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Boston Career Explorer

Production

Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

Set up, operate, or tend spraying or rolling machines to coat or paint any of a wide variety of products, including glassware, cloth, ceramics, metal, plastic, paper, or wood, with lacquer, silver, copper, rubber, varnish, glaze, enamel, oil, or rust-proofing materials. Includes painters of transportation vehicles such as painters in auto body repair facilities.

Also called: Automotive Painter (Auto Painter), Automotive Refinish Technician (Auto Refinish Tech), Coater Operator, Hand Sprayer, Industrial Painter, Paint Technician (Paint Tech)

Compare with my current job (Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing)
Median pay in Greater Boston
$54,560
$26.23/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
1,490
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+3.4%
260 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
High school diploma or equivalent
plus Moderate-term on-the-job training

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$37,820$45,760$54,560$62,450$77,920

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • Dispose of hazardous waste in an appropriate manner.
  • Hold or position spray guns to direct spray onto articles.
  • Spray prepared surfaces with specified amounts of primers and decorative or finish coatings.
  • Monitor painting operations to identify flaws, such as blisters or streaks, and correct their causes.
  • Disassemble, clean, and reassemble sprayers or power equipment, using solvents, wire brushes, and cloths.
  • Fill hoppers, reservoirs, troughs, or pans with material used to coat, paint, or spray, using conveyors or pails.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Lower exposure6 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 7
  • Language-model AIOE 4
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 6

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

AI exposure for this job is lower, and observed AI use is little or none. The main tasks are physical: positioning spray guns, spraying primers and finishes, and cleaning and reassembling sprayers. Handling hazardous waste also takes a person on site. AI tools are unlikely to change these tasks much, though software may help a little with tracking flaws.

Likely to change

  • Tracking and recording coating flaws
  • Looking up coating specifications

Still relies on people

  • Positioning spray guns and spraying surfaces
  • Cleaning sprayers and disposing of hazardous waste

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

Next steps from here

Related jobs that build on what you already do.

  • Painters, Construction and Maintenance

    Spraying and finishing skills carry over to painting buildings. Projected Massachusetts growth is 5.5%, and no formal credential is needed.

    Pay difference
    +$3,260 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +5.5%
    To get started
    No formal educational credential

  • Roofers

    Roofers spray waterproof coatings onto surfaces, so your spray technique applies directly. Projected Massachusetts growth is 7.7%.

    Pay difference
    +$11,790 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +7.7%
    To get started
    No formal educational credential

  • Construction Laborers

    Maintaining and cleaning equipment, as you do with sprayers, carries over. This job has 9.5% projected Massachusetts growth and only short-term on-the-job training.

    Pay difference
    +$8,860 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +9.5%
    To get started
    No formal educational credential

Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

No college programs near Boston map to this job. Many people enter through on-the-job training or apprenticeship.

Talk to a career coach at the Office of Workforce Development about apprenticeships and City partner programs.

Related occupations

Talk to a career coach

A coach at the Office of Workforce Development can help you plan your next step, and connect you with training, apprenticeships and City partner programs that are not listed here.

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