What the work involves, what it pays, and grounded tasks, skills, tools, and experience you can choose from.
Also called cable tool operator, core drill operator, directional drill operator and drill operator.
$67,890
Median pay a year
12,600
People do this work
6
Resume lines ready for you
Real figures for this work, and lines you can use in your own resume. Where they come from is at the foot of this page.
An example
An Oil and Gas Rotary Drill Operator resume, filled in
Common skills that can help you remember what you used on the job.
Maintaining drilling equipment
Operating drilling equipment
Operating moving or lifting equipment
Monitoring extraction operations
Inspecting equipment or tools
Measuring materials for installation
Measuring work site dimensions
Selecting construction equipment
Mixing needed substances
Cleaning equipment and facilities
Collecting geological samples
Installing plumbing
Every line comes from the same public record as the rest of this page. The greyed parts are the ones only you can answer.
Oil and Gas Rotary Drill Operator
Summary
Rotary drill operator setting up and operating drills to remove oil and gas, training crews, controlling equipment, and maintaining records during exploration activities
Experience
Oil and Gas Rotary Drill Operator
Where you worked
Month Year to Month Year
Trained crews and introduced procedures to make drill work safer and better
Observed pressure gauge and moved throttles and levers to control rotary tables
Counted sections of drill rod to determine depths of boreholes
Pushed levers and brake pedals to control draw works that lowered and raised drill pipes
Connected sections of drill pipe using hand tools and powered wrenches and tongs
Maintained records of footage drilled, location, materials used, and time required
Started and examined operation of slush pumps to ensure drilling fluid circulation
Skills
Hands-On Work
Operating drilling equipment, Operating moving or lifting equipment, Mixing needed substances, Cleaning equipment and facilities
Inspecting equipment or tools, Measuring materials for installation, Measuring work site dimensions, Selecting construction equipment
Education
High School Diploma Your school, Year
Yours will not say this. You choose what matches your experience, and every line remains yours to confirm or change.
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What to put on an Oil and Gas Rotary Drill Operator resume
Real duties for this job, already written the way a resume reads. Inside Rung you choose the ones that were yours.
What did you do each day?
Choose what fits, or say your own.
Trained crews for safe drillingWatched gauges and controlled speedCounted drill rod sectionsPushed levers to control drillingConnected drill pipe sectionsKept records of drilling work
becomes
On your resume
Trained crews in safe drilling procedures, enhancing team performance and safety standards
Counted drill rod sections to accurately determine borehole depths and maintain drilling accuracy
These are written the way a resume line reads. Rung asks which ones are actually yours, keeps your own words, and never claims work you did not do.
Then it asks for one more thing
The line that could show more, and the fact that lands it.
Make it stronger
A few lines could show more. Each one is asked, and answered by choosing.
Mention if you introduced any new safety procedures during training
The line
Trained crews in safe drilling procedures and added a new safety checklist, improving team performance and safety standards
Mention if you introduced any new safety procedures during training
Pick one that fits
Added a new safety checklist for drillsImplemented a buddy system for safetyCreated a training manual for safe practices
Or add your own.
In your wordsAdd it
Adding it to the line…
Added to your resume
Add how often you counted drill rod sections during operations
The line
Counted drill rod sections to accurately determine borehole depths and maintain drilling accuracy
Add how often you counted drill rod sections during operations
Pick one that fits
Every few hours during drillingAt the end of each drilling shiftMultiple times throughout the day
Or add your own.
In your wordsAdd it
Adding it to the line…
Added to your resume
Every ready answer is in plain words, never a figure. Nothing is invented to fill a gap.
The work itself
What an Oil and Gas Rotary Drill Operator does
The public record of what this job is, in one paragraph.
Set up or operate a variety of drills to remove underground oil and gas, or remove core samples for testing during oil and gas exploration.
What it pays
How much does an Oil and Gas Rotary Drill Operator make?
Annual pay across the United States. The middle figure is the median: half earn less than that, and half earn more.
25th percentile
$53,810
Median
$67,890
75th percentile
$81,360
About 12,600 people do this work in the United States.
blast driller, cable driller, cable tool driller, clean out driller, core driller, daylight driller, derrickhand, directional driller, drill hand, driller, drilling field professional, floorhand, geotechnical driller, locator, motor man, natural gas shothole driller, oil and gas operations management professional, oil driller, oil rig driller, oil well cable tool driller, oil well driller, prospecting driller, relief driller, rotary driller, shot hole driller, sonic driller, spud driller, tool pusher, well driller.
What you can already claim
What you can already claim as an Oil and Gas Rotary Drill Operator
Below are the tasks an Oil and Gas Rotary Drill Operator job is made of. Choose the ones you have really done. There is no wrong answer here, and you can change any of it later.
Which of these tasks have you actually done?
4 chosen. Rung never adds a task you did not choose.
You can already claim 4 of the 9 tasks this job is made of.
What you have not done yet. Inspecting equipment or tools, Measuring materials for installation, Measuring work site dimensions
Your resume, already started
Oil and Gas Rotary Drill Operator
Maintaining drilling equipment
Operating drilling equipment
Operating moving or lifting equipment
Monitoring extraction operations
Nothing here was invented. Every line is something you chose above, and it comes with you when you start.
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This page is about the occupation Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas. What this job involves and what it is made of come from O*NET 30.3, the US Department of Labor's occupation database, refreshed July 2026; Rung writes those records into the plain sentences you see. Pay comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS release for 2025. How Rung handles accuracy is on the accuracy page, and the full data credits are on the credits page.