CCollegeMatcher

Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines

US occupation · SOC 49-3042

Job titles people report: Construction Equipment Mechanic, Equipment Mechanic, Equipment Technician, Field Mechanic, Field Service Technician, Field Technician, Heavy Equipment Mechanic, Heavy Equipment Technician, Mechanic, Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanic

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025
$65,510
Half earn more, half earn less
Middle half earn
$56,970 – $79,270
25th to 75th percentile
People employed, May 2025
176,600
Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
Projected change, 2025–35
+6.7%
At or above the all-jobs rate (3.5% to under 7%)
Openings a year (projected)
15,000
New jobs plus replacing people who leave
Typical education to enter
High school diploma or equivalent
BLS
  • All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
  • Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
  • Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.

What the work involves

Diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul mobile mechanical, hydraulic, and pneumatic equipment, such as cranes, bulldozers, graders, and conveyors, used in construction, logging, and mining.

Main tasks

  • Repair and replace damaged or worn parts.
  • Test mechanical products and equipment after repair or assembly to ensure proper performance and compliance with manufacturers' specifications.
  • Operate and inspect machines or heavy equipment to diagnose defects.
  • Read and understand operating manuals, blueprints, and technical drawings.
  • Dismantle and reassemble heavy equipment using hoists and hand tools.
  • Overhaul and test machines or equipment to ensure operating efficiency.
  • Adjust, maintain, and repair or replace subassemblies, such as transmissions and crawler heads, using hand tools, jacks, and cranes.
  • Repair, rewire, and troubleshoot electrical systems.

Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS)
High school diploma or equivalent
Training once hired: long-term on-the-job training
O*NET Job Zone 3
Medium preparation
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Interests it suits

The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.

  • Realistic: hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals
  • Conventional: organising information, records and procedures
  • Investigative: research, analysis and solving problems with ideas

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 2 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.

Agriculture

  • Agricultural Mechanics and Equipment/Machine Technology/Technician

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Agriculture at the Major step.

Where many students take agriculture

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Other fields

Our college matcher doesn't offer this field as a major, so we can't suggest colleges for it here.

Mechanic and Repair Technologies/Technicians

  • Heavy Equipment Maintenance Technology/Technician

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

← All careers

Sources

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0

Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk