Also called: Wood Pole Inspector, Pole Inspection Technician
Checks wooden power poles for rot, woodpecker holes and damage so they can be fixed before they fall.
You hike a line route with a hammer, a drill and a tablet. At each pole you thump it, dig around the base, drill a tiny hole to check for rot, and log it with a GPS photo. You might check 40 poles a day, often in pretty countryside.
Estimated; usually paid hourly by utility contractors.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
High school diploma, about 0 years after high school. High school; company training; driver's license required.
Ways in: On-the-job training. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Growing faster than average. Utilities are spending heavily on grid hardening and wildfire prevention.
Medium risk in 5 years, high in 10. Drones and AI image analysis increasingly spot rot and damage, so fewer people walk the lines to test poles.
Age 18+. One way to start: Apply to pole inspection companies (like Osmose); they train you and you travel
Classes: Earth science, Biology, Driver's education.
Official data: O*NET occupation 47-4099.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.