring, Critical Thinking, Judgment and Decision Making.
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 $49,640 a year and 100 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
- Hoist and Winch Operators$56,450 · +0.2%
- Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators$59,850 · +4.6%
- Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining$57,430 · +1.0%
- Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas$67,890 · +0.8%
- Helpers--Extraction Workers$47,730 · +1.7%
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.
Not sure this fits who you are? Start with Vocational Finder →
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.