I would pursue this opportunity. The construction industry, especially; site, heavy&highway, industrial, commercial building - excavation/ foundation work can provide a decent income, and can be a rewarding trade if you like this work.
Regardless of being affiliated with a union such as the Operating Engineers, you may find open shop contractors that are competitive with union pay and benefits, we had a few in this area, also those that perform prevailing wage jobs, state, federal etc. those are usually good jobs as well, one of the open shop contractors actually went union again, unions still have a good presence here.
I have a lot of experience with union trades, especially the operating engineers, both site work and crane work, in NYC, NJ etc. I prefer union labor, but have done non- union work as well, having a good contractor with experienced people is most important.
I've also spent several years as a heavy equipment operator, and have worked on many kinds of projects, earthwork, underground utility work, highway, drainage and some blasting & demo as well. I'm very familiar with 3 locals, 2 in NYC and one upstate. I've hired and have had plenty of O.E.'s work under my supervision.
Short and sweet, if you have the ability, like operating equipment, that is a start. You'll need to learn through instruction, seat time and getting job experience. Once you learn the skills, and become a safe productive operator, you need to build a reputation as such, you need to be a self starter, maintain a solid work ethic, building a reputation that will make you stand out a little, the last thing a contractor wants is to hire unknowns out of the hall and weed out the non performers, having known players and building "A" teams is very important to productivity and profitability, this work is all about production, good safe production at that. I've had trouble with crane operators, with bad attitudes, no contractor ever wants a jerk on their site. Your attitude, demeanor, personality and work ethic, attention to safety, the equipment you run is absolutely paramount. You want to be the guy who is happy running the oldest machine in the fleet, I used to be, and they always had work for me, being a chronic complainer with a pss poor attitude goes nowhere. One outfit I worked at they intentionally put me on an old 955 CAT crawler loader, no problem at all, you know later that year I was demo'ng brand new equipment and my input was a big part of their purchase decision, Komatsu even sent a rep out to take pictures of me for their brochure, I was on a new D65 PX LGP, stockpiling wet topsoil, had I a bad attitude, I'd probably have stayed on the 955 !
The key is to get with a good contractor once you are able to work productively, one with a good backlog of work, and a reasonable size annual volume, you may have to travel a bit and you may deal with layoffs, it's part of the game. Most important is to learn as much as you can and excel where you can, don't ever become full of yourself, seen plenty of those guys in my career. If you can get with a decent size contractor, and become a known performer, you stand a good chance of doing well, they will weed out people and lay off those who don't perform, whereas others won't get that winter layoff, they'll find something for them etc.
Operating Engineers pay in the envelope + the supplements/benefits/vacation/pension/annuity etc. is a very good package, in NYC Local #14 members do very well, and have an excellent retirement, many members have found homes with companies, especially crane operators. Work can dry up, like it is now, but it can also be very busy. You put in 20-30 years it can pay off nicely.
Just some thoughts, but I'll add this too; when I was an equipment operator, I really wanted to become a member of the Operating Engineers, but it was impossible to get in, I went to #825 several times, passed the test at their school on their equipment, and got some impressive comments about my skills, by this time I had the experience, but the B.A, was a shyster and played favorites, it went nowhere, I also went to the #14 school, did the same thing, even had a sponsor, right next to me there was a guy who was a novice, could not even get a full bucket, whereas I had my trench dug, dressed up and was ready to backfill, that went nowhere as well, so I stayed in management and supervision, it was disappointing because I liked the work, grew up around and had a lot of experience with equipment prior to testing at their schools, oh well..... so if you have an opportunity, pursue it, you can always take a withdrawal card later if for some reason you change your career, but I would not hesitate to follow through on this, may not ever get another chance.
Another thing that may help is to get your Class A CDL, I was a Teamster Local, #669 in the mid 80's, and have had the license over 20 years now, it is a plus to a site contractor for an employee to have one and may help you get hired, keep it clean, no DWI's or similar, though being an O.E. it may be out of your jurisdiction for the most part, it is still good to have and sometimes they work things out between B.A.'s where an O.E. may have some limited work in this capacity, always pays to be versatile. In a open shop, that CDL is usually a good thing to have, because you may have to be able to do both for them, I've done it, also kept me busy at the end of the year, hauling equipment back etc.
