What Is a Scraper and How to Become One

By ZipRecruiter Marketplace Research Team

A scraper or scraper operator is a construction employee who operates heavy machinery to manipulate earth and rock at a construction site. Your duties in this career may involve removing, spreading, or dumping debris, or you may grade the terrain on a job site. Generally, a scraper’s responsibilities focus on making the ground level in order to aid in construction. You do so by operating heavy machinery designed to modify the earth. This career exists under a broader category of construction equipment operators. As such, you may also be required to perform other jobs requiring the use of heavy machinery.

A career as a scraper operator doesn’t have specific degree qualifications. However, you generally need to be able to operate different pieces of CAT heavy equipment, such as a bulldozer, wheeled tractor scraper, or grader. You are required to have a Heavy Equipment Operator License to operate such machinery. Additionally, you may need to maintain or perform minor repairs on their equipment, so mechanical experience is important. Some general skills needed to become a scraper operator are the ability to take direction well and operate safely in a potentially dangerous environment and knowledge of applicable laws and legal codes necessary for construction.