any machinists here?

**wascaptain5214** · 02-05-2007, 04:58 AM

my local vo-tech offers a 18 month course in machine shop. i know it a good trade and pays well. also its in big demand down here where i live. but does it make a long boring day watching a machine cut metal. i went check out a shop where a bro works and he toured me around. looks like a skate job, but do you get brain dead after awhile?

***G-1000*** · 02-05-2007, 06:45 AM

I love machine. It fun to see what you can make. Now a days you need to know cnc. Does teh school teach you autocad and aeroengineering?

The jobs all was chang so you never get board. You cant lean the traid in just 18 month. This is an on going learning experience.

**armbar83** · 02-05-2007, 11:23 AM

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**Pro_built7** · 02-05-2007, 11:32 AM

no man do not get into machining the trade is dying, my dad has been a machinist for 30 years and comes home everday with stories of how someone else gets laid off, this may be due to the poor michigan economy, but overall outsourcing to china where automotive corporations can pay a chinese man 3.00/ hr as opposed to 25.00 / hr here in the U.S. at this present time with manufacturing trades being shipped to cheaper foreign countries my advice to you is to stay out of it. currently my dad is worried weahter he will have a job next year or not. Times have changed and economy is now a service economy not a manufacturing economy as it has been since the 50's. thousands of machinists have lost their jobs in the past year, along with thousands of automotive workers. I come from a family of machinists and until a few years ago was going to follow the same path, until china was signed into the WTO which allowed u.s. manufacturing corporations to outsource those (manufacturing jobs) there which translates into lost job opportunities /work in the u.s. oh and to become a machinist it requires a 2 year degree and a 2 year internship, just my 2 cents........

**Pro_built7** · 02-05-2007, 11:36 AM

the demand in your area will over time undoubtedly die like it is every where else, and no it isnt a skate job its very thought and time consuming work, i worked along side my father in high school and into college for a year, not "doing" much, just a maintenance guy but it gave me alot of experience observing what they do, just remember these guys work to within .001 of an inch or more. and if they don't the entire tool is scrapped, sometimes these tools can cost up to 100,000 $

**Carlos_E** · 02-05-2007, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by captain5214

my local vo-tech offers a 18 month course in machine shop. i know it a good trade and pays well. also its in big demand down here where i live. but does it make a long boring day watching a machine cut metal. i went check out a shop where a bro works and he toured me around. looks like a skate job, but do you get brain dead after awhile?

PM rockhardman. He is a machinist.

**gixxerboy1** · 02-05-2007, 09:15 PM

bump gsxxr and pro. Its not something you can learn in 18 months and i wouldn't get into it now if you haven't been doing it. There is a lot of places closing and laying off. And the jobs that are around aren't paying what they used to to start.