Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas

AI & job outlook

What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.

Exposure to current AI

Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.

OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.1), with simple added tooling (β 0.1), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.2). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.

Job outlook

Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.

“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.

Tasks

All 30 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.

• Fabricate well casings. Supplemental · importance 4.4
• Operate controls to stabilize machines and to position and align drills. Core · importance 4.4
• Pour water into wells, or pump water or slush into wells to cool drill bits and to remove drillings. Supplemental · importance 4.3
• Start, stop, and control drilling speed of machines and insertion of casings into holes. Core · importance 4.3
• Regulate air pressure, rotary speed, and downward pressure, according to the type of rock or concrete being drilled. Core · importance 4.3
• Select and attach drill bits and drill rods, adding more rods as hole depths increase, and changing drill bits as needed. Core · importance 4.3
• Drive or guide truck-mounted equipment into position, level and stabilize rigs, and extend telescoping derricks. Core · importance 4.2
• Create and lay out designs for drill and blast patterns. Supplemental · importance 4.2
• Operate machines to flush earth cuttings or to blow dust from holes. Core · importance 4.2
• Place and install screens, casings, pumps, and other well fixtures to develop wells. Supplemental · importance 4.1
• Perform routine maintenance and upgrade work on machines and equipment, such as replacing parts, building up drill bits, and lubricating machinery. Core · importance 4.1
• Verify depths and alignments of boring positions. Core · importance 4.1
• Select the appropriate drill for the job, using knowledge of rock or soil conditions. Core · importance 4.1
• Document geological formations encountered during work. Core · importance 4.1
• Operate water-well drilling rigs and other equipment to drill, bore, and dig for water wells or for environmental assessment purposes. Supplemental · importance 4.0
• Drive trucks, tractors, or truck-mounted drills to and from work sites. Core · importance 4.0
• Assemble and position machines, augers, casing pipes, and other equipment, using hand and power tools. Core · importance 4.0
• Record drilling progress and geological data. Core · importance 4.0
• Retrieve lost equipment from bore holes, using retrieval tools and equipment. Core · importance 4.0
• Review client requirements and proposed locations for drilling operations to determine feasibility, and to determine cost estimates. Supplemental · importance 3.9
• Drill or bore holes in rock for blasting, grouting, anchoring, or building foundations. Supplemental · importance 3.8
• Perform pumping tests to assess well performance. Supplemental · importance 3.8
• Disinfect, reconstruct, and redevelop contaminated wells and water pumping systems, and clean and disinfect new wells in preparation for use. Supplemental · importance 3.7
• Design well pumping systems. Supplemental · importance 3.7
• Signal crane operators to move equipment. Supplemental · importance 3.5
• Withdraw drill rods from holes, and extract core samples. Supplemental · importance 3.5
• Inspect core samples to determine nature of strata, or take samples to laboratories for analysis. Supplemental · importance 3.4
• Retract augers to force discharge dirt from holes. Supplemental · importance 3.4
• Monitor drilling operations, by checking gauges and listening to equipment to assess drilling conditions and to determine the need to adjust drilling or alter equipment.
• Observe electronic graph recorders and flow meters that monitor the water used to flush debris from holes. Supplemental

Work activities

• Operate drilling equipment.
• Measure work site dimensions.
• Select construction equipment.
• Install drilling equipment.
• Drill holes in earth or rock.
• Remove debris or vegetation from work sites.
• Drive trucks or truck-mounted equipment.
• Maintain drilling equipment.
• Record operational or environmental data.
• Operate cranes, hoists, or other moving or lifting equipment.
• Assemble products or production equipment.
• Position construction or extraction equipment.
• Pour materials into or on designated areas.
• Operate pumps or compressors.
• Inspect equipment or tools to be used in construction or excavation.
• Collect geological samples.
• Design energy production or management equipment or systems.
• Decontaminate equipment or sites to remove hazardous or toxic substances.
• Clean equipment or facilities.
• Prepare excavation or extraction sites for commissioning or decommissioning.
• Review blueprints or specifications to determine work requirements.
• Determine appropriate locations for operations or installations.
• Signal equipment operators to indicate proper equipment positioning.
• Fabricate parts or components.
• Develop equipment or component configurations.
• Monitor extraction operations.

Knowledge, skills & abilities

O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).

Transferable skills

Abilities

Knowledge

Essential skills

Skills in demand

Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.

• Depth Perception Common Skill
• Visualization Specialized Skill
• Information Ordering Specialized Skill
• Equipment Maintenance Specialized Skill
• Deductive Reasoning Common Skill
• Critical Thinking Common Skill
• Inductive Reasoning Common Skill
• Finger Dexterity Common Skill
• Microsoft Word Common Skill
• Microsoft Excel Common Skill
• Equipment Selection Specialized Skill
• Complex Problem Solving Common Skill
• Active Listening Common Skill
• Mathematics Common Skill
• Time Management Common Skill
• Speech Recognition Specialized Skill
• English Language Common Skill
• Reading Comprehension Common Skill
• Instructing Specialized Skill
• Active Learning Common Skill
• Social Perceptiveness Common Skill
• Writing Common Skill
• Physics Specialized Skill
• Systems Analysis Specialized Skill
• Negotiation Common Skill
• Learning Strategies Specialized Skill
• Geography Specialized Skill
• Psychology Specialized Skill
• Chemistry Specialized Skill
• Telecommunications Specialized Skill
• Installation Specialized Skill
• Biology Specialized Skill
• Foreign Language Common Skill

Tools & technology

Work context

How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.

How to get in

Job zone

Zone 2 — Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed

Education

Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.

Typical entry-level education

High school diploma or equivalent · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement

Related experience

Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.

Preparation level

SVP (Below 6.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.

What to study: Construction Trades , Transportation and Materials Moving . Fields of study crosswalked to this occupation (NCES CIP–SOC), not a requirement.

Education of current workers

Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.

Interests & work styles

The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.

Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)

Interest areas

Work styles

Wages & employment

U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)

Industries that employ this occupation

Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.

Where this work is most concentrated

Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).

Related occupations

Part of the Construction and Energy & Natural Resources career clusters.

• Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas · 47-5012.00 Compare →
• Helpers--Extraction Workers · 47-5081.00 Compare →
• Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic · 51-4032.00 Compare →
• Continuous Mining Machine Operators · 47-5041.00 Compare →
• Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining · 47-5022.00 Compare →
• Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators · 47-2073.00 Compare →
• Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters · 47-5032.00 Compare →
• Roustabouts, Oil and Gas · 47-5071.00 Compare →
• Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas · 47-5013.00 Compare →
• Construction Laborers · 47-2061.00 Compare →
• Hoist and Winch Operators · 53-7041.00 Compare →
• Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing · 51-7042.00 Compare →

Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.

What you can do with this

Options the data surfaces for Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai Microsoft Research
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-role-47-5023-00,
  title  = {Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/roles/role-47-5023-00}
}