drilling machine operator

Drilling machine operators set up, program and control drilling machines, designed to drill holes in workpieces using a computer-controlled, rotary-cutting, multipointed cutting tool, inserted into the workpiece axially. They read drilling machine blueprints and tooling instructions, perform regular machine maintenance, and make adjustments to the drilling controls, such as the depth of drills or the rotation speed.

The most in-demand skills for this role include statistical process control, CAM software, CADD software, quality and cycle time optimisation, CAE software, quality standards. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.

Our AI-durability model gives drilling machine operator a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.