How to become an Excavator operator / Heavy machine operator in Ireland ?

Raw Geansai

Hi all,

In Ireland how do you become a excavator operator?

With the new year 2025 a new thought has been rattling around in my head about changing my career path. Currently I work as a warehouse operative & system team lead. I have a counter balance & PPT license's. Lately since a new system was introduced into the warehouse I was made a team lead & now i feel more like a keyboard warrior than a forklift driver.

What sparked my interest was seeing a post on social media of a Excavator OP doing his day to day work & i was so intrigued. Never knew a digger could do so much. I learned that he had an attachment/modification a rototilt which changes a basic digger into so much more. Any attachment he could spin 360° & tilt up 45° it also had a grabber/claw on it too. I was so satisfying to watch him do the work of 8 men. Digging up soil & using different attachments from buckets to rollers to even a huge brush to clean up afterwards. So i gave him a follow & now my algorithm is just full of these videos. I soon learned that the work this guy does is on Golf course construction.

I've been trying to research online on how to do you become one but as usual google is a load of BS & ya can never get the info you need so thought id come on here to ask the question and continue to do my research. if anyone could lay it out from start to finish, step by step on how can this be possible. Ireland is a bit weird that you can rent a digger no need for a license but if you wanna own one you gotta have a license.

Also is the work any good to be a heavy machine operator, hours, pay, conditions? I became a father not too long ago & was really lucky to have my job hours change to 6am to 2pm. Both me and the wife are trying save for a house and as you can guess it, Ireland is just getting ridiculous. Ive no experience in construction and im pushing 40 but if the pay is better than what im on now feck it why not. It will get me a house quicker im hoping. So I would appreciate anyone who could share their knowledge. Cheers

Drumorig

With no construction experience you haven't a hope. You could do a course and maybe blag a CSCS ticket but you'll be found out in minutes on a site & taken off the machine.

The operators you see aren't just operators, they will have been groundworkers/landscapers/farmers before. They know why they are doing what they are doing and how. Nobody will let you on a machine without experience as they will be wasting money having to tell you what to do.

Basically you start from the ground up, literally.

nm6

This is a coincidence that I found your post by searching for exactly what you have asked!

However I would like to know how is someone supposed to get experienced in machine operation if nobody would allow you on a machine to gain that experience. It sounds like a bit of a catch22 🤔

Drumorig

Get a job as a groundsworker and learn your trade. Then get a dumper ticket. Then with an excavator ticket you might get a go the odd time. That's where you get experience.

To get a ticket I think you need 6 months experience. You can get around this but with no construction experience it wil be obvious and you'll be pulled off it. I had a teleporter driver ask how to put the machine in crab mode over the radio. He was taken off the machine straight away.

Drumorig

You could get a job as a labourer on a site tomorrow. You need to learn about construction before thinking about driving an excavator.

You would be better off aiming for a dumper ticket along with an actual job on a site. Prove your competent and a good grafter and you might get a shot. Get in with the foreman etc

At that stage you might say to yourself that job looks like a load o bollox.