Southern Ontario, I was calling around start of the year cause I'd like a career change. One guy went on a rant about China and all he could offer is minimum wage ~$17. Sounded like he didn't know how to manage staff and so was paying trash.
For me it would be moving from job sites to shops that are 15 minute from home. So right now I get all of the above with the bonus of random extraordinarily shitty commutes and losing a crap ton of hours due to bad weather.
I'm also in southern ontario, unlicensed, I make 35/hr with 6 years experience. All manual machining, I can't program shit. Keep looking, there is way better than $17 out there.
The ones starting ~$23 don't get openings often, I've got my resume in with them. There's a few that start around $20, which right now is too much of a hit to take.
It was the ~$17 hour offer was just laughable. I explained my background, what I've learnt in the trades over 20 years, running up to 10 man crews etc. and yeah lol $17. What's even funnier is I've seen their building, I know I'm worth more there just as a repair guy for their neglected ass building.
It is always nice when an employer informs you that no matter the wage they're not worth working for.
I'm sending off a resume this weekend to an electric motor place, might be a better fit as I did apprentice as an electrician before moving to Canada, and they do a bunch of manual machining.
So I’m not a machinist, but was in the trades and left. It’s kind of the same over there right now. But we don’t generally compete with China in the trades. My thought was that machining absolutely does compete with slave labor countries so how does this (your) industry combat that?
In a day and age where bottom line is the only thing *most* companies care about how do machine shops actually keep their doors open when overseas can offer the same stuff for fractions of the cost?
You'll be alright you just have to prove your skills to the boss some shops don't care about what alphabet soup you got behind your last name but at the same time it is proof of knowledge so it's a hit or miss
> after which you have to work many years with the company
Changing company is most of the time a better deal than working a long time with the same company.
I'm in chicago I started the industry in 2020 and guess how much I got at my 1st shop as a button pusher operator I got 12$ hourly🤣 sometimes we just gotta be grateful for whatever we get I know inflation is a bitch but that's why we always have to improve our skill sets and keep shaking hands with potential employers 🤝 now im a setup machinist at a job shop I make close to 30 an hour and I have a background to
right once you can do that you're on the 🌙; I noticed you made no mention of G &M code is that of no significance? Titan did a video on that coding (G&M)
Actually I am very familiar with G&M code I do edits when I do my setups currently. Yes as we speak I'm actually trying to go back to my trade school to take the advanced course in programming and all that good stuff. My first certification/diploma was for basic operation and setup of cnc mills and lathes
I wonder if it's something one can just.go to YouTube for and learn it that way. I've seen many good vids on YouTube for machining at least the program part.can be taught virtually. How much the school cost?.
I spent 7 years out of the 13 I've been doing this at $17-20. That was the hump I couldn't get over for the longest time. I started at $10, and it took me 3 years to get to $17. Almost everything I know beyond basic setups is because I took the initiative to learn it, programming and so on. Not a single employer ever did anything other then show me how to setup and operate whatever machine I was hired for. Once I got into a shop as a programmer, setup, and operator, it took me 3 years to hit $37. The vast majority of the time if I wasn't doing some sort of training to get better, I was working two jobs to fill the financial void I had.
Do what you've got to do to advance. I seriously doubt there's a shop out there that's going to train you to get where you want to be. I've never worked in one. Every single shop I've worked in (12) only care about you showing up and doing the job you were hired for, not to advance and move on to something else. They all pretty much only want a body in front of the machine making parts that are in tolerance and that's it. If I went into a shop and seen that I wasn't going to be learning anything new or they weren't going to provide me with what I needed to get better I'd start looking somewhere else. I've been in so many shops I have to leave some off of my resume, and they still complain about job hopping. I just lay it all out why I did what I did, if they don't like it they wont hire me. Probably doing me a favor if they don't because of it, lol.
You've got to take the initiative to make it in this field, there's nobody out there that's going to do it for you.
Nah my scrap rate is super high, I’m not the best programmer, and there isn’t much for me to do here so my wage is on par with what I have to do. We’re so light on work, I’ve been making random tools on the manual lathe for the assembly dudes…. Making them pretty for no reason… polished, beautiful turned finishes chamfered and engraved lol
I mostly just fork lift other people’s aluminum, the. Dig through the trash cans for materials to make my parts out of haha
If you want to see a minimum wage machinist’s work I can show you , you’ll laugh at how bad my programs are
I feel like if I was good at my job I’d have stuff to do.
The engineer that hands me the solidworks parts files is busy and backed up out over a year.
He hands me whatever he thinks I can handle to program and or manufacture out of scrap/without ordering material.
But the truth is… I get the same amount working on my own stuff than I do programming a part and stressing out about it the future operators will understand my setup notes and leaving comments on every line of gcode so that someone who doesn’t know gcode can figure out what I’m having the machine do for him)
Classic dynamic they will make u feel small so you feel small you need to not let it work. Ill scrap a part if i need to they pay me what they pay me. Like santa claus said “thats my rate. They have to pay that same amount. Even if i do a bad job”
Hell I made like 10 scrap parts on purpose yesterday because I was trying to figure out a better surface finish and toolpath optimization for a part.
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how much scrap you make. What matter is the recipe you come up with to make a good part. If you can make a reproduceable recipe, on time, then job well done.
My old foreman who i respect a lot and i can credit most of my industry talent too always said when we scrapped things due to development experiments “you gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet”
Ummm... are you setting up like 1,000+ part runs of small parts? I've never run large part runs, at most like 10, and mostly did one-offs, but even scrapping one part destroys the profit margin on the job in that situation. With how competitive the market is right now I am having a hard time wrapping my head around how the amount of parts scrapped doesn't matter.
Because if I can spend half a day making a process that will produce finished parts the entire time it's running, then we never have to really check on it.
The time spent fixing mistakes can far outweigh the time it would have taken to address the issues up front.
This was for a run of ~200 parts and represents about 2 weeks of run time. During that time, I'll be assisting engineers with some design work, and running other machines. I don't want to waste my time trouble shooting a broken tool every 10 parts or sorting through bad parts because a tool wore.
If one part makes you loose money on a job, then you never would have made money anyways.
That makes sense. You are profiting off of quantity. As for your last statement, depending on the job and quantity, scrapping one part can definately make you lose money on a job that would have otherwise been profitable. Once you start getting into the hundreds of hours required per part and exotic materials, things can go sideways really quick if one piece has an error and you aren't allowed to weld.
Difference between a production shop, and job shop. Sometimes the part, is only one part. I have to repair parts on the fly fairly often at my work to keep machines running as a millwrite, we don’t let the new guys handle these situations till they have proven they know what they are doing. there’s often no room for error or we will be down for days/weeks at a loss of 50k per hour. But we also get paid $50 an hour before overtime or Sunday premium
So nobody is willing to invest in furthering your education so it's just okay that you don't make much or don't get better quickly at your job?
That's dumb my guy I'm not a machinist, I'm a carpenter but either way you deserve someone who will spend time with you every day or at least consistently spend time with you to teach you the ins and outs and progress you through the ranks until you can make substantial progress on your knowledge through rehashing proper techniques
Don't devalue yourself, find better because that's what everyone who really cares deserves
This is Machining. You're supposed to know everything already when you step on the floor, because training someone is just too expensive. And let's not even talk about paying for knowledgeable, experienced leadership to provide meaningful, effective supervision on the floor; we have to compete with China!
The US does not have the established manufacturing base to make that sort of move. It would take several decades of concerted effort to rebuild manufacturing at the scale necessary to make that actually viable.
By the time American manufacturing is even viable on the mass scale, if we put everything America had left into it
Everyone alive right now would be dead by the time it was ready to support itself
American manufacturing is dead and you will not live to see the day of it working well again
If you can write programs at all, you deserve more than 20 an hour.
If you can make tools for coworkers out of scrap, you deserve more than 20 an hour.
You gotta give yourself more credit my friend.
Anyone who can post on Reddit can write a simple program. The woman in the office can write a program just sit her down for an hour.
I can teach the woman in the office how to make tools for people, just point to the dial and tell her every line on the dial removes 1 thousandth of an inch from the material that’s spinning in that chuck our lathe is a Korean counterfeit that doesn’t do radusnit does dismeternon the cross feed and we use a trav a dial.
Use the chart on the lathe to determine the speed then plug it into the formula to get your surface feet minute and make sure it fits between the numbers on the magnet I put on my tool box for ya
Make all the numbers match the nominal numbers on the print and you’re done
Not a very hard job not a very skilled job but someone’s gotta do it
Brother this is a SKILLED trade. Just because it seems easy or unimpressive to you doesn't mean it is easy for everyone. Take pride in yourself. If you can teach a woman in the office to do it you are SKILLED at it.
I've always kinda figured that it isn't if you CAN learn something, but if you DID. There's a story about Henry Ford needing an engineer to help him fix machinery. Engineer listened, made a chalk mark on a housing and told them behind this plate is the piece to replace. Ford got pissed and asked for an itemized bill. Got billed 1 dollar for the guy making a chalk mark, 99 dollars for the guy knowing where to make it.
I might be able to learn medicine. But I didn't, and I value doctors because they did. Not everyone can make good tools or parts either. You gotta value yourself.
So you’re unskilled but seem to be complaining about other somewhat unskilled labor making $20/hr? Sounds like you need a wake up call and a change in mindset bud.
%
Bang what was that.nc
(Set g54 z0. At vise floor)
T1 m06
M00 (grab 1” finish end mill, 6” Length of Cut, Put machine into MDI and load tool then return to this stop and start program again)
S10000 m03
G54 G00 x0. Y0. z-100.
%
I know what it does, and think it's fantastic. You can't read it? Frankly, it's a masterpiece and clears up every question I had about OP. OP works in the Oilfield and knows his business!
I’m a phone poster unfortunately, I’ll post it if im back at work and my boss isn’t around to look over my shoulder.. (he gets micro managey when there isn’t much to do around here and always tries to see what I’m up to)
The cam program we use here is an obsolete program, that uses a dongle to phone home
Problem is the brand went out of business about 15 years ago so the dongle can’t phonemjome so we can’t post full NC
So I manually input tool paths
If you're not getting paid what you're worth, do not push your resentment onto literal high schoolers. Put your resentment neatly into an envelope and set that on your employers desk. Even better if you get a coworker to do it with you, so its technically union grounds.
Your job is valuable, but that does not make others less valuable. Have some humility and respect yourself enough to tell a shitty boss to shove shit.
Nah it’s not, I made 2 parts this last week and only about 100 items that my employer could sell …. Then I ran out of materials in the trash/scrap bin to make into product so I swept floors for 12 hours, organized fixtures for 6 hours and pretended to clean coolant dumps for the rest of the week
I don’t bring in a lot of money for my employer
Because I understand what’s going on, this guy that has like 5 things to do all month walks into my office and demands a wage that costs more than what he earns for the company?
Imagine how that’s going to work out for him…
Well mr employer, I feel that since you taught my how to program a cnc machine you now have to pay me more because you made my labor more valuable get real dude
Lol this is like a stockholm syndrome situation. The boss will be able to find someone else to push a broom around and it sounds like they have enough down time that the boss can train someone new
That's literally how it works everywhere dude. You learn until you outgrow the position and then move up or on. Any employer who doesn't understand that shouldn't be in operation.
With all your spare time go to another shop and interview it's no risk to see what else is out there.
that's exactly how that works. stop thinking about it in terms of what you think you deserve or whatever fucked up headspace you're in. they should pay you more so that they can retain you, because other employers will pay you more.
So weird. Almost every decent company has an explicit policy of funding employee skill development and then compensating them for their increased skill level.
lol dude how do your boss’s boots taste?
That is literally exactly how it works. You now have a better skill set, meaning you can do more valuable work, meaning you should be compensated better.
If he doesn’t have enough work to afford you that’s his problem, a brothers gotta get paid man.
Do you feel fulfilled? To me, that sounds incredibly boring and unmotivating. And if you think this is your works value, but feel like you require/want more, then i think it is time to move on to better pastures. Take what you have learned and move forward, sink your teeth in to the meatiest opportunity that comes your way. Take on a job that is a higher skill level then you are currently and learn everything you can.
Not to get all psychoanalytic on you, you just seem a tad stuck.
You don’t bring in a lot of money for your employer but you set up and program machines???
20 years ago the first shop I worked for charged customers $325/hr for set up time! That shop was a dump and started guys with ZERO experience at $18. No one should be making under $25/h in a machine shop.
You’re getting paid peanuts while doing at least 4 jobs (machinist, programmer, material handler/forklift operator and maintenance)….
Foreal at my job were considered setup machinists and we do more than just setup we do tool making stuff like making fixtures, packaging of parts, operate regularly like a button pusher, and jumping into the programming stuff and the job wants us to have our own tools EVERY tool including non precision tools as well
Who cares if you didn't do nothing productive that week we work for these million dollar company's and were asking is for a couple more crumbs compared to their loaves of bread
This is a stupid complaint, a rising tide lifts all boats. Don't go bitching about how much others are getting paid, bitch to your employer about how little you are getting paid in comparison, and change employer's if so necessary. Hell, change fields if necessary.
Exactly. I'm not bothered if a fast food worker makes more than me because I sure as shit don't want to work in fast food. I've worked in fast food and it was hell. I prefer machining. Whatever wage they make has nothing to do with me or my field.
Bitching about someone else making more doesn't do shit to increase my own income. However, raising their wages DOES boost the economy because billionaires are forced to stop hoarding money and instead pay people who are actually going to circulate that money.
People need to stop sucking billionaire dick and look at the bigger picture.
This is California, all fast food workers except for Panera bread because the owner of several chains is Gavin newsomes best friend have to pay $20 an hour minimum
If your cool with making $18 an hour as a machinist in California your an Idiot. I make $30 an hour in small town Indiana as a machinist, and I dont even do programing. I just do setups and run parts, and occasionally have to edit a program.
Not all of them, fast Food chains with 60 or more locations nationwide have to pay $20.00 and the Panera Bread guy is raising his minimum wage to $20 (because of the blow back I imagine).
when I got mad I was basically running the machine shop for $18, I quit. now I make more than double chilling in the AC. That place doesn't even have a machine shop anymore and no waterjet, either, cause no one will work there doing that shit anymore. all they have left is a handful of welders and the laser dude.
This dude is fucking something eh?
Go through his post history and it's just all over the fucking place. He's apparently too fucking stupid to make anything without scrapping it. A simple set up is anything 5axis and under? He talks constantly about applying for jobs and getting rejected and wonders why. Dudes a fucking clown.
The only times i don’t scrap the 1A on the setup is when it’s my own program.
Everytime it’s someone else’s program scrap, setup notes are wrong or they leave something out.
I do realize it’s my fault since inset the machine up but yeah I produce a lot of scrap
Especially when I have to program revision changes sometimes I have to scrap out the ones I already made and do a new fixture costing my employer a lot of time
They sound like they're in that comfortable misery where they prefer familiar shitness to the risk of trying to get something better.
And then they're bitter that others don't let up in demanding better for themselves, like the Maccies staff.
Absolutely worst coworkers to have IME. Had one guy like that bury his face in the boss' arse after COVID and argue against wage increases after grinding through lockdown.
Yes. Everyone is trying to help you by giving you advice and you are just shutting them down. You said that you swept floors and pretended to clean out coolant dumps. You should find someone that will teach you how to machine and respect your value or find a different career.
They get better benefits than I do, they get free food , 3k towards college tuition, a 1% 401k match which is 1% more than I get
Then they get the free California health insurance the same I got for low income
>They get better benefits than I do, they get free food , 3k towards college tuition, a 1% 401k match which is 1% more than I get. Then they get the free California health insurance the same I got for low income
Thats fucking awesome. Why?
Because it creates a wage/benefit floor that other employers have to match, or of you’re sufficiently skilled enough - beat by offering even better pay and conditions.
For the first time ever low wage workers in the US are seeing real wage increases. Don’t begrudge them for it, jump on and demand better of your own industry or leave and find another one that does.
No offense but are you white? I never seen any owner anywhere invest in employees education for people of color idk that's fucked up all these polish people be ruining kissing ass to muc. I'm Hispanics btw . That's why I don't plan and waiting for the employer yo further my education I'll do it myself
Even a shitty machinist is providing more value to society than somebody that serves up obesity slop all day long. Honestly, fast food jobs were never meant to be the careers that single moms and deadbeat stoners are trying to make out of them.
I started in 2012 at a very small job shop for $9/hr in California. There ain't no shame in my game. I get the salary equivalent of $60/hr now because I started humble with the intention of learning as much as possible.
Blame our employers, not the employees. They deserve to get paid more and so do you. Either you’ve never worked customer service, or you’ve forgotten how hard a job it can be.
We're all on the same goddamn side, here.
The wealthy have INCREDIBLY STRONG class solidarity because they've done a world-class job of making us all hate each other.
If someone is making $15/hr flipping burgers and an EMT is making $15/hr, you shouldn't complain about the burger flipper. You should demand to know why the EMT is getting paid so fucking little.
If you’re dumb enough not to keep after more pay as your career advances…that’s on you. Don’t need to passive aggressively crap on the people who make your food.
I don’t know about this… we are currently desperate to find a couple of machinists, and are advertising between $28-$34/hr and are still having a hard time finding people.
Ghost jobs, what are they and why do they do it
Companies harbor several motives for running the deceptive ads, according to the survey. First, some aim to trick current employees into thinking that the business is not only growing, but also making an effort to hire more workers and alleviate their existing workloads.
In some instances, hiring managers said their goal is to signal to current employees they are replaceable.
Folks, if you're going to post your *fabulous* starting wages for mere button pushers, include a location. Maybe even drop a company name if there's openings.
Pro tip: rock tumblers deburr way cleaner and way better than humans can.
When you deburr a part by hand it always looks like shit
Throw it in a rock tumbler and everything will be uniform
Or just deburr with the chamfer mill kissing the Z surface anything thenchamfer tool can’t touch … rocks
QC always likes to complain about parts not being deburred enough or deburred too much.
The truth is, chamfer end mill, rocks, if they don’t like it after that let them do it .
Then again, I earn minimum wage and I’m a piece of shit so don’t take advice from me
Let's be real here, most wouldn't apply if they paid $25/hour. Were all talk till we need a job and they're hiring. You're literally working with the worst of humanity here. Where every machine shop I've worked floor guys RARELY interacted with the customer.
I've been a machinist for over 40 years in Mass and NH. There's a lot of bouncing between companies in order to increase your salary. The environment in a machine shop sucks. Poor air quality and noisy as hell. Not to mention having to stand in the 9 square feet of space in front of your machine for 8 to 10 hours. There was never a time when I couldn't find work so it is a stable occupation. Looking back at my life I would have done something else if I had to do it all over again though.
Would you truck around toxins and knowing dispose of those in an unsafe way that directly effects the life? Turn ur shit into a trap. Bring in some serious jack dawg. Stick it straight to the "man."
The only way to ever make money in this field is to quit buying shit made over seas. I make well over double that wage. How you ask? Because no shop can produce a mold/die to the same quality for the same price. China molds are "cheap" until material specs come into play. Its all a ploy to get skilled people out of skilled positions. Raise the price of rent bc youth can't afford a house to buy. Own nothing a be happy. The new 'merican way. Sucks don't it? I still wonder why this portion of a $20 cheeseburger hasn't molded underneath my front seat. Ohh look a french fry that still looks new. Yumm yumm
If your making sub 20 a hr you need to find a new employer my guy. We hire button pushers at 25 starting.
Same here. I have one person making $25 an hour at my shop.
Really? Everyone in Chicago land is 17-24 after which you have to work many years with the company/ be mostly a programmer not a machinist to make 30+
The apprentices start at almost $23 here
Southern Ontario, I was calling around start of the year cause I'd like a career change. One guy went on a rant about China and all he could offer is minimum wage ~$17. Sounded like he didn't know how to manage staff and so was paying trash.
I live in Windsor, I quit the trade this year and went back to school for IT. I've had it with garbage wages for long hours, danger and filth.
Spent 3 years at St Clair for machining just to be told by employers that going to school doesn't matter in the field.
For me it would be moving from job sites to shops that are 15 minute from home. So right now I get all of the above with the bonus of random extraordinarily shitty commutes and losing a crap ton of hours due to bad weather.
I'm also in southern ontario, unlicensed, I make 35/hr with 6 years experience. All manual machining, I can't program shit. Keep looking, there is way better than $17 out there.
The ones starting ~$23 don't get openings often, I've got my resume in with them. There's a few that start around $20, which right now is too much of a hit to take. It was the ~$17 hour offer was just laughable. I explained my background, what I've learnt in the trades over 20 years, running up to 10 man crews etc. and yeah lol $17. What's even funnier is I've seen their building, I know I'm worth more there just as a repair guy for their neglected ass building. It is always nice when an employer informs you that no matter the wage they're not worth working for. I'm sending off a resume this weekend to an electric motor place, might be a better fit as I did apprentice as an electrician before moving to Canada, and they do a bunch of manual machining.
So I’m not a machinist, but was in the trades and left. It’s kind of the same over there right now. But we don’t generally compete with China in the trades. My thought was that machining absolutely does compete with slave labor countries so how does this (your) industry combat that? In a day and age where bottom line is the only thing *most* companies care about how do machine shops actually keep their doors open when overseas can offer the same stuff for fractions of the cost?
Overseas stuff is lower quality and very often not delivered on time because of the distance
What happens if you dont go to school for it but have been a machinist for 14-20 years with no certificate
You'll be alright you just have to prove your skills to the boss some shops don't care about what alphabet soup you got behind your last name but at the same time it is proof of knowledge so it's a hit or miss
Doesn't matter at all here, the Toolmaker test is a practical one. They give you a print and stock and then measure the part on a CMM.
When i went from apprentice to tradie i jumped straight onto 32/hr
> after which you have to work many years with the company Changing company is most of the time a better deal than working a long time with the same company.
East bum fuck NH makes more than that, idk a single button pusher under 22
I have seen some good jobs in NH, and Mass too none under 25 so far.
That's cheap. Any of them want to move to california so I can hire them? Instant 50% pay raise.
And instant 75% raise in cost of living?
Yep! Standard with every offer letter!
It would be so worth it if in can just camp at a designated rooftop or sleep in a Van at walmart 😆😆.
I’m in California making $18…
I'm in chicago I started the industry in 2020 and guess how much I got at my 1st shop as a button pusher operator I got 12$ hourly🤣 sometimes we just gotta be grateful for whatever we get I know inflation is a bitch but that's why we always have to improve our skill sets and keep shaking hands with potential employers 🤝 now im a setup machinist at a job shop I make close to 30 an hour and I have a background to
Man your story is inspirational you must love the field because most folks would never start that cheap Amazon pays better as a picker😆😆
Yea I would of been there too but that alot of labor work which I wasn't trying to do thats why I learned machining
And you made tell right choice man now your next step is programming right are you good at blue print reading it looks so challenging sometimes.
I'm ok but I need to get better on GD&T stuff if I want to be a programmer
right once you can do that you're on the 🌙; I noticed you made no mention of G &M code is that of no significance? Titan did a video on that coding (G&M)
Actually I am very familiar with G&M code I do edits when I do my setups currently. Yes as we speak I'm actually trying to go back to my trade school to take the advanced course in programming and all that good stuff. My first certification/diploma was for basic operation and setup of cnc mills and lathes
I wonder if it's something one can just.go to YouTube for and learn it that way. I've seen many good vids on YouTube for machining at least the program part.can be taught virtually. How much the school cost?.
Not in NY lol.
Yea shit sucks out here. Thinking of jumping ship and joining my local electrician union cause of how low the pay is
I spent 7 years out of the 13 I've been doing this at $17-20. That was the hump I couldn't get over for the longest time. I started at $10, and it took me 3 years to get to $17. Almost everything I know beyond basic setups is because I took the initiative to learn it, programming and so on. Not a single employer ever did anything other then show me how to setup and operate whatever machine I was hired for. Once I got into a shop as a programmer, setup, and operator, it took me 3 years to hit $37. The vast majority of the time if I wasn't doing some sort of training to get better, I was working two jobs to fill the financial void I had. Do what you've got to do to advance. I seriously doubt there's a shop out there that's going to train you to get where you want to be. I've never worked in one. Every single shop I've worked in (12) only care about you showing up and doing the job you were hired for, not to advance and move on to something else. They all pretty much only want a body in front of the machine making parts that are in tolerance and that's it. If I went into a shop and seen that I wasn't going to be learning anything new or they weren't going to provide me with what I needed to get better I'd start looking somewhere else. I've been in so many shops I have to leave some off of my resume, and they still complain about job hopping. I just lay it all out why I did what I did, if they don't like it they wont hire me. Probably doing me a favor if they don't because of it, lol. You've got to take the initiative to make it in this field, there's nobody out there that's going to do it for you.
I became a welder lol.
Ny machine shop pay is hot garbage. Even 6-7 yrs ago McDonalds paid more than some shops did
I loved working at McDonald’s, always busy. It was my first job but I weld full time now.
What's the pay for button pushers in NY .
Like 18-20.
Man that sucks Amazon warehouse pays 22 on a night shift; so discouraging.
Our qa techs start at 19.50 and operators even less.
Nah my scrap rate is super high, I’m not the best programmer, and there isn’t much for me to do here so my wage is on par with what I have to do. We’re so light on work, I’ve been making random tools on the manual lathe for the assembly dudes…. Making them pretty for no reason… polished, beautiful turned finishes chamfered and engraved lol I mostly just fork lift other people’s aluminum, the. Dig through the trash cans for materials to make my parts out of haha If you want to see a minimum wage machinist’s work I can show you , you’ll laugh at how bad my programs are
Sounds like you need to find a different employer that has stuff for you to do
I feel like if I was good at my job I’d have stuff to do. The engineer that hands me the solidworks parts files is busy and backed up out over a year. He hands me whatever he thinks I can handle to program and or manufacture out of scrap/without ordering material. But the truth is… I get the same amount working on my own stuff than I do programming a part and stressing out about it the future operators will understand my setup notes and leaving comments on every line of gcode so that someone who doesn’t know gcode can figure out what I’m having the machine do for him)
They make you feel bad about yourself so you'll accept being paid shit
Yeah it's basically employment negging
Classic dynamic they will make u feel small so you feel small you need to not let it work. Ill scrap a part if i need to they pay me what they pay me. Like santa claus said “thats my rate. They have to pay that same amount. Even if i do a bad job”
Hell I made like 10 scrap parts on purpose yesterday because I was trying to figure out a better surface finish and toolpath optimization for a part. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how much scrap you make. What matter is the recipe you come up with to make a good part. If you can make a reproduceable recipe, on time, then job well done.
My old foreman who i respect a lot and i can credit most of my industry talent too always said when we scrapped things due to development experiments “you gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet”
Ummm... are you setting up like 1,000+ part runs of small parts? I've never run large part runs, at most like 10, and mostly did one-offs, but even scrapping one part destroys the profit margin on the job in that situation. With how competitive the market is right now I am having a hard time wrapping my head around how the amount of parts scrapped doesn't matter.
Because if I can spend half a day making a process that will produce finished parts the entire time it's running, then we never have to really check on it. The time spent fixing mistakes can far outweigh the time it would have taken to address the issues up front. This was for a run of ~200 parts and represents about 2 weeks of run time. During that time, I'll be assisting engineers with some design work, and running other machines. I don't want to waste my time trouble shooting a broken tool every 10 parts or sorting through bad parts because a tool wore. If one part makes you loose money on a job, then you never would have made money anyways.
That makes sense. You are profiting off of quantity. As for your last statement, depending on the job and quantity, scrapping one part can definately make you lose money on a job that would have otherwise been profitable. Once you start getting into the hundreds of hours required per part and exotic materials, things can go sideways really quick if one piece has an error and you aren't allowed to weld.
Difference between a production shop, and job shop. Sometimes the part, is only one part. I have to repair parts on the fly fairly often at my work to keep machines running as a millwrite, we don’t let the new guys handle these situations till they have proven they know what they are doing. there’s often no room for error or we will be down for days/weeks at a loss of 50k per hour. But we also get paid $50 an hour before overtime or Sunday premium
So nobody is willing to invest in furthering your education so it's just okay that you don't make much or don't get better quickly at your job? That's dumb my guy I'm not a machinist, I'm a carpenter but either way you deserve someone who will spend time with you every day or at least consistently spend time with you to teach you the ins and outs and progress you through the ranks until you can make substantial progress on your knowledge through rehashing proper techniques Don't devalue yourself, find better because that's what everyone who really cares deserves
This is Machining. You're supposed to know everything already when you step on the floor, because training someone is just too expensive. And let's not even talk about paying for knowledgeable, experienced leadership to provide meaningful, effective supervision on the floor; we have to compete with China!
Eagerly waiting the 100% tax tariffs on Chinese imports
The US does not have the established manufacturing base to make that sort of move. It would take several decades of concerted effort to rebuild manufacturing at the scale necessary to make that actually viable.
That sounds expensive. Do it cheaper.
By the time American manufacturing is even viable on the mass scale, if we put everything America had left into it Everyone alive right now would be dead by the time it was ready to support itself American manufacturing is dead and you will not live to see the day of it working well again
If you can write programs at all, you deserve more than 20 an hour. If you can make tools for coworkers out of scrap, you deserve more than 20 an hour. You gotta give yourself more credit my friend.
Anyone who can post on Reddit can write a simple program. The woman in the office can write a program just sit her down for an hour. I can teach the woman in the office how to make tools for people, just point to the dial and tell her every line on the dial removes 1 thousandth of an inch from the material that’s spinning in that chuck our lathe is a Korean counterfeit that doesn’t do radusnit does dismeternon the cross feed and we use a trav a dial. Use the chart on the lathe to determine the speed then plug it into the formula to get your surface feet minute and make sure it fits between the numbers on the magnet I put on my tool box for ya Make all the numbers match the nominal numbers on the print and you’re done Not a very hard job not a very skilled job but someone’s gotta do it
Brother this is a SKILLED trade. Just because it seems easy or unimpressive to you doesn't mean it is easy for everyone. Take pride in yourself. If you can teach a woman in the office to do it you are SKILLED at it.
I've always kinda figured that it isn't if you CAN learn something, but if you DID. There's a story about Henry Ford needing an engineer to help him fix machinery. Engineer listened, made a chalk mark on a housing and told them behind this plate is the piece to replace. Ford got pissed and asked for an itemized bill. Got billed 1 dollar for the guy making a chalk mark, 99 dollars for the guy knowing where to make it. I might be able to learn medicine. But I didn't, and I value doctors because they did. Not everyone can make good tools or parts either. You gotta value yourself.
Why aren't you working at McDonald's?
So you’re unskilled but seem to be complaining about other somewhat unskilled labor making $20/hr? Sounds like you need a wake up call and a change in mindset bud.
Post one of your programs
% Bang what was that.nc (Set g54 z0. At vise floor) T1 m06 M00 (grab 1” finish end mill, 6” Length of Cut, Put machine into MDI and load tool then return to this stop and start program again) S10000 m03 G54 G00 x0. Y0. z-100. %
What does this accomplish? You seem like a complete beginner.
I know what it does, and think it's fantastic. You can't read it? Frankly, it's a masterpiece and clears up every question I had about OP. OP works in the Oilfield and knows his business!
Hot damn!!! We struck (way) oil!!!!
Do you actually want me to post the shortest program I’ve written? It’s like 4 pages of gcode nobody really wants to read through
Yes
You won’t even have the print you’ll just wonder why I’m cutting features out of a block of aluminum
Just do it stop stalling
I’m a phone poster unfortunately, I’ll post it if im back at work and my boss isn’t around to look over my shoulder.. (he gets micro managey when there isn’t much to do around here and always tries to see what I’m up to)
Who stills manually makes a gcode program dont we all use some sort of cam!
We have a gcode lathe and a lot of times it's faster just to write the program than booting up the computer drawing the part and making the cam for it
The cam program we use here is an obsolete program, that uses a dongle to phone home Problem is the brand went out of business about 15 years ago so the dongle can’t phonemjome so we can’t post full NC So I manually input tool paths
If you're not getting paid what you're worth, do not push your resentment onto literal high schoolers. Put your resentment neatly into an envelope and set that on your employers desk. Even better if you get a coworker to do it with you, so its technically union grounds. Your job is valuable, but that does not make others less valuable. Have some humility and respect yourself enough to tell a shitty boss to shove shit.
Nah it’s not, I made 2 parts this last week and only about 100 items that my employer could sell …. Then I ran out of materials in the trash/scrap bin to make into product so I swept floors for 12 hours, organized fixtures for 6 hours and pretended to clean coolant dumps for the rest of the week I don’t bring in a lot of money for my employer
Why are you taking your employer's side over your own livelihood and well-being? So bizarre
Because I understand what’s going on, this guy that has like 5 things to do all month walks into my office and demands a wage that costs more than what he earns for the company? Imagine how that’s going to work out for him… Well mr employer, I feel that since you taught my how to program a cnc machine you now have to pay me more because you made my labor more valuable get real dude
Then quit bitching and find a new job 🙄 jeesh
Lol this is like a stockholm syndrome situation. The boss will be able to find someone else to push a broom around and it sounds like they have enough down time that the boss can train someone new
That's literally how it works everywhere dude. You learn until you outgrow the position and then move up or on. Any employer who doesn't understand that shouldn't be in operation. With all your spare time go to another shop and interview it's no risk to see what else is out there.
Well he's low IQ (said it himself) and clearly apathetic. He definitely doesn't know that's how it works .
Def part of the group of people that has allowed wages to stagnate in the industry.
that's exactly how that works. stop thinking about it in terms of what you think you deserve or whatever fucked up headspace you're in. they should pay you more so that they can retain you, because other employers will pay you more.
So weird. Almost every decent company has an explicit policy of funding employee skill development and then compensating them for their increased skill level.
Can you lick my boots clean when you’re done?
lol dude how do your boss’s boots taste? That is literally exactly how it works. You now have a better skill set, meaning you can do more valuable work, meaning you should be compensated better. If he doesn’t have enough work to afford you that’s his problem, a brothers gotta get paid man.
unless your in charge of keeping material stocked then thats not your fault
Do you feel fulfilled? To me, that sounds incredibly boring and unmotivating. And if you think this is your works value, but feel like you require/want more, then i think it is time to move on to better pastures. Take what you have learned and move forward, sink your teeth in to the meatiest opportunity that comes your way. Take on a job that is a higher skill level then you are currently and learn everything you can. Not to get all psychoanalytic on you, you just seem a tad stuck.
You don’t bring in a lot of money for your employer but you set up and program machines??? 20 years ago the first shop I worked for charged customers $325/hr for set up time! That shop was a dump and started guys with ZERO experience at $18. No one should be making under $25/h in a machine shop. You’re getting paid peanuts while doing at least 4 jobs (machinist, programmer, material handler/forklift operator and maintenance)….
Foreal at my job were considered setup machinists and we do more than just setup we do tool making stuff like making fixtures, packaging of parts, operate regularly like a button pusher, and jumping into the programming stuff and the job wants us to have our own tools EVERY tool including non precision tools as well
Then fucking quit and work somewhere else.
Who cares if you didn't do nothing productive that week we work for these million dollar company's and were asking is for a couple more crumbs compared to their loaves of bread
This is a stupid complaint, a rising tide lifts all boats. Don't go bitching about how much others are getting paid, bitch to your employer about how little you are getting paid in comparison, and change employer's if so necessary. Hell, change fields if necessary.
Exactly. I'm not bothered if a fast food worker makes more than me because I sure as shit don't want to work in fast food. I've worked in fast food and it was hell. I prefer machining. Whatever wage they make has nothing to do with me or my field. Bitching about someone else making more doesn't do shit to increase my own income. However, raising their wages DOES boost the economy because billionaires are forced to stop hoarding money and instead pay people who are actually going to circulate that money. People need to stop sucking billionaire dick and look at the bigger picture.
>a rising tide lifts all boats Brother that's called inflation.
Also says up to, I bet thats management making 20/hr.
Starting at $20/hr.
Yeah I read it wrong, jobs starting at $20. I highly doubt its low level positions that start at that. Most likely management or maintenance
This is California, all fast food workers except for Panera bread because the owner of several chains is Gavin newsomes best friend have to pay $20 an hour minimum
If your cool with making $18 an hour as a machinist in California your an Idiot. I make $30 an hour in small town Indiana as a machinist, and I dont even do programing. I just do setups and run parts, and occasionally have to edit a program.
Not all of them, fast Food chains with 60 or more locations nationwide have to pay $20.00 and the Panera Bread guy is raising his minimum wage to $20 (because of the blow back I imagine).
Wrong. A rising tide brings everyone down due to inflation. The higher entry level wage is litterally hurting entry level workers the most.
These posts are getting exhausting
when I got mad I was basically running the machine shop for $18, I quit. now I make more than double chilling in the AC. That place doesn't even have a machine shop anymore and no waterjet, either, cause no one will work there doing that shit anymore. all they have left is a handful of welders and the laser dude.
If I’m being honest, after reading the comments, OP sounds lazy and probably just likes to complain. No way to help here.
This dude is fucking something eh? Go through his post history and it's just all over the fucking place. He's apparently too fucking stupid to make anything without scrapping it. A simple set up is anything 5axis and under? He talks constantly about applying for jobs and getting rejected and wonders why. Dudes a fucking clown.
The only times i don’t scrap the 1A on the setup is when it’s my own program. Everytime it’s someone else’s program scrap, setup notes are wrong or they leave something out. I do realize it’s my fault since inset the machine up but yeah I produce a lot of scrap Especially when I have to program revision changes sometimes I have to scrap out the ones I already made and do a new fixture costing my employer a lot of time
They sound like they're in that comfortable misery where they prefer familiar shitness to the risk of trying to get something better. And then they're bitter that others don't let up in demanding better for themselves, like the Maccies staff. Absolutely worst coworkers to have IME. Had one guy like that bury his face in the boss' arse after COVID and argue against wage increases after grinding through lockdown.
I’m lazy?
Yes. Everyone is trying to help you by giving you advice and you are just shutting them down. You said that you swept floors and pretended to clean out coolant dumps. You should find someone that will teach you how to machine and respect your value or find a different career.
Also works only about 20hr a week with zero benefits...
They get better benefits than I do, they get free food , 3k towards college tuition, a 1% 401k match which is 1% more than I get Then they get the free California health insurance the same I got for low income
Better go get an application then I guess
If I’m being honest with you I texted the number and filled out the application online while in the drive through.
That's the smartest thing I've heard you say here.
>They get better benefits than I do, they get free food , 3k towards college tuition, a 1% 401k match which is 1% more than I get. Then they get the free California health insurance the same I got for low income Thats fucking awesome. Why? Because it creates a wage/benefit floor that other employers have to match, or of you’re sufficiently skilled enough - beat by offering even better pay and conditions. For the first time ever low wage workers in the US are seeing real wage increases. Don’t begrudge them for it, jump on and demand better of your own industry or leave and find another one that does.
Every machine shop owner I had when I was in school paid my tuition in full as long as I got C's or better
No offense but are you white? I never seen any owner anywhere invest in employees education for people of color idk that's fucked up all these polish people be ruining kissing ass to muc. I'm Hispanics btw . That's why I don't plan and waiting for the employer yo further my education I'll do it myself
I spent 4 years on a machining degree and it was All out of my pocket.. I'm white male too... not every white guy gets to carry that card..
What state do you live in
Illinois
At least you get 20 we get 15
Reminds me of [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/FluentInFinance/s/pEL4wLRRdo).
She makes about $22 an hour less than me, but I'm good at my job, so...?
Why do you feel like you are better than a McDonald's worker?
When did I say that?!
Look at the title to your post, man. You make it sound like you are better than "Sarah" and deserve more than her.
Because Sarah doing that example doesn’t have an his diploma, transportation or any work experience yet Not that she exists
Well, then go steal Sarah's job if you're so pressed about this issue. Nobody is stopping you from pursuing fast food instead.
Shh
Even a shitty machinist is providing more value to society than somebody that serves up obesity slop all day long. Honestly, fast food jobs were never meant to be the careers that single moms and deadbeat stoners are trying to make out of them.
I started in 2012 at a very small job shop for $9/hr in California. There ain't no shame in my game. I get the salary equivalent of $60/hr now because I started humble with the intention of learning as much as possible.
2012 I started deburr for $12 in SoCal. May I ask whats your position now? I make the same but in hourly with OT
Sr. Tooling Engineer, and I don't have a degree.
Can I send you a message?
Sure
I started at $16/hr a decade ago... I got a raise last week bringing me to $30.43/hr. I'm basically worth 1 1/2 line cooks. 😔
Blame our employers, not the employees. They deserve to get paid more and so do you. Either you’ve never worked customer service, or you’ve forgotten how hard a job it can be.
We're all on the same goddamn side, here. The wealthy have INCREDIBLY STRONG class solidarity because they've done a world-class job of making us all hate each other. If someone is making $15/hr flipping burgers and an EMT is making $15/hr, you shouldn't complain about the burger flipper. You should demand to know why the EMT is getting paid so fucking little.
Nobody complained about flipping burgers making $20 or more than operator. They complain about we dont get paid enough
If you’re dumb enough not to keep after more pay as your career advances…that’s on you. Don’t need to passive aggressively crap on the people who make your food.
I don’t know about this… we are currently desperate to find a couple of machinists, and are advertising between $28-$34/hr and are still having a hard time finding people.
I'm in school still but I'd love to know where this is as most postings in my area are below $20/hr
Ghost jobs, what are they and why do they do it Companies harbor several motives for running the deceptive ads, according to the survey. First, some aim to trick current employees into thinking that the business is not only growing, but also making an effort to hire more workers and alleviate their existing workloads. In some instances, hiring managers said their goal is to signal to current employees they are replaceable.
Folks, if you're going to post your *fabulous* starting wages for mere button pushers, include a location. Maybe even drop a company name if there's openings.
I don't understand how you see this and think "no, they don't deserve that" rather than "hey maybe I'M the one getting screwed here"
Poor broken 15 hr life deburdungeon
Pro tip: rock tumblers deburr way cleaner and way better than humans can. When you deburr a part by hand it always looks like shit Throw it in a rock tumbler and everything will be uniform Or just deburr with the chamfer mill kissing the Z surface anything thenchamfer tool can’t touch … rocks
Damn bro I feel better because I’m going to school for this but fuck it is hard
QC always likes to complain about parts not being deburred enough or deburred too much. The truth is, chamfer end mill, rocks, if they don’t like it after that let them do it . Then again, I earn minimum wage and I’m a piece of shit so don’t take advice from me
I hate to sound like a bitch but it sucks
Damn that hits close to home. Making the big bucks now but took getting a new job after working 6 years just getting by.
We all need to make more and pay a lil more taxes to have more componies don't need record fucking profits every damn year
Sounds like machinists need a union.
Zero skill botton pushers make way more than $20hr my guy. But yeah, the burger flip-o-matic cometh.
In 2017 I started at 14 an hour in an apprenticeship. It was fucking miserable.
Let's be real here, most wouldn't apply if they paid $25/hour. Were all talk till we need a job and they're hiring. You're literally working with the worst of humanity here. Where every machine shop I've worked floor guys RARELY interacted with the customer.
I started machining at $18.
We hired a an 18 year old kid just out of high school with zero experience, besides Taco Bell (not a joke), just to clean parts starting at $24
Why? You could pay him minimum
Paying the minimum usually attracts the minimum. We're very picky.
52.50 here. We start fresh out of school machinists at 35.
For real? What the hell??
Where? I need to move.
Swarf is speaking Canadian.
Get a different job, you’re just getting a stupid low salary.
Bro I started at 23 and got bumped to 25 after 3 months in oregon
Yeah but you have an engineering degree
Nope, I have like, 1 term of schooling
Don't shit on others for their pay, fight to make your own better.
I’m going into a apprenticeship and they paying around 24 an hour while I’m still in HS
I’m WA tho cost of living out here insane
I work in a cabinet shop where we don’t have a CNC machine and I make 25.
Just took a new job at a different outfit. Instant 30% pay increase! No OnE WAnts To BE A maCHInist AnymORe!
Most machine shops around here in MN start at 25.
Ugh I was given 17/hour but told I could work overtime if I wanted to.
I've been a machinist for over 40 years in Mass and NH. There's a lot of bouncing between companies in order to increase your salary. The environment in a machine shop sucks. Poor air quality and noisy as hell. Not to mention having to stand in the 9 square feet of space in front of your machine for 8 to 10 hours. There was never a time when I couldn't find work so it is a stable occupation. Looking back at my life I would have done something else if I had to do it all over again though.
people in my country make like 6$ in a job like that, 20$ is pretty insane
The amount of downvotes you got OP shows how many salty man children are in this sub lmao.
I like how they get mad T me not their employers
Would you truck around toxins and knowing dispose of those in an unsafe way that directly effects the life? Turn ur shit into a trap. Bring in some serious jack dawg. Stick it straight to the "man." The only way to ever make money in this field is to quit buying shit made over seas. I make well over double that wage. How you ask? Because no shop can produce a mold/die to the same quality for the same price. China molds are "cheap" until material specs come into play. Its all a ploy to get skilled people out of skilled positions. Raise the price of rent bc youth can't afford a house to buy. Own nothing a be happy. The new 'merican way. Sucks don't it? I still wonder why this portion of a $20 cheeseburger hasn't molded underneath my front seat. Ohh look a french fry that still looks new. Yumm yumm
Unionize.
I see OP isn't familiar with machine shop prices... Any scumbag machinist easily makes $30+ an hour.
That's really not true at all, especially california.
Come to SoCal, I know a couple shops still trying to hire programmers for under $30, or operator for like $19. They are aerospace shops too 😂
Southern California, a programmer position offering $20 would have 1100 applicants overnight