Need advice ASAP on wage/salary

[justCNCit]

That I should be negotiating for on my interview tommorow.

The engineer at the manufacturing plant is looking for somebody with experience designing in Solid Edge. They have incoming designs that need to be done up in Solid Edge, (me), from which they move to Solid Cast as a parasolid, and then to MC to get a toolpath post.

My understanding is that they have a chinese fellow working for them, nothing against chinese people, but the guy isn't generating a lot of great feedback and I think they have far more work than the guy can handle for Solid Edge.

My experience includes:

- 4 years of AutoCAD
- A year of using Mastercam, pretty proficient designing stuff in it and can also easily enough generate posts. Can design different types of surfaces, and extrude/cut solids but I could use more practice in it.
- Being a former video game designer, I used to use a variety of software programs to develop 3d models for games. Not only that but I wrote scripters and import/export converter tools for ASCII format files.

The engineer tested me out a week or two ago, putting me on a PC with Solid Edge when I'd never used it before. He wanted to see how fast I'd pick it up and be able to design a complex part. I finished most of the part in less than 5 hours, there were some mathematical errors in his revised design, and I had a hard time with some of the more advanced Solid Edge commands for making patterns and aligning a certain part on a crazy surface normal.

How much should I be asking, per hour?

oh, btw. I also am now completing a 1 year course certifying me to setup and program CNC machines. In fact that's why I'm there, for hands-on work experience.

Thanks!

edit: the guy has already decided to hire me, this is only a formal interview to negotiate salary based on experience/ past jobs I guess.

[jderou]

Depends on what you are making now (or what you were making), how much you want the job, and if you aren't working now; how desperate you are.

[drummond1]

Sounds like you are pretty green. Take what he offers and put the new knowledge into your toolbox/arsenal of skills. Jobbing shops offer the most challenge in Industry because they handle work nobody wants to do.. Once you become proficient with his hardware and you're making him a little cash you can move on if he doesnt pay you a fair shake.. The knowledge and skill you take on can be used to market your trade. Best of luck..
Drum..

[drummond1]

Last part time Contract I took on I told the owner of the company I didnt want to make his company my career and I just wanted a fair shake. I needed 5 grand quick cash. If he had chips to be made I was the most logical choice for him. I told him that by Payday if my check didnt reflect what I put in the swarf bucket I would move on.. My check showed 30 an hour.. needless to say 8 grand later I had to say sorry chief.. I gotta move on... later homie!!

[DareBee]

A guy like Drummond would start for me at $30.
Considering you (justcncit) don't have a relevant C of Q and/or minimum 5 years machining experience you should be able to work for $25 - of course I only need start to finish guys and you currently are the start guy.

I am hiring if anyone thinks they fit the bill.
CAD,CAM,CNC,manual,EDM,grinding,etc (All rolled into one)

[lakeside]

$25 Canadan is about $20 us and that what the Boston area is paying for machine set-up people no programming (just edits)

[drummond1]

Cutter Forces? That would be axial NOT tangential right ..... Nuthin like the Z axis to load up on eh?

[justCNCit]

Well, to let you all know at least, the owner of the company has decided not to hire me because

A. Too inexperienced with mouldings & solidedge to help them with the amount of new parts that just came in and

B. They want me to finish 2nd year of school instead of opting out of the optional exit. Actually, this is probably their main reason.

They offered to give me contract work in the meantime for Solid Edge solid modeling.

So now it's a question of how much should I charge them per drawing. . I suppose depending on complexity, some drawings might take hours to do. And now I have to invest time into learning Solid Edge, which to me, looks like a crappy program. Although the UI was excellent and very intuitive.

But I don't even have ballpark for what a solid model of a part is worth to them. Also, I'm looking at a turnaround of a few days at most, and that's just working spare time contracting.

[drummond1]

Get your hands dirty mate...