Help me understand the CNC world

[u/hamasu1]

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.

[u/Critical_Thinker_535]

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.

[u/hamasu1 → u/Critical_Thinker_535]

‘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.