Prospective Machinist Seeking Advice

[Septimius]

Hi all, I am considering a career as a CNC/Machinist. I hope it's appropriate to post this here, I am looking for some advice from people who have spent time in this field.

I currently work in technical support and don't like it much. I have an academic degree (Engl/Phil, linguistics and formal logic) but have found that my prospective employment opportunities are corporate in nature - while many of them can potentially pay very well, I don't want to work in an office anymore and have my 'contribution' measured strictly on a spreadsheet.

So I began considering trades and technical vocations. I'm still young enough to go back to school, but I don't want to waste more time in school in a direction that won't get me a job I like. My research, combined with a passion for motorcycles (an industry [particularly the aftermarket] which of course includes many machinists), has led to a great deal of interest in machining, CNC or otherwise.

I live fairly close to BCIT - British Columbia Institute of Technology - and they offer this course: http://www.bcit.ca/study/programs/1525ttdipl.

Does this sound like a course that will give me the training I need to be successful in this field? More generally, are the posters here happy with their careers? Are they satisified with the working conditions and pay? Do you find it fulfilling? If you were making this choice right now, given what you know about the field, would you still choose it?

Thanks very much in advance,

Septimius.

[Geof]

Originally Posted by Septimius I live fairly close to BCIT - British Columbia Institute of Technology - and they offer this course: http://www.bcit.ca/study/programs/1525ttdipl. Does this sound like a course that will give me the training I need to be successful in this field?....

Yes, from this program you will be able to get what you need to start a career as a machinist. Notice the way I phrase it; "will be able to get...start a career...". You probably would be able to coast through the course and get a bit of paper that said you had learnt stuff, without really learning anything. Given your background it is possible you need to brush up on your math; geometry and trig definitely and possibly get a bit of calculus as well.

Will you be happy as a machinist? Don't have a clue. Are other people happy with being machinists? Based on some of the posts I have read here; some, No.

Are working conditions and pay acceptable? Sure if you know your stuff are willing to work hard and have a bit of good luck. Like any career it is what you make of it.

There is a lot of satisfaction in making things but also a lot of tedium sometimes because often the money is in making lots of the same thing.

Would I choose to be a machinist if I could replay my life? Probably; I started my working career as a machinist, got bored, went to university for seven years and got a couple of degrees, real ones in the sciences, did university level research for a couple of years then went back to being a machinist in my own company.

[Matt_S]

Originally Posted by Septimius Hi all, I am considering a career as a CNC/Machinist. I hope it's appropriate to post this here, I am looking for some advice from people who have spent time in this field. I currently work in technical support and don't like it much. I have an academic degree (Engl/Phil, linguistics and formal logic) but have found that my prospective employment opportunities are corporate in nature - while many of them can potentially pay very well, I don't want to work in an office anymore and have my 'contribution' measured strictly on a spreadsheet. So I began considering trades and technical vocations. I'm still young enough to go back to school, but I don't want to waste more time in school in a direction that won't get me a job I like. My research, combined with a passion for motorcycles (an industry [particularly the aftermarket] which of course includes many machinists), has led to a great deal of interest in machining, CNC or otherwise. I live fairly close to BCIT - British Columbia Institute of Technology - and they offer this course: http://www.bcit.ca/study/programs/1525ttdipl. Does this sound like a course that will give me the training I need to be successful in this field? More generally, are the posters here happy with their careers? Are they satisified with the working conditions and pay? Do you find it fulfilling? If you were making this choice right now, given what you know about the field, would you still choose it? Thanks very much in advance, Septimius.

If you like a challenge machining is a great trade!If you are considering other trades however bear in mind a machinist is the most undervalued tradesman out there hands down.
I love what i do but, i have questioned myself at times if it's really worth it.
For all the training required and related skills necessary to excell at this trade,the money usually isn't commensurate.That being said there are exceptions out there if you look and get lucky.

[Steve@Reliance]

Your work environment has a much to do with your job satisfaction as what you do. The personality of a business mirrors the personality of the person at the top/in control. having a great boss makes all the difference.

[big_mak]

In any trade, there is going to be guys who love what they do, and those that hate it. They are easy to pick out.

Do you know anyone working in a shop? See if they are looking for helpers. Go and try it if even part time, to see if you like the atmosphere. From my experience, there are a lot of rough and tumble characters in a machine shop. In your area, there is a big variation of machine shops, from high tech to low tech.

My advice for you if you decide to get into the trade: Learn as much of the manual machining fundamentals as you can. Then start the CNC stuff. The basic machining fundametals will help out alot, when you are expected to drive a CNC machine, whether hand coding(Geof) or using CAM software.

[Septimius]

LOL! Typical engineers - ignore the question, identify the solution!

...hey, I say it with love!

I know not everyone's the same, so of course opinions will vary - I'm looking for whether or not YOU like it, and why or why not.

Thanks for the responses guys!

I started my working career as a machinist, got bored, went to university for seven years and got a couple of degrees, real ones

REAL ones, eh?

[dertsap]

if you don t mind getting your hand dirt stained ,slashed , cut up, smashed and pinched , people around you cursing and swearing when things go wrong
welcome abord

personally i would avoid bcit , i have no clue of what they are teaching down there , from what ive seen it isnt much ,there are a lot of local shops dying to get people to push buttons , and bcit wont get you past that point anyway ,
you'd start low ,if your bright and pay attention in the right place you will move quickly enough , you can look at it as a paid education rather than paying bcit for what appears to me "nothing"
there is a certain common sense that some people have and some people don t , and you are the only person who can determine if you have it , this isn t a trade for everyone


i appologize ahead of time to anyone from bcit i am sure that you were an exceptional student ,teacher or what ever you did there

[JOHN CNC]

I did it, if I could you can too. Give it a shot if only part time before you set your heart on it and years later you hate it and the fact your not rich. I'm self employed and have had a good run of luck for 18 years now. I not rich like some of my friends in other lines of work...but I also love machining I hope to retire soon (I'm 52 years old) a happy man who if I had it to do over...well I would but I would have made the real estate mine. So, if you get to that point..get the real estate and the machines. I know its a lot of money but its money in the bank making big bucks for you....don't rent or lease no longer than you have to. I thinks thats the best advise I can give anyone. Good luck.

John

[backplot]

hi my name is jerry i have been a machinist for 35 yrs and a programmer for the past 15 yrs if u have any questions e mail me at jp769ps@aol.com
As far as any shops looking to vend out work have 3 haas cnc machines and use mastercam version 9.1.
Any shops looking for a fast quote on jobs can e mail me there prints ex. dxf iges autocad formats to the above e mail.