Also called: Compressor Station Technician, Gas Pumping Station Operator
Keeps the giant engines that push natural gas through pipelines across the country running, often at remote stations.
Your station sits alone in the countryside with engines as big as a house humming day and night. You check oil, temperatures and vibration, change filters, and restart units the control center calls about. Sometimes you are the only person for miles.
BLS gas compressor and gas pumping station operators.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
High school diploma, about 0 years after high school. High school plus on-the-job training; mechanical or engine training helps.
Ways in: On-the-job training, Trade school. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Majors to look at: Industrial Maintenance (trade school).
Shrinking (about -3% over 10 years). Small, slowly shrinking occupation.
Medium risk in 5 years, high in 10. Many compressor stations are now monitored and started remotely, so fewer on-site operators.
Classes: Mechanics CTE class, Physics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 53-7071.
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.