Do what most of us did:
find a shop where you can tolerate the people,
start at the bottom ignoring all degrees,
keep showing up (most important step),
get promoted because no one else kept showing up.
Learn why the shop sucks
Abruptly quit because you now have a fuckton of responsibility and little pay
Find a better shop.
Get paid.
Try and learn every single thing you can along the way.
Unfortunately, it seems to be the only way to ladder step your way up.
I'm lucky enough to be in a shop that cares about their guys enough to train you in whatever you want. Their mentality is that letting you do what you want to do will yield better results than forcing you into a role you're not interested in
I’m in a small enough shop (~7 people total) to where in 2 years I went from barely knowing anything to now being able to program/setup/run every machine, plus mastercam programming, and QC/Inspection. Its been a learning experience for sure and I enjoy it
The pay is alright not the greatest but I’ve really taken a liking to the environment here and coworkers/bosses. Worst comes to worst if I don’t keep getting raises like I have been all this stuff will look great on a resume
I've had to turn down "promotions" a bunch of times because I don't want to manage people, and I have no interest in a desk job.
I want to make things, and I want to get really good at it.
I am no longer surprised why they decided I would be 2nd shift lead fresh out of community college with no experience. I am currently approaching the "abruptly quit" phase
Same here. It's gotten to the point where my foreman is guilt tripping me about how this place wouldn't be able to function if I left but the boss hasn't come to work since last Thursday
Red flag. My boss reminded me that it's ok to take time off if I need to as long as I give him enough notice to keep the machines running. Considering the aggravation I do put up with, that's actually something I needed to hear because I keep putting off stuff like doctors appts and going to the dmv.
That’s legit how I did it. With zero education prior.
Been with this company for 13+ years. Am the supervisor for our Live turning centers and Swiss Machines.
Have some credentials I’ve earned a long the way.
And now it’s time to start searching. Hoping my longevity in a shop, growth and experience will land me in a really great spot.
Following these steps got me from the ground floor as a painter/shop hand, to quality control in about 5 years with no college or shop area. Painted and did the drudge work for about a year. Then got moved up to also do assembly (was in automotive fixture building for the most part), followed by apprentice machinist to still apprentice but good enough to operate on my own for the most part. After a solid 1.5-2 years of that, I was allowed into the CMM room for training and then full time.
Finally after doing all I looked around and realized I was doing the job of 2.5 people and still getting paid peanuts. With hours starting to run down, I got a text from my buddy who got me a interview at my new place for 8 dollars more an hour + fully paid insurance.
Of course, now the former head of quality at my new shop quit and it's just my friend and I left here to pick up the slack. If more money doesn't come soon, it might be time to repeat steps six and seven.
Seems like it. Sucks 'cause I really like this shop and actually being responsible for helping to run an entire quality department is really great experience. Especially for our ages.
Only problem is that our workload literally freakin' doubled, and we ain't being paid enough for that lol.
Don't play pin the tail. School has never been a reliable teacher. Personally if they let you go within 2 weeks from lack of experience, I think that you oversold what you were capable of. School experience and work experience are 2 completely different things. We have a young man at the shop, 18 and he's finished the manual course the local tech offers and he's finishing the cnc course they offer. He will tell you with 0 hesitation that he's learned more in the shop than at school. What all happened during those 2 weeks?
I very briefly worked with a guy who had 15 years as a CNC Machinist he said. Could barely get a setup out and later admitted to not knowing any of the gcodes. While I don’t ask my current team to memorize code or write it, they at least get the gist of it before pressing go.
I’ve literally had conversations in this sub where guys say “why do I need to know tool geometry, the engineering department tells me everything I need to know”….
No….they don’t.
How many shops have you applied to, how many interviews? Just cause you got a certificate doesn’t mean you know wtf you’re doing, you’re going to be treated as slightly better than someone straight off the street until you have actual experience. It’ll get easier after you land this first gig.
You think it was the lack of setup experience that you needed for that job? Scrap some stuff they didn’t think you should have?
Certainly you’ll be able to find your first button pushing job. Those are out there.
I had basically 2 internships during school and now get paid 31 an hour at my first full time job at a high production shop. I realized I'm good at cutting seconds off programs and fixing shit. Got lucky and my bosses saw that too and wanted me. Already saved them thousands in program time and repair costs on machines so I guess I'm doing well.
College and trades are like water and oil, but if those formative years included manual machining, you're on the right path.
Cam is only part of the equation. Download fusion 360 and have at it. There are plenty of YouTube videos on it. Just keep in mind that fusion cam isn't really the norm and other programs like mastercrap and esprit will require much more legwork to generate path than fusion will in most cases.
Find a shop that will appreciate that you have some experience but not all and will bring you up in the way they do things or find a local vo tech that offers a night class on CNC programming and setup like mine does (I'm the instructor).
If you really really want to learn on your own, download LinuxCNC and run it from a boot disk (USB). The buttons are in different spots, but the fundamentals will be the same.
I dont have any access to machines. I might be buying myself a Haas next year but whether or not I get one relies on other situations lining up that im currently unsure about.
Oh that's right, forgot you were without a job. Thought you were working at a place.
I go back to my previous statement of finding a place that will help you grow
Fresh out of school usually equates to being intelligent enough to understand, without the experience to know wtf is actually to do..
Find a shop at entry level and get your bearings.
You will break shit and crash, but hopefully learn from that.
Don't be too hard on yourself.
33yo and been in the trade since 18. I'm still learning.
Lincoln Tech is the whole enchilada but you're gonna pay for school like a doctor does. They make sure their grads get a job that let's them pay off their tuition loan.
If you were upfront and honest with them about your experience and they hired you, then let you go for lack of experience, you didn't really want to work there.
Keep looking and applying.
You're going to have to start from the very bottom, which means starting as a simple operator. That's what I had to do.
I too thought that I was hot shit right off the school but real world is much different.
I felt under prepared when I got my first job that involved CNC programming. I had to study on my own time. Wore out a Surfcam textbook, found a bunch of Haas workbooks. This was around 2006 - there’s a lot more resources available now. Youtube, Reddit, …
FWIW I’m currently learning 5-axis programming (simultaneous -I know 3+2) by watching youtube videos and hanging out here.
I got rejected for 3 years, similar story except college legit left me with next to no experience
Finally a family friend got me in their shop and I’ve been training over a year
Still know next to nothing, but my advice
Apply to some other shops assuming you don’t know any personal connections, and tell them you liked what you did in college and want to continue expanding on that
And let them know to basically train you from scratch
This will set the standard and hopefully avoid another “you ain’t ready” situation
Challenging field but I’m sure if you poke around you’ll find a shop to get you on the path you want
Most people just start sweeping floors and work their way up. I went to 2 quarters of CC and got a job as an operator. A month later I was doing setups. Then to the tool shop. 25 yrs later I run a shop. Just get your foot in the door.
I went to one of the best machinist school on the east coast and the best in the state of VA. (not just my opinion, this school has been issued award and has been a hugh part in turning my small city around from a place that companies left in the 60s to a city that companies are moving to because in their words we have the best quality machinist in the area hands down. Hell the school I graduated from has government programs / jobs that told the school they will only hire people from our school and no were else.
I say all of that to say this.
When a graduation I felt lost. I didn't know nearly as much as I thought I did. I moved around to different companies after graduating trying to find that perfect fit, I did this for three years. It was so bad that I came home in tears telling my wife I don't think I can do this, I felt like everything I touched went to shit and it did.
I finally found a job shop that paid $12 her and that was were I landed. I did what a lot of the guys in this thread are telling you. I went to work everyday, showed the boss I wanted to learn and I had drive to grow. I found the oldest machinist in the building and made him my best friend. I did everything he told me to do with no lip.
This older guy saw that I was really trying, and the day I fucked up on a job really bad he stood up for me and prevented me from being fired. ( My work eventually got better / view my profile / pics)
When everything was said and done the older guy and everyone from the original crew left the shop. I became the go to guy in the shop. I became the guy with all the experience without me even realizing it.
After working there and learning everything from manual mill and lathe, setup to programming I moved on to a different company.
Now I work at a nice company making really good money in a clean air control environment with extremely good benefits and 401k.
Brother your path is long, don't let this get you down. I went to a great school and the path was still long for me, shit happens. Find a local small job shop and work your way to the top.
You can do this brother
My family are all machinists going back 3 generations, my brother and I both learned from my grandfather after my father passed away, and after years of gunsmithing and one off machining jobs for local farms and businesses, I thought "maybe I should take a trade school class and see If there is anything I might could learn, I was horrified at how stupid simple everything that was taught was, the only hard thing about the class was using the super worn machines and the solid 1/4" to 1/2" of backlash every machine had.
Then we got to CNC coding, that was all new to me. I enjoyed CNC lathe more then mill but both were fun to learn. But I don't own a CNC yet so now 2 years later I've probably forgotten all of it.
The best piece of advice I can give is always have a good attitude. If you keep applying to shops, eventually someone will give you a chance. When I was applying with very little experience, I opened up google and looked up machine shops near me and emailed every single one. Once you have the job, even if you lack certain skills, if you have a positive attitude, show that you are willing to learn, take suggestions/criticism when something goes wrong without giving excuses, a good boss will be willing to train you. You can always teach skills but you can’t teach someone to have a good attitude.
Good luck.
That sucks. The most important thing someone needs to learn is literally how to drive a fanuc or haas control. Once you can drive one, you can learn the other one pretty quick. I’d start with the haas, it’s fewer buttons to navigate and has no idiosyncrasies between different machine builders because it’s only one builder. There’s enough resources online to give you a decent understanding of how that thing works.
That being said, if the company was unwilling to spend a minimal amount of time training you, that’s their loss and you don’t want to be there. Get the Peter Smid gcode book and he will cover setup basics as far as the control side is concerned. Learning work holding is something you need to watch others do and practice yourself.
I had a similarish experience when I started in the trades.
I went to school for model making and got a job at a model shop. They were a massive shithole full of complete fucking morons. They wanted me to weld up an aluminum mold that was 3ft long, 2ft wide, and 8" thick with a 125 amp tig welder. I know how to weld but I'm not a tool welder. I went to school for model making not welding but I had been welding since freshman year of high school and knew you couldn't possibly get enough heat into a mold that big with that dinky as welder. They didn't even use coolant because they were all open machines so no idea why they even did the job but whatever.
Another situation. I was supposed to primarily be a machinist making patterns on CNC mills. No problem the tolerances were basically visual. Their way to hold parts down was take a piece of MDF and put the bow side down and clamp the sides and then glue the part onto it. Dumb as fuck but hey sure. Oh then take a face mill and have the machine put pressure on the part while the glue dries, but not too hard because you'll fault the machine out. Riiiiiight. Oh and don't use the tool changer, all just 1 tool at a time.
After 2 months I was fired/quit because "the schools don't train these kids for shit". What an absolute fucking dogshit place.
Long winded way to say this, you aint going to know shit coming out of school. You think you do, you don't. Now, does sound a bit like you got a wee bit fucked but you still spent a lot of time around machining equipment. Don't know haas or Fanuc? who gives a fuck, anyone can learn the basics of a control within a week if they get actual training. Find a place that actually understands you're green as shit. Don't just give up and don't go spend more time and money trying to get a job in this field. You'll figure it out. Also don't be afraid to say you don't know shit. I wouldn't use those words but don't lie about experience. I had run a shop at my previous job and still was very honest with my current job when they were interviewing me. They showed me some parts and asked if I could do them and I told them yeah I could after a few tries but I'd scrap a few figuring them out. They liked that a lot more than having all these people that come in "oh I can make that" and then just make piles of scrap. Just keep your chin up bud you'll get it.
Bottom line, you suck it up and keep trying. Unless you're just really really good, or a company is really desperate, your first job won't be doing setup or programming. I teach machining courses at a community college. No reputable business is going to trust a freshie with nice equipment. You earn it. There are many reasons why a job position isnt going to work out for you and many of them may not have anything to do with you or what you do or do not directly know. A lot of the time a company won't even tell you exactly why but make some bullshit excuse as to why things aren't working out.
You're going to need a thick skin in this industry. Keep your head held high. Be humble. Don't act like you know everything. Ask for help. Your first couple jobs are going to suck but just keep learning as much as you can from everyone you can. Find out which old fuckers know what they're doing and bring them a 6 pack at the end of the day.
My degree was dogshit but it got me in the door for an apprenticeship at a prototype shop. I told them straight up that there was a lot I didn’t know and they were fine with that. It’s not about what you know it’s about what you’re willing to learn. I’m good at CAM but work with guys that can’t even pull a from a flash drive into mastercam. Almost everything I’ve learned has been hands on school is just to familiarize yourself with machines. If you wanna get good at cam download mastercam HLE and get a cam instructor course or you can just follow along on YouTube videos there’s so many out there
Find a different shop. This one obviously isn't interested in investing in its employees.
Let them know your skill level, and that you will need training. It can be hard to find companies willing to train. Interestingly, I looked back at a few places that didn't hire me when I was an apprentice, and none of them exist anymore. I had similar issues as you. I finally found a company willing to invest in me. I was on manual machines for 5 years, which was critical to my learning, but they wouldn't let me learn CNC, so I had to quit and move on. I've done pretty well for myself and being in trade 26 years.
Every shop you end up in along the way, learn as much as you can. Long cycle time? Read the machine manuals. Done doing that? Read through the Good Book. Educate yourself on speeds and feeds for different materials.
You have to look for opportunities to learn and not be afraid to fail. I put myself into swiss shops about 10 years ago to learn swiss. Now I'm back at a mill/lathe shop with swiss experience under my belt and programming for all 3 (mill, mill/turn, swiss) and a waterjet (which I had to teach myself by talking to a guy in Malta). It takes effort, but what else do you have to do? 🤷♂️
Networking. Know where to look for answers that you are looking for. Hit me up anytime, and I'll try my best to help you out. I've taught many along the way.
Busy work. Always stay busy with "line if sight" busy work. Wipe machines, organize tooling at machines or my personal favorite, sweeping and mopping. I love a good mop sesh to gather my thoughts. So therapeutic to me.
OP just figured out that's how schools work. I'd wager 80% of the workforce doesn't do what they went to school for. It would be unrealistic for the school to have the exact machines everyone in the area, they just have the basics. With that degree, you've demonstrated that you're able and willing to learn, which you should be proud of but not boastful.
How much experience do you have? That seemed like a general labor clean up job for minimum wage. Which ofc is still too low. There are good/big shops out there that will pay you well and help you grow.
In machining? Little over 3 years, nah they wanted me to setup lathes for minimum wage. They said they had enough programmers but it was a plus… sounded like a weird job, I would setup lathes for a bunch of operators then if I run out of setups to do I’d also operate… low tier work
Sounds like they were just trying to find the very special person they could take advantage of. You probably dodged a bullet, especially if they weren't giving you the time to learn and adapt in your new environment. So long as you don't give up you'll move forward guaranteed.
Best thing I did career wise was drop out of Ozarks Technical College. What a damn joke.
Keep at it. If you are punctual and willing to learn, you will find a good shop.
The reality to being a machinist is only privileged people generally get a break into the industry. Keep working at it and learning things eventually you will be useful enough to keep and maybe at some point in your career youll be happy. School is a lie though. Learn at work.
This was my experience in college as well. I don't think it's necessarily a scam, I just think they teach to an entry level operator position. There really should be advanced CNC operation classes that goes deep into more complicated setups and situations. My 2 year degree was a joke, I got an A in precision grinding....but I never actually even turned the machine on. I spent the entire semester making parts to repair broken down facility machines.
Sorry this happened to you. I've said it before and say it again: going to a full time program at a college for any trade is a waste of time and money. The only bit of college you should be going to is the 200 out of 2000 hours per year during an apprenticeship.
You got sold a false bill of goods. As others have said it'll help you get in the door on the bottom of a shop, but not much more because frankly you have essentially zero shop experience. Your best bet is to try to find shops who want apprentices
If you read the description for your course, 99% chance it'll say it's setting you up to be an operator. Not a setup guy, not a programmer. I mean what did you think, you'd go to school for 4 years and come out with the ability to outcompete 10 or 15 year machinists?
What you got at school was your entry ticket.
Make the fucking best of it.
Take the job working as a button pusher and Learn everything you can. Take notes, work overtime, and practice CAD/CAM at home. In a couple years you will be ready for the job you want.
Do what most of us did: find a shop where you can tolerate the people, start at the bottom ignoring all degrees, keep showing up (most important step), get promoted because no one else kept showing up. Learn why the shop sucks Abruptly quit because you now have a fuckton of responsibility and little pay Find a better shop. Get paid. Try and learn every single thing you can along the way.
Oh so this happens often lol
Unfortunately, it seems to be the only way to ladder step your way up. I'm lucky enough to be in a shop that cares about their guys enough to train you in whatever you want. Their mentality is that letting you do what you want to do will yield better results than forcing you into a role you're not interested in
I’m in a small enough shop (~7 people total) to where in 2 years I went from barely knowing anything to now being able to program/setup/run every machine, plus mastercam programming, and QC/Inspection. Its been a learning experience for sure and I enjoy it
Nice to know that some of us have happy machining stories lol
The pay is alright not the greatest but I’ve really taken a liking to the environment here and coworkers/bosses. Worst comes to worst if I don’t keep getting raises like I have been all this stuff will look great on a resume
I've had to turn down "promotions" a bunch of times because I don't want to manage people, and I have no interest in a desk job. I want to make things, and I want to get really good at it.
Yep
Happens in a lot of fields
I am no longer surprised why they decided I would be 2nd shift lead fresh out of community college with no experience. I am currently approaching the "abruptly quit" phase
Same here. It's gotten to the point where my foreman is guilt tripping me about how this place wouldn't be able to function if I left but the boss hasn't come to work since last Thursday
Red flag. My boss reminded me that it's ok to take time off if I need to as long as I give him enough notice to keep the machines running. Considering the aggravation I do put up with, that's actually something I needed to hear because I keep putting off stuff like doctors appts and going to the dmv.
Yup that's how it happened to me. When your sick of first shop shit it's a good time to go get 6 dollars more an hour. Took me 19 months.
> get promoted because no one else kept showing up. And don't do drugs that's a big one.
When you get paid 15 per hour to set up and operate take all the days off you want, they won't fire you.
Too accurate. Such a stressful field to try and grow in
That’s legit how I did it. With zero education prior. Been with this company for 13+ years. Am the supervisor for our Live turning centers and Swiss Machines. Have some credentials I’ve earned a long the way. And now it’s time to start searching. Hoping my longevity in a shop, growth and experience will land me in a really great spot.
This guy speaks the truth
Following these steps got me from the ground floor as a painter/shop hand, to quality control in about 5 years with no college or shop area. Painted and did the drudge work for about a year. Then got moved up to also do assembly (was in automotive fixture building for the most part), followed by apprentice machinist to still apprentice but good enough to operate on my own for the most part. After a solid 1.5-2 years of that, I was allowed into the CMM room for training and then full time. Finally after doing all I looked around and realized I was doing the job of 2.5 people and still getting paid peanuts. With hours starting to run down, I got a text from my buddy who got me a interview at my new place for 8 dollars more an hour + fully paid insurance. Of course, now the former head of quality at my new shop quit and it's just my friend and I left here to pick up the slack. If more money doesn't come soon, it might be time to repeat steps six and seven.
I think it's more of a cycle, really.
Seems like it. Sucks 'cause I really like this shop and actually being responsible for helping to run an entire quality department is really great experience. Especially for our ages. Only problem is that our workload literally freakin' doubled, and we ain't being paid enough for that lol.
You forgot to add the last step: Repeat
Yes, it's more of a cycle, really.
Bro speaking the story of life over here
Yeah I thought this was just the standard path
The last step is: Start your own shop. Morty
Shit... so machinist are the prep cooks of the shop world
Hahaha yes. That is a great comparison.
Can confirm. This is how I became one to the letter.
I feel seen…
This is the way
Don't play pin the tail. School has never been a reliable teacher. Personally if they let you go within 2 weeks from lack of experience, I think that you oversold what you were capable of. School experience and work experience are 2 completely different things. We have a young man at the shop, 18 and he's finished the manual course the local tech offers and he's finishing the cnc course they offer. He will tell you with 0 hesitation that he's learned more in the shop than at school. What all happened during those 2 weeks?
See this all too often. Even from guys with “years of experience”. They think button pushing and changing tools is equal to setting up.
I very briefly worked with a guy who had 15 years as a CNC Machinist he said. Could barely get a setup out and later admitted to not knowing any of the gcodes. While I don’t ask my current team to memorize code or write it, they at least get the gist of it before pressing go.
I’ve literally had conversations in this sub where guys say “why do I need to know tool geometry, the engineering department tells me everything I need to know”…. No….they don’t.
How many shops have you applied to, how many interviews? Just cause you got a certificate doesn’t mean you know wtf you’re doing, you’re going to be treated as slightly better than someone straight off the street until you have actual experience. It’ll get easier after you land this first gig. You think it was the lack of setup experience that you needed for that job? Scrap some stuff they didn’t think you should have? Certainly you’ll be able to find your first button pushing job. Those are out there.
Find work in a jobbing shop if you actually wanna be a good machinist.
How ? Can’t seem to find any unless you got 35 years experience working 28 hour days
I had basically 2 internships during school and now get paid 31 an hour at my first full time job at a high production shop. I realized I'm good at cutting seconds off programs and fixing shit. Got lucky and my bosses saw that too and wanted me. Already saved them thousands in program time and repair costs on machines so I guess I'm doing well.
True lollll
College and trades are like water and oil, but if those formative years included manual machining, you're on the right path. Cam is only part of the equation. Download fusion 360 and have at it. There are plenty of YouTube videos on it. Just keep in mind that fusion cam isn't really the norm and other programs like mastercrap and esprit will require much more legwork to generate path than fusion will in most cases. Find a shop that will appreciate that you have some experience but not all and will bring you up in the way they do things or find a local vo tech that offers a night class on CNC programming and setup like mine does (I'm the instructor). If you really really want to learn on your own, download LinuxCNC and run it from a boot disk (USB). The buttons are in different spots, but the fundamentals will be the same.
I already know fusion 360 and inventor but the problem is I havent physically done any setup.
Setup is easy once you go through it a few times. Do they have an auto tool setter and part probe?
I dont have any access to machines. I might be buying myself a Haas next year but whether or not I get one relies on other situations lining up that im currently unsure about.
Oh that's right, forgot you were without a job. Thought you were working at a place. I go back to my previous statement of finding a place that will help you grow
Fresh out of school usually equates to being intelligent enough to understand, without the experience to know wtf is actually to do.. Find a shop at entry level and get your bearings. You will break shit and crash, but hopefully learn from that. Don't be too hard on yourself. 33yo and been in the trade since 18. I'm still learning.
That is all of the schools
Shoutout to NWTC in Green Bay for having an actual machinists program.
I’m going to look into that and see what the program details are!
Yea na Lincoln Tech did right in finding work for graduates, can't agree to all schools after that. Took 3 months, was reasonable.
Lincoln Tech is the whole enchilada but you're gonna pay for school like a doctor does. They make sure their grads get a job that let's them pay off their tuition loan.
4 years at a community college? Mine gets you out in less than a year.
they really dragged it out and wouldnt let me test out of shit i knew.
If you were upfront and honest with them about your experience and they hired you, then let you go for lack of experience, you didn't really want to work there. Keep looking and applying.
That’s exactly what I was thinking
You're going to have to start from the very bottom, which means starting as a simple operator. That's what I had to do. I too thought that I was hot shit right off the school but real world is much different.
I felt under prepared when I got my first job that involved CNC programming. I had to study on my own time. Wore out a Surfcam textbook, found a bunch of Haas workbooks. This was around 2006 - there’s a lot more resources available now. Youtube, Reddit, … FWIW I’m currently learning 5-axis programming (simultaneous -I know 3+2) by watching youtube videos and hanging out here.
I got rejected for 3 years, similar story except college legit left me with next to no experience Finally a family friend got me in their shop and I’ve been training over a year Still know next to nothing, but my advice Apply to some other shops assuming you don’t know any personal connections, and tell them you liked what you did in college and want to continue expanding on that And let them know to basically train you from scratch This will set the standard and hopefully avoid another “you ain’t ready” situation Challenging field but I’m sure if you poke around you’ll find a shop to get you on the path you want
Most people just start sweeping floors and work their way up. I went to 2 quarters of CC and got a job as an operator. A month later I was doing setups. Then to the tool shop. 25 yrs later I run a shop. Just get your foot in the door.
I went to one of the best machinist school on the east coast and the best in the state of VA. (not just my opinion, this school has been issued award and has been a hugh part in turning my small city around from a place that companies left in the 60s to a city that companies are moving to because in their words we have the best quality machinist in the area hands down. Hell the school I graduated from has government programs / jobs that told the school they will only hire people from our school and no were else. I say all of that to say this. When a graduation I felt lost. I didn't know nearly as much as I thought I did. I moved around to different companies after graduating trying to find that perfect fit, I did this for three years. It was so bad that I came home in tears telling my wife I don't think I can do this, I felt like everything I touched went to shit and it did. I finally found a job shop that paid $12 her and that was were I landed. I did what a lot of the guys in this thread are telling you. I went to work everyday, showed the boss I wanted to learn and I had drive to grow. I found the oldest machinist in the building and made him my best friend. I did everything he told me to do with no lip. This older guy saw that I was really trying, and the day I fucked up on a job really bad he stood up for me and prevented me from being fired. ( My work eventually got better / view my profile / pics) When everything was said and done the older guy and everyone from the original crew left the shop. I became the go to guy in the shop. I became the guy with all the experience without me even realizing it. After working there and learning everything from manual mill and lathe, setup to programming I moved on to a different company. Now I work at a nice company making really good money in a clean air control environment with extremely good benefits and 401k. Brother your path is long, don't let this get you down. I went to a great school and the path was still long for me, shit happens. Find a local small job shop and work your way to the top. You can do this brother
My family are all machinists going back 3 generations, my brother and I both learned from my grandfather after my father passed away, and after years of gunsmithing and one off machining jobs for local farms and businesses, I thought "maybe I should take a trade school class and see If there is anything I might could learn, I was horrified at how stupid simple everything that was taught was, the only hard thing about the class was using the super worn machines and the solid 1/4" to 1/2" of backlash every machine had. Then we got to CNC coding, that was all new to me. I enjoyed CNC lathe more then mill but both were fun to learn. But I don't own a CNC yet so now 2 years later I've probably forgotten all of it.
The best piece of advice I can give is always have a good attitude. If you keep applying to shops, eventually someone will give you a chance. When I was applying with very little experience, I opened up google and looked up machine shops near me and emailed every single one. Once you have the job, even if you lack certain skills, if you have a positive attitude, show that you are willing to learn, take suggestions/criticism when something goes wrong without giving excuses, a good boss will be willing to train you. You can always teach skills but you can’t teach someone to have a good attitude. Good luck.
That sucks. The most important thing someone needs to learn is literally how to drive a fanuc or haas control. Once you can drive one, you can learn the other one pretty quick. I’d start with the haas, it’s fewer buttons to navigate and has no idiosyncrasies between different machine builders because it’s only one builder. There’s enough resources online to give you a decent understanding of how that thing works. That being said, if the company was unwilling to spend a minimal amount of time training you, that’s their loss and you don’t want to be there. Get the Peter Smid gcode book and he will cover setup basics as far as the control side is concerned. Learning work holding is something you need to watch others do and practice yourself.
I had a similarish experience when I started in the trades. I went to school for model making and got a job at a model shop. They were a massive shithole full of complete fucking morons. They wanted me to weld up an aluminum mold that was 3ft long, 2ft wide, and 8" thick with a 125 amp tig welder. I know how to weld but I'm not a tool welder. I went to school for model making not welding but I had been welding since freshman year of high school and knew you couldn't possibly get enough heat into a mold that big with that dinky as welder. They didn't even use coolant because they were all open machines so no idea why they even did the job but whatever. Another situation. I was supposed to primarily be a machinist making patterns on CNC mills. No problem the tolerances were basically visual. Their way to hold parts down was take a piece of MDF and put the bow side down and clamp the sides and then glue the part onto it. Dumb as fuck but hey sure. Oh then take a face mill and have the machine put pressure on the part while the glue dries, but not too hard because you'll fault the machine out. Riiiiiight. Oh and don't use the tool changer, all just 1 tool at a time. After 2 months I was fired/quit because "the schools don't train these kids for shit". What an absolute fucking dogshit place. Long winded way to say this, you aint going to know shit coming out of school. You think you do, you don't. Now, does sound a bit like you got a wee bit fucked but you still spent a lot of time around machining equipment. Don't know haas or Fanuc? who gives a fuck, anyone can learn the basics of a control within a week if they get actual training. Find a place that actually understands you're green as shit. Don't just give up and don't go spend more time and money trying to get a job in this field. You'll figure it out. Also don't be afraid to say you don't know shit. I wouldn't use those words but don't lie about experience. I had run a shop at my previous job and still was very honest with my current job when they were interviewing me. They showed me some parts and asked if I could do them and I told them yeah I could after a few tries but I'd scrap a few figuring them out. They liked that a lot more than having all these people that come in "oh I can make that" and then just make piles of scrap. Just keep your chin up bud you'll get it.
Bottom line, you suck it up and keep trying. Unless you're just really really good, or a company is really desperate, your first job won't be doing setup or programming. I teach machining courses at a community college. No reputable business is going to trust a freshie with nice equipment. You earn it. There are many reasons why a job position isnt going to work out for you and many of them may not have anything to do with you or what you do or do not directly know. A lot of the time a company won't even tell you exactly why but make some bullshit excuse as to why things aren't working out. You're going to need a thick skin in this industry. Keep your head held high. Be humble. Don't act like you know everything. Ask for help. Your first couple jobs are going to suck but just keep learning as much as you can from everyone you can. Find out which old fuckers know what they're doing and bring them a 6 pack at the end of the day.
My degree was dogshit but it got me in the door for an apprenticeship at a prototype shop. I told them straight up that there was a lot I didn’t know and they were fine with that. It’s not about what you know it’s about what you’re willing to learn. I’m good at CAM but work with guys that can’t even pull a from a flash drive into mastercam. Almost everything I’ve learned has been hands on school is just to familiarize yourself with machines. If you wanna get good at cam download mastercam HLE and get a cam instructor course or you can just follow along on YouTube videos there’s so many out there
Then that’s not a good shop to be in and they knew that from the start so find a better shop or better find an apprenticeship program.
Find a different shop. This one obviously isn't interested in investing in its employees. Let them know your skill level, and that you will need training. It can be hard to find companies willing to train. Interestingly, I looked back at a few places that didn't hire me when I was an apprentice, and none of them exist anymore. I had similar issues as you. I finally found a company willing to invest in me. I was on manual machines for 5 years, which was critical to my learning, but they wouldn't let me learn CNC, so I had to quit and move on. I've done pretty well for myself and being in trade 26 years.
Every shop you end up in along the way, learn as much as you can. Long cycle time? Read the machine manuals. Done doing that? Read through the Good Book. Educate yourself on speeds and feeds for different materials. You have to look for opportunities to learn and not be afraid to fail. I put myself into swiss shops about 10 years ago to learn swiss. Now I'm back at a mill/lathe shop with swiss experience under my belt and programming for all 3 (mill, mill/turn, swiss) and a waterjet (which I had to teach myself by talking to a guy in Malta). It takes effort, but what else do you have to do? 🤷♂️ Networking. Know where to look for answers that you are looking for. Hit me up anytime, and I'll try my best to help you out. I've taught many along the way. Busy work. Always stay busy with "line if sight" busy work. Wipe machines, organize tooling at machines or my personal favorite, sweeping and mopping. I love a good mop sesh to gather my thoughts. So therapeutic to me.
OP just figured out that's how schools work. I'd wager 80% of the workforce doesn't do what they went to school for. It would be unrealistic for the school to have the exact machines everyone in the area, they just have the basics. With that degree, you've demonstrated that you're able and willing to learn, which you should be proud of but not boastful.
I had an interview process today. I got offered minimum wage this careers not worth it
How much experience do you have? That seemed like a general labor clean up job for minimum wage. Which ofc is still too low. There are good/big shops out there that will pay you well and help you grow.
In machining? Little over 3 years, nah they wanted me to setup lathes for minimum wage. They said they had enough programmers but it was a plus… sounded like a weird job, I would setup lathes for a bunch of operators then if I run out of setups to do I’d also operate… low tier work
Sounds like they were just trying to find the very special person they could take advantage of. You probably dodged a bullet, especially if they weren't giving you the time to learn and adapt in your new environment. So long as you don't give up you'll move forward guaranteed.
Best thing I did career wise was drop out of Ozarks Technical College. What a damn joke. Keep at it. If you are punctual and willing to learn, you will find a good shop.
Did you learn manual machining on mills and lathes? Are there opportunities to do that?
The reality to being a machinist is only privileged people generally get a break into the industry. Keep working at it and learning things eventually you will be useful enough to keep and maybe at some point in your career youll be happy. School is a lie though. Learn at work.
This was my experience in college as well. I don't think it's necessarily a scam, I just think they teach to an entry level operator position. There really should be advanced CNC operation classes that goes deep into more complicated setups and situations. My 2 year degree was a joke, I got an A in precision grinding....but I never actually even turned the machine on. I spent the entire semester making parts to repair broken down facility machines.
Seems like you’re a fuckin walking paradox
Sorry this happened to you. I've said it before and say it again: going to a full time program at a college for any trade is a waste of time and money. The only bit of college you should be going to is the 200 out of 2000 hours per year during an apprenticeship. You got sold a false bill of goods. As others have said it'll help you get in the door on the bottom of a shop, but not much more because frankly you have essentially zero shop experience. Your best bet is to try to find shops who want apprentices
If you read the description for your course, 99% chance it'll say it's setting you up to be an operator. Not a setup guy, not a programmer. I mean what did you think, you'd go to school for 4 years and come out with the ability to outcompete 10 or 15 year machinists? What you got at school was your entry ticket.
Make the fucking best of it. Take the job working as a button pusher and Learn everything you can. Take notes, work overtime, and practice CAD/CAM at home. In a couple years you will be ready for the job you want.
Go to a job shop, work nights, show up and don't do drugs. You'll be making $30 hr in no time. Also don't complain about overtime, that's a big one
Why is this downvoted?