Career advice needed !!!

[yupyup4me]

HELLO ALL,

I'm 27 years old and looking for a career change... I was thinking about getting into CNC. I already work with computers, but seeing all the jobs going over sea's is really depressing.. I have read some posts, yet I wanted to make my own post.... How is the industry doing ? Pros and cons etc etc... Any advice will do

Tx's for your time.

[diarmaid]

Hi. Incidentially Im also in a similar position.
The Irish Government brought out a savings scheme a few years ago where they added 25% to every cent saved for the past 5 years!! Only time we'll EVER get free money from the Government....or free money from anyone for that matter!
The schemes start maturing this month, mine is maturing early next year and its going to provide the capital for my start up and equipment. Woohoo! Job freedom.
I dont know how the 'cnc industry' is as such, but from my research I've learned that if your manufacturing, then cnc is essential for competitiveness. If you dont use it, the other guy will!
L8rs.

[Karl_T]

At least in my immediate area, upper midwest USA, there's a shortage of well trained CNC machinists. Job wges have climbed rapidly the last couple years.

My son, 23 in June, is doing very well as a CNC programmer/ setup person. His company just added profit sharing to his base wage of around $45K. He'd easily make 10-15K more if he'd like to move into the metro area. We're located in an out state rural area which holds the wages down a bit.

Now the "green button pushers" (people with little knowledge and training) CNC operators don't make nearly as good a wage. The secret to any field is excellence and knowledge.

Karl

[DareBee]

Similar to Karls post.
Effective use of CNC in the high paying shops requires EXTENSIVE knowledge in the machining trade (Machinist, Tool & Die, Mould Maker) the job does require good computer skills, but set ups, order of operations and machining fundamentals are more important than the CNC part of it.
I am in desperate need of highly experienced, well rounded machinist that can do every aspect of the work required in a jobbing shop (this includes MCAD, programming and CNC).
These individuals are a 1 in 100 find and a CNC operater doesn't have the skills required (the majority of the journeymen I get don't have what it takes).
I guess what I am getting at is that an apprenticeship in the metalworking trades is the best place to start if you are considering a lifelong, high demand, high paying job, you have to be willing to work the hour, meticulous and it always pays to be really good at what you do.

[Runner4404spd]

one machine shop owner told me not too long ago... theres always a place and job for the highly skilled. if you have the ambition, go for it. just realize these things might be fun as a hobby but once your doing them 24/7 you won't want to work on your own stuff.

[dertsap]

if you like to get dirty ,cut your hands up , curse and swear when things don t go quite right , youve picked the right career to get into , it is a time to be able to pick and choose your job , lots of work out there if you got it in you to handle it

[yupyup4me]

Hey all Tx's for the advice.. I heard a lot of manufacturers are leaving to China, India etc etc (sorry not to be a downer) and that is what scares me..

Karl T you must be so proud of your son and diarmaid I wish you all the best... And to the other tx's for the time... Just gonna bump this up to get more advice



Matt

[dertsap]

china cant compete when it comes to quality ,,
and due to unfair trading on chinas part, i think most governments are going to crack down on trading with china soon enough

[Heavy D]

it also depends on what industry you want to get into.. CNC is used in a lot of industries... such as automotoive, aerospace, wood to name a few. I work in the auto industry as a CNC programmer/setup/tech support. The company i work for just got a multi-million dollar grant from the government to help with our $500 million investment to create 3000 new jobs in the next 5 years. While a lot of these jobs are for machine operators, there will also be a lot of skilled people needed in each plant as well as for the R&D center. We seem to be doing quite well right now.

[Geof]

Originally Posted by Heavy D The company i work for just got a multi-million dollar grant from the government to help with our $500 million investment to create 3000 new jobs in the next 5 years. We seem to be doing quite well right now.

Of course you are doing quite well sucking on the teat of government and consuming taxes paid by companies that don't have the political clout of a bunch of self serving whiners.

[miljnor]

Ya lets create jobs buy spending money on a project we probably don't need!

Instead of making better import/export laws and getting rid of min wage or something usefull to the companies already existing.

[dertsap]

why not have a free for all, take down the governments blow up the banks and hand out the money freely and spend our days sitting on the poarch with our shot guns


would you rather see your hard earned tax dollar wiping some poleticians butt , come on job creation is not an enemy of the people , it is to ensure that we can carry on with our lives not worrying that some stupid sob is going to take our jobs for 2 bucks an hour because there are no other jobs out there
3000 jobs isn t something you spit on , that is 3000 people paying tax ,company paying tax , whatever outside services that are needed pay tax ,
its called an investment into the future
but then, i kinda like the idea of sittin on the porch with my shot gun protecting my property that the bank is trying to foreclose on because i don t have a JOB !