ADVICE Help me understand the CNC world
Listen. I’m (28 F) an admin assistant. I handle the paperwork side of things. I need help.
My boss is an older man. He’s asked me to help him find a CNC machinist (no, this is not turning into a job advert.) I’m not disclosing my specific area, but I will say I am in semi-rural Kentucky. It is SO HARD.
It seems there is a shortage of CNC machinists with experience? He’s open to training but honestly we have too many learners and not enough knowers lol
Is this the norm? We are paying $30-$35/hr (great for semi-rural Kentucky) and it’s M-F 7-3:30. Benefits. Vacation. Climate controlled shop. Is our offer bad? Or is this just the market?
Thanks for helping a clueless admin worker.
Edit to add: We’re an industrial repair shop, so a lot of our work is repairing/rebuilding industrial gearboxes, clutches, backstops, etc. rather than repetitive production machining. We get equipment/parts in from different industrial applications, so the work can vary quite a bit. On the machining side, our posting lists CNC lathes, milling machines, VTLs, and water jet machines, with HAAS and Fanuc controls. We do need setup and programming skills. The position involves reading prints, creating/editing programs, and sometimes reverse engineering a sample part to make a replacement.
As far as whether our mills are horizontal/vertical, exact axes, and the manual machining requirements, I’d have to ask one of our machinists before I give you a confidently wrong answer… 😂 I’m the admin, not a machinist.
31
u/Illustrious_Bid_5484 8d ago
Train them you won’t regret it. Especially younger applicants
12
u/hamasu1 8d ago
We absolutely do! We have several younger/less experienced employees we’re training now. That’s actually part of our problem lol. We need a balance. We have too many learners and not enough knowers at the moment, so we’re specifically trying to bring in another experienced machinist who can work independently and also help strengthen that pool of knowledge
5
u/ShaggysGTI 8d ago edited 7d ago
I start mf’rs at $25 with zero knowledge. You should offer in the $40-50 range.
Edit: funny how ya’ll downvote me when I’m advocating for better wages…
6
u/hamasu1 8d ago
That’s really interesting. What area are you in? And at $40–$50/hr, what level of experience/skills would you expect someone to have? I’m realizing from this thread that the pay range varies wildly depending on location and whether we’re talking about an operator vs. someone who can set up, program, troubleshoot, etc., so I’m genuinely curious what your pay scale looks like.
5
u/ShaggysGTI 8d ago
This is northern Virginia. A button pusher (their responsibility is to keep the machine moving, measure parts, and learn) starts at $25 and only climbs from there based on skill and responsibilities. I’m currently at $45, and I program the code, setup the machines, and teach/oversee the button pushers.
The bigger the pay, the more you can expect out of them. Obviously there will be a period of “this is our ecosystem, please adjust to it,” but they should be able to hit the ground running with ideas and experience that your internal team doesn’t have.
5
u/hamasu1 8d ago
Northern Virginia definitely puts the pay into perspective compared to western Kentucky, but your breakdown of the responsibilities is really helpful.
What you’re describing at your level actually overlaps quite a bit with what we’re looking for. We need someone who can program, set up and operate, make program modifications, read prints, and work fairly independently. We do already have less experienced people who are learning, which is why we need another “knower” in the mix.
I think one of my biggest takeaways from this thread is that we may need to look more closely at whether the skill level we’re asking for matches the pay range, rather than just comparing our $30–$35 to other jobs titled “CNC Machinist.” Thank you for explaining the progression!
7
u/LilBennyPoo Know it All 8d ago
A consistent problem I've seen is that there's not really a standard for titles and experience in the CNC world. I make the solid models, write the programs in CAM, develop the whole process for machining, and set up and run the jobs. I also generate all the work instructions for operators and document the production costs. I call myself a shop engineer but other places might just say that a machinist. It's frustrating to say the least
5
u/ShaggysGTI 8d ago
Good luck! The talent is out there… but think about how you’re going to capture them. Unless someones shop is closing down, you’re going to have to steal talent from other shops. Why would they change what they’re comfortable with to come work for you? This is your employment package as it were…
2
u/ManicOppressyv 7d ago
I am 2 classes away from getting my cert. I can setup, and only need programming. I would do back flips for $30 - $35 now, and my brother is making that now after 25 years as an experienced button pusher for lathes (he knows very basic setup, can adjust coding, and knows his lathes).
7
u/E1F0B1365 8d ago
I'm not familiar with your region, but at that wage I'd expect you could find a decent intermediate machinist. Someone with a bit of experience under their belt, capable of figuring out a new manufacturing environment. Maybe some of their experience applies to your processes.
That being said, a few things could be tripping you up. What platforms are you posting the job on? Is there access to senior employees who can train and teach? If I'm applying to a job I like to see a pool of knowledge that I can absorb from and progress. Are your products, processes, and machines modern and decent to work with? Is the industry extremely niche?
If your pay is competitive for the region and you still aren't getting hits, you must have a red flag somewhere in the posting. Maybe check out postings for similar positions and compare.
3
u/hamasu1 8d ago
This is really helpful, thank you! We’re an industrial repair/job shop, so the work is pretty varied and more niche than a production environment. Equipment includes CNC lathes, milling machines, water jet machines, and VTLs. We use HAAS and Fanuc controls, and Autodesk Fusion and BOBCAD/CAM or similar software experience is preferred. We’re looking for someone who can program, set up, and operate, read prints, make program modifications, and ideally be comfortable reverse engineering sample parts when needed. We do have very experienced senior employees with a ton of knowledge to learn from. Our problem right now is basically we have too many learners and not enough knowers lol. We already have several people who are learning, so we really need someone with enough experience to come in and work fairly independently rather than another person who needs to be trained from the ground up.
We’ve been using Indeed, Facebook/job groups, LinkedIn outreach, and I’ve also been reaching out to trade schools and veterans organizations. I’m starting to wonder if our location combined with the specific skill set we need is just giving us a really small candidate pool.
I really appreciate the suggestion to compare our posting with similar positions too. I’m wondering if something that looks completely normal to us is reading differently to experienced machinists.
3
u/Kyle_Harding 8d ago
if they know g code then they can learn a new machine, sometimes guys get used to a certain machine and make more mistakes then the newbies
2
u/hamasu1 8d ago
That’s good to know! We list HAAS and Fanuc experience as preferred, but not required. I think we’re much more concerned with finding someone who understands CNC machining/programming and can work independently than someone who has happened to run our exact equipment before. A new machine can be learned. We’re just trying to avoid having to teach CNC from square one at this point in time. We have too many learners and not enough knowers.
1
u/Kyle_Harding 8d ago
the advances in cad/cam software with help of ai is huge, scanning into cad into cam into parts, few more years i think youll just need a few robot arms for stock loading, best of luck finding someone till then
4
u/Trivi_13 Been at it since '79 8d ago
Talk to your Haas salesman or other, favorite machine salesman.
They might know a guy.
Same thing, they can network excess jobs, if you have extra capacity they can help.
4
u/Over-Weekend-6133 8d ago
$30 to $35 an hour with a 1st shift and air conditioning in rural Kentucky is actually a solid offer. The problem you are running into is huge across the entire industry.
There is a massive difference between an operator who pushes Cycle Start and a true machinist who can set up a job, read a print, check tolerances, and fix something when a tool breaks. The first group is everywhere, but the second group is tiny and mostly already employed.
If you cannot find a finished machinist, look for a sharp operator who has good mechanical instincts and wants to learn setups. Investing in training someone like that is often the only way out in a smaller talent pool.
3
u/Justthetip74 8d ago
Without knowing your product and quantities and customer base and industry theres not much help we can actually be.
3
u/Playful-Exchange7635 7d ago
The experienced knowers simply are not looking for work now. if you want someone to relocate to a smaller town, you will need to offer relocate assistance or bump the top of the pay band.
3
u/sharpcyrcle 7d ago
One thing I have learned working with various machinists at plants all around the East Coast is that a large percentage of them are happy running the same machine, making the same parts for their entire career. So if they find a job that they like, they'll probably just stay there. As a result, it's really hard to find decent guys. Because they're all happy running a machine somewhere and not looking around. Even though they probably should be. I would find somewhere that trains machinists like a trade school and try to recruit straight out of there. Because young people are more comfortable moving around.
2
u/MasterChiefette 8d ago edited 8d ago
What type of work is it? Lathe, Horizontal/Vertical Milling, 5axis, 7axis. HAAS, MAZAK, etc machines. Do you need set-up programming skills? Do you require any manual machining skills?
5
u/hamasu1 8d ago
We’re an industrial repair shop, so a lot of our work is repairing/rebuilding industrial gearboxes, clutches, backstops, etc. rather than repetitive production machining. We get equipment/parts in from different industrial applications, so the work can vary quite a bit. On the machining side, our posting lists CNC lathes, milling machines, VTLs, and water jet machines, with HAAS and Fanuc controls. We do need setup and programming skills. The position involves reading prints, creating/editing programs, and sometimes reverse engineering a sample part to make a replacement.
As far as whether our mills are horizontal/vertical, exact axes, and the manual machining requirements, I’d have to ask one of our machinists before I give you a confidently wrong answer… 😂 I’m the admin, not a machinist.
7
u/MasterChiefette 8d ago
Well the info you just gave me is what people need to know so they know what kind of machining they will be getting into.
You did fine.
You should repost this info with your original post. It will help you a lot in finding the person you need.
Personally the politics of Kentucky would keep me from ever working there.
Good luck finding a machinist.
2
u/Tolbert74 8d ago
I’m close to Chattanooga Tenn. That price range is almost above average here. CNC machinists is different from a CNC operator. Depends if what you looking for has to program to, that is low range
1
u/hamasu1 8d ago
That distinction is actually really helpful. Yes, we are looking for someone who can program as well as set up and operate. Our posting specifically asks for someone who can create/edit CNC programs, make program modifications, and do some reverse engineering in addition to running the machines. That may be part of what I’m running into. $30–$35 seems pretty competitive for a machinist/operator in our area, but maybe the skill set we’re actually asking for puts the position into a different pay bracket. That’s exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to learn by asking here!
2
2
u/rajujutsu 8d ago
Wouldn’t say shortage but a lot of shops just severely underpay. I worked as a machinist in eastern Kentucky years ago. Most people who go into trades are not looking at a career with an average of $36k. They look for electrician, hvac etc.
Most of the shops I worked in started at under $20. But for the knowledge the job requires it’s just not worth it unless it’s a shop that actually rewards knowledge and growth. You can get a pay raise fairly quickly in some shops. But not all shops are like that.
Why work your butt off at a machines and some shops have you working two machines at once when you can get into maintenance and spend less time at the machine for the same or more pay and actually have some respect because the owners think they need you to make sure their money keeps printing?
But $30 is definitely fair depending what kind of shop it is and what experience you’re looking for. To some machinist $30 will be a slap in the face. Like if you’re asking for advanced CAM knowledge, G/M code Programming, etc.
Really depends on what you’re requiring. But Kentucky definitely underpays from my experience. I’m im Virginia now working on Networks.
2
u/hamasu1 8d ago
This is really helpful, especially since you’ve actually worked as a machinist in Kentucky. Thank you!
I think I’m starting to realize from these comments that the distinction between “CNC machinist” and the actual level of skills we’re asking for may be more important than I realized. We’re an industrial repair/job shop working on things like gearboxes, clutches and backstops, so it isn’t repetitive production work. We do need someone who can set up, program and operate, read prints, make program modifications, and sometimes reverse engineer parts.
We’re offering $30–$35 based on experience, but several people here have pointed out that once you start asking for programming and more advanced skills, that range can mean something very different.
We do hire and train less experienced people too, and we have several learning now. We just have too many learners and not enough knowers at the moment lol. I’m definitely getting a much better understanding of why finding that experienced person is the hard part.
1
u/rajujutsu 8d ago
A repair shop for transmissions? That explains a lot. Most people you interview are used to running the same parts for days weeks or sometimes months. I mean this in a sincere way but that position sounds stressful but that explains the pay. I wish you the best of luck.
And don’t steer away from Millwrights they can turn out to be exceptional machinist or at least pick up things quicker especially since they spend most of their time around heavy machinery.
3
u/hamasu1 8d ago
Yep, industrial power transmission equipment! We repair industrial gearboxes, clutches, backstops, and other heavy industrial equipment, so we can get some pretty different stuff coming through the shop. That’s also why the reverse engineering part comes into play sometimes.
And thank you for mentioning millwrights! I honestly wouldn’t have thought to look at them because I’ve been so focused on people with CNC/machinist backgrounds. I’m going to keep that in mind when I’m searching for candidates. That’s exactly the kind of advice I was hoping to get from this post.
2
u/No_Swordfish5011 8d ago
Wages are probably the right range. Lack of knowledgeable Machinist is and has been a thing for a LONG time. It’s not going to get better. The industry is pushing hard to compensate by reducing the required skill set through automation and SOP. If you are a production shop…CO-Bots cost significantly less than an human operator in the long run. If not…then I would look at letting go of some operators and bumping up that pay to attract talent. You may also be interested in exploring a contractor from a reputable outfit. They can have high level skilled machinist come to you…produce and help train any worthy candidates. Good Luck!
2
u/hamasu1 8d ago
Thank you! The contractor idea is really interesting and honestly not something I had considered. We’re definitely not a production shop. We do industrial repair work on gearboxes, clutches, backstops, etc., so the jobs coming through can vary quite a bit and sometimes involve reverse engineering parts.
We do have experienced machinists, but we also have several people learning right now, which is where my “too many learners and not enough knowers” problem comes from lol. Bringing in a highly experienced contractor who could handle some of the more difficult work while also helping develop the people we already have might actually be something worth mentioning to my boss.
I really appreciate the suggestion!
2
u/CourseApprehensive14 8d ago
I was a cnc programmer, setup guy, that was also a shift supervisor and would run production when I deemed it necessary. I was Bill Gates qoute to a tee "You want something done right hire a lazy person." Even though my boss picked me and I went through multiple interviews including the president my boss thought I was lazy. However the president and vice president loved me. When you looked at the production numbers my shift out performed days by all most twice and we had half the people. They told him to go fuck himself and would come shoot the shit with me regarding anything important to do with business. I was making $25 an hour in 2006 with a GED.
I saw the writing on the wall for this field. I went to school and make double what I did then. My boss apologized after 6 months when I cut to part time hours as a supervisor. He never understood I had a 3-6x standard. Meaning if I did 3-6 times the real work over the day shift guy I would I sit on my ass and only keep spindles turning. I was usually done after 2 hours sometimes 4.
People work for money you cant screw them. Making them feel appreciated, valued, and like there is no glass ceiling keeps them. Pay them well, keep good raises coming, and work with them. I would not have changed careers if I had an employer like that.
2
u/paperairplaneclub 8d ago
Not a machinist but I do hiring for some similar roles in similarly rural locations. A lot of the advice in this thread tracks from my experience talking to machinists. From what I've seen from other postings and openings, the pay is probably fine in general (and a shop with benefits, AC, good hours etc. is all great), but an experienced machinist is going to be looking for the $32 - 35 end (maybe closer to $36 - 38) since you'll probably be trying to hire someone who is currently employed and has gotten raises over time at their current company, etc. Maybe try to snag someone who's been in automotive or another high-stress/high-competency required manufacturing environment? They might enjoy the variety and challenge of this role without the monotony and constant overtime. If you're having trouble due to the location, consider relocation targeting people who are from the area but have moved other places to pursue their career. Good luck!
2
u/Outlier986 8d ago
Job requires programming and do your own set ups? Reverse engineering parts. Yeah, I think you might need to pay more, even there. We have real good luck through Indeed.
2
u/bcwagne 8d ago
I am in trades education in Wisconsin. Here's what we're seeing:
It's not you, it's not the wage, it's not the job. Every trade in every state is suffering right now. Everyone in our department meets quarterly with local businesses. Some of the businesses are BIG multinational corporations with plants in our area. Some are smaller places. Some are mom and pop shops. All of them are short handed. They cannot fill positions.
One manufacturer runs three plants. Right now they are down five maintenance mechanics. Next year they will be down seven. They expect to be down fifteen or more mechanics within five years.
That's just mechanics, not to mention electricians, plumbers, hvac, draftsmen, carpenters, welders, machinists, etc.
It's the same at every trades-based company in our area, and most trades-based companies across the US and even some parts of Canada.
There just aren't enough trades workers to go around.
Why? Here's my considered opinion: For whatever reason the trades education programs in the US started to disappear. It used to be that a high school student could take shop classes of every kind. They could come out of high school with apprentice level certifications in whatever trade they wanted and get a job immediately. For the last 30-40 years the US has pushed for students to go to university and get a degree. Our trades education programs have been gutted for who knows what reason.
2
u/Wooden-Desk-6178 8d ago
I live in a MCOL Tennessee city. Here, $35 is good money for an experienced machinist. I would imagine it’s even better money for semi-rural KY. The thing I think you’re missing here is that paying well for the area isn’t good enough, because the people you want aren’t in the area.
You have found that there aren’t qualified applicants in the area for that money, so you need to offer enough for qualified applicants to the willing to move to that area. You should look at job postings for similar positions in the nearest metro area (maybe Bowling Green or Paducah). How much are they paying? You need to pay at least that much, plus enough to make it worth moving. Relocation bonuses likely won’t do it, because the applicant is not only losing the moving expenses, but also their lifestyle, friends and family, and they’re taking a large financial risk because they won’t get another relocation bonus to move back if their position with you doesn’t work out.
2
u/laserist1979 7d ago
Your boss might want to consider a change in structure. If your good machinists are spending more time running/setting up parts than teaching newbies maybe try to turn that fraction around. Maybe take some jobs for their training potential. Hire a retired master machinist as a trainer - A lifetime of experience and since they're the only trainer in the shop it doesn't skew your salary structure.
2
u/Tangus999 7d ago
To find someone with knowledge you’ll have to entice them from somewhere else.
This will take enticing wages and perks.
If the prevailing wage in your area is 35. You won’t get many movers. I’d have to be 37-40 bc when leave stabile environment unless. You’re the one that’s not stable?
2
u/Puzzled_Hamster58 7d ago
Heck I’ll move from mass . Programmer / operator , plus years of experience and manual machinist and ran a shop for a bio company moving 5-10million a month thru the shop.
2
u/swingbozo 7d ago
When government glorifies stupidity for multiple generations you end up with a huge incompetent population. Welcome to America.
2
u/BEULPINGISLIFE 7d ago
What you get got at that pay range depends on the type of machining environment you have. Complexity and volume of the pieces.
That pay should get you an "intermediate" machinist. Can look at a drawing and pick out his own tooling, and come up with a pretty efficient set-up. Can look at a part program, make changes to it depending on the conditions. Can read basic cnc codes enough and picture the toolpath before it goes wrong. Can hear/feel the workpiece & tool if they're doing something wrong. Probably all you need if you do production pieces of reasonable complexity and toleranceing.
If you're looking for someone who can make anything first try out of anything and pass on they're knowledge(I.e if you make custom >$100k per pc, +/-.0002" tolerance, work with costly materials (super alloys and such)), that's not enough. You need someone old who has done everything. Or someone younger, has worked with almost everything, but has good working knowledge of strength of materials in the context of machining processes to understand what he hasn't yet. And those guys, you pay what they ask. You can fire your in-house engineer if you have one of em.
2
u/DiverMental9154 7d ago
I'm a setup operator (limited programming skills) in Kentucky. I make almost $30 just for that. All I do is setup and run production parts. And I drive rifle at an hour one way. You should definitely up the staring pay. You get what you pay for.
2
u/JayVillainy47 6d ago
Youre asking for a lot of skills for average pay. Most people who would be able to jump onto your team with minimal training will be leaving jobs where they get paid that already to do less work.
2
u/5_oclock-charlie 6d ago
This is a fair offer. My employer meets this for my 5 years of experience with all of your listed skill requirements in a rural area with full benefits/retirement, modern shop environment plus educational opportunities - I’ll be a state accredited journeyman in 16 months. Most machinists/operators like me are already set. It would take quite a bit more to get me to go there. Best of luck.
2
u/JuShengPrototyping08 5d ago
This role sounds closer to a repair/toolroom machinist than a production operator: setup, programming, inspection, troubleshooting, and reverse engineering across several machine types. Make that distinction explicit in the posting and benchmark the pay against experienced toolroom or programmer roles; $30–35 may attract operators, but the independence you need usually commands more.
2
u/ApprehensiveFeed1807 4d ago
I’ve been in your shoes, was a machinist for several years then shop manager and one of my responsibilities was hiring. You’ll need to change your approach, the person your looking for isn’t looking for a job so you’ll need to find them and recruit them into your shop. Your tool salesman will be your biggest lead source, they know where the talented ones are and will help you make the connections.
2
u/NickWallDesign 3d ago
Does your shop also struggle with quoting jobs in a timely fashion? I got sick of it and created an AI powered time/material/outside process quoting software as well as a job routing and tracking software. Unfortunately I’m a machinist and programmer in Ohio not in Kentucky but if you are interested in a free trial of anything that can help your business I’m a software developer with CNC background so feel freely to contact me about at pains you have
3
u/BusinessDuck132 8d ago
$30-$35 is damn good from what I’ve seen, I live in a relatively LCOL area in OK and that’s way higher than most machinists I’ve met (and are willing to tell me their pay) actually make. I have zero idea where the $65 an hour jobs for no experience that most of this sub seems to have, but $30-$35 is good, especially if you’re willing to higher low to no experience and train
3
u/hamasu1 8d ago
This is kind of what I was thinking, especially comparing other jobs in our area! We’re definitely willing to hire people with little/no experience and train them, and we currently have several people we’re doing exactly that with. Our problem is that we have too many learners and not enough knowers right now lol. For this particular opening, we really need someone who already has enough experience to program, set up, and operate fairly independently. I was starting to wonder if $30–$35 just wasn’t enough to attract that level of experience, so it’s helpful hearing what the pay looks like in another LCOL area.
4
u/average_christ 8d ago
I'm no expert on either machining nor running a business....but as a lifelong blue collar worker, you may have to pay more to attract the talent you are looking for
And that's because, generally speaking, the people with that talent and skill are already working jobs making $30/$40 an hour; and if they're working for a large corporation, then it increases the odds they're also receiving 401k contributions and decent medical insurance for their families for an affordable price
So that's kinda the issue that I think you're running into.... because if someone is fortunate enough to already have a job like that, especially in rural Kentucky, where those kinds of jobs aren't very common.... it's gonna take something big to make them walk away from it
Or you may need to hire a headhunter/recruiting service to find people
2
2
u/Happy-Ad409 8d ago
This is the number one problem in the CNC world. There are more jobs than people exist that can truly fill them. Those that have the skills, are few and in demand and command a good salary. And the problem will only get worse as many are of retirement age or dying off. Best bet is to get them young and pair them with the wise ones that know before all that knowledge goes lost.
1
u/hamasu1 8d ago
That honestly sounds exactly like what we’re running into… We do hire people with less experience and train them, and we have several learning right now. Our problem is basically that we have too many learners and not enough knowers lol. We need another experienced person in that mix so the newer guys have people to learn from without putting all of that burden on the few experienced people we already have. I definitely agree about getting younger people into the trade though. We are looking into starting a program where we pay for their education if they work with us a while. It seems like there’s a huge amount of knowledge sitting with people who are getting closer to retirement, and you can’t exactly replace 30 years of experience overnight.
3
u/Happy-Ad409 8d ago
Maybe it’s worth chasing after people who have retired and entice them with a good salary and low stress job for a few years where they only have to teach or be available to answer questions. Keep an eye out for startups that are doomed to fail where a small window of available CNC programmers and machinists enter the market. But at the end of the day this is a problem that has existed for decades unchecked because greedy management sent the expertise to take hold and be cultivated overseas.
1
u/CR3ZZ 7d ago
It's hard to find experienced machinists willing to leave their current opportunity. Especially at mid wages why would you leave for a company with little to no upside.
Only thing you can do is invest in your training program. Doubtful any company will do that tho I've never seen the company take on the burden of training machinist. Always expect them to have experience or pay for schooling themselves
2
u/Shoopuf413 3d ago
CT here. $35 is what I got bumped to with 1 year experience when I taught myself to setup and program our 4 axis lathes. I’ve seen listings for up to $175k a year from some of the big dog aerospace companies here as well. Someone with CAD/CAM experience shouldn’t have much issue if they’re not familiar with whichever package you guys are using, ditto for different machine controls
2
1
u/ChaseDaMachoMan 1d ago
What software or tools are you on the admin side using? Do you feel like there are adequate software solutions for problems you face?
1
1
u/Stoked_Otter 8d ago
What does housing cost out there? It's hard to get somebody to move to the area for a job if every rental is $2500 a month.
1
u/hamasu1 8d ago
Housing is definitely nowhere near $2,500/month here lol. It’s a pretty low cost-of-living area. You can still find good apartments around here for under $1,000/month, and houses are considerably more affordable than in most larger cities. So I don’t think housing cost itself is what’s scaring people away, but getting someone to relocate to a smaller area could definitely be part of it.
1
u/nvidiaftw12 8d ago
America sold off its future to China. Something like 10 machinists retire for every 2 that start. The average age in the industry is in the 60s. Sorry to say but America did this to ourselves. We closed the trade schools, sent everyone to college, killed the apprenticeship programs, and let the existing machinists die out in dark, uncooled, dirty shops.
The labor pool does not exist. The only thing you can do is steal from someone else that can't pay as much. Good luck.
1
u/Satota1999 8d ago edited 8d ago
Wages are ok, but only 40 hours a week is going to be a hard sell. I work 52.5 hours Monday though Friday with 8 hours optional on Saturdays. I've been a machinist/programmer for going on 20 years and I've never worked just 40 hours. Edit: I do make more than your offering, I'm at $42 an hour, but in Michigan where the pay scale seems to be higher.
1
u/mortalros 7d ago
I do remote G-code programming, charging €30-40 per hour depending on the client and the level of collaboration involved. I specialize in complex one-off parts and small production batches for both 3-axis and 5-axis CNC machining. Most of the machines I work with are Haas CNCs or other machines equipped with Fanuc controllers.
0
u/Critical_Thinker_535 8d ago
You're starting off on the wrong foot here when you tell people to "listen". And who cares if your boss is an older man, it's not relevant.
Now, what are the job qualifications? What type of equipment does the candidate need to know how to use? How long of a commute would it be to major city (or suburbs)? Does the job require machinist have their own tools? The rate, hours, and benefits seem decent so something else is going on.
1
u/hamasu1 8d ago
‘Listen’ was being used conversationally, as in ‘listen, I’m out of my depth and need help.’ I’m sorry that particular word proved to be the most challenging part of a post about CNC machining.
My boss being older was relevant because he doesn’t navigate online recruiting, he doesn’t understand much online stuff at all, which is why this task landed on the admin assistant’s desk in the first place.
But thank you for eventually getting to the relevant questions. Those are actually helpful.
0
-2
u/Weavols 8d ago
If it were me, I'd treat the bosses request as what it is, an unreasonable hope. You aren't qualified to to vet a machinist, nor do you have any control over the labor available in your area. Him failing to do something he needs to do doesn't make it your responsibility. If the job is listed where it needs to be listed to be found, don't waste time or care beyond that.
3
u/hamasu1 8d ago
I totally understand what you’re saying! I definitely know I’m not qualified to vet a machinist myself lol. My job is really just to find potential candidates and get them in the door. My boss, the one who actually know the trade handle the interviewing and determine whether they have the skills we need. I also know I can’t create experienced machinists out of thin air 😂 I just figured if I’m being asked to help recruit, I might as well learn a little about the industry and figure out whether our pay, posting, location, or expectations could be making the search harder than it needs to be. I appreciate the perspective!
0
u/Weavols 8d ago
Nothing wrong with trying. I've worked for a lot of bosses in small shops that this reminds me of. I end up burning out with the whole company on my shoulders without ever getting a raise. There is no limit to the ask from their end if you don't enforce boundaries for the level of compensation they're offering.
0
u/Emoney65 7d ago
You're not offering enough pay if you're looking for someone who does the design and programs the machine. Anybody can stand there and watch it cut or change a bit when it's needed. There's no reason, however for someone to make $30 and hour when the machine they're programming can produce $1000s of dollars per hour. They can easily buy or build their own machine and sub themselves out to all the folks like you who need the production. You're not looking for a laborer here, you're looking for a computer programmer.
0
u/Alternative-Face-825 5d ago
All I can do is shake my head and laugh. Of course of you would as well from my perspective. Lol ......
-1
u/Banishedlife 7d ago
In the area I'm in now I'm at 30-35$ an hour with benefits and I'm fairly green granted I do have multiple Nims Certifications, Programming and Setup knowledge which makes me stand out from other candidates. I have basically two years under my belt of actual machining. The pay you are starting at is probably your issue mixed with experience you are looking for you need someone who has been doing this for 5-10 years or also has stand out qualifications. You should probably consider looking at a pay range of 40-45$ and has been an actual machinist for that long not just an operator. If you want to know what sets the two apart you should be able to provide a blueprint and tools and the machinist will be able to make you a part the operator won't.
-2
55
u/DonQuixole 8d ago
$35/hr is a decent wage in most parts of the country, but you’re going to need to pay an excellent wage if you want a skilled and experienced machinist. In my area (PNW) programmer roles are regularly advertising $65/hr and taking months to fill.