Skills
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Essential knowledge
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Overview
The work involves positioning drills, checking borehole depth, coordinating drilling, inspecting and maintaining drilling equipment, recording progress and moving rigs between work sites.
In job descriptions, look for drilling rigs, borehole depth, core drilling, drilling jumbo, equipment inspection, maintenance, troubleshooting, transport of rigs, underground hazards and construction safety procedures.
Explore this occupation
Search jobsWhat the work can involve
Drillers set up rigs and operate equipment that makes boreholes for mineral exploration, blasting preparation or construction. The work includes positioning, depth checks, equipment inspection and drilling records.
Skills and specializations
Useful depth includes rig setup, drill positioning, borehole depth checks, equipment maintenance, troubleshooting and safe movement of rigs. Some roles add core drilling, drilling jumbo operation, water wells or underground hazards.
Salary context
Pay context depends on drilling environment, rig type, travel between sites, underground exposure, maintenance responsibility, safety duties and whether the role involves specialized core or jumbo equipment.
Career paths
Progression can move from assistant drilling tasks to rig lead, specialized core drilling, construction drilling, blasting support, equipment maintenance coordination or safety-focused site supervision.
Good to know
Check whether a vacancy names the drilling purpose, rig type, borehole depth, site conditions, maintenance duties and safety procedures. A clear advert separates drilling from general construction labour or mining support.
Editorial note
This guide is editorial career context, not official labour-market statistics or role-specific pay data.
Where might this occupation occur?
This occupation may occur in several kinds of economic activity. Here are some examples and other occupations that may be found in the same areas.
Support activities for petroleum and natural gas extraction
This is one example. Other occupations in this activity include oil rig motorhand, drill operator and derrickhand.
Explore this activityTest drilling and boring
This occupation may also occur in this activity. Another occupation there is roughneck.
Explore this activityThese examples offer an overview but do not show every economic activity where the occupation may occur.
About this information
The selection is based on how occupations are connected to economic activities in ESCO and NACE. Only a few examples are shown to make the information easier to use. The occupations were selected because they are close in occupation area and important skills. The examples are not a ranking. They do not show where most people work, where demand is highest, or which occupation is best suited to a particular person.
Map overview
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O*NET relationships
See occupations connected to this ESCO occupation in the official O*NET–ESCO mapping. The relationship type comes from the source and is not a ranking or recommendation.
O*NET relationships: 2
Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas
47-5012.00
Exact relationship
The official mapping treats the O*NET and ESCO occupations as closely equivalent.
The official mapping connects this O*NET occupation to more than one exact ESCO occupation.
Helpers--Extraction Workers
47-5081.00
Close relationship
The occupations are closely related, but the official mapping does not treat them as exact equivalents.
Open in O*NETSource and method
These relationships come from the official European Commission O*NET–ESCO crosswalk.
Relationship direction: O*NET occupation to ESCO occupation.
Several O*NET occupations can point to the same ESCO occupation, and one O*NET occupation can point to several ESCO occupations.
AltoTrail preserves the source relationship type. The order is technical and does not show which occupation is best, most relevant or recommended.
AltoTrail validates and presents the source relationships without adding ranking or recommendation semantics.
NACE Rev. 2.1
Economic activities linked to this occupation.
09.1Support activities for petroleum and natural gas extraction43.13Test drilling and boring
Alternative labels
Occupation group
Miners and quarriers (8111)
Source facts
| ESCO URI | http://data.europa.eu/esco/occupation/364e61ab-1631-4fe1-a170-e88797aad6f9 |
|---|---|
| ESCO code | 8111.2 |
| ISCO group | 8111 |
| Concept type | Occupation |