Posted on 09/03/2017 5:00:45 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Your car. Your phone. The spare change in your pocket. They have one thing in common: A machinist helped to make all of them.
“Most people don’t understand how products get made,” said Kurt Kimberling, an instructor in the Machining and CNC Technology program at North Idaho College. He has more than 30 years of industry experience. “Machinists have a hand in everything you use on a daily basis.”
At NIC, Kimberling teaches basic to advanced machining concepts, such as precision measuring, operating a milling machine, and operating computer numerical control (CNC) machines. Students can earn an intermediate or advanced technical certificate, or a two-year associate degree in machining and CNC technology.
“My goal is to teach students critical thinking and problem solving,” Kimberling said. “As a side effect, they learn all the basic skills. I consider myself a trainer, not a teacher. You learn competencies and master different skills.”
Upon completing the program, students will be qualified for entry-level machinist positions. Because machining is one of the biggest parts of manufacturing, and part of every industry, there’s a wide variety of jobs for machinists.
Max Clemons learned welding in the military. When he came to NIC, he enrolled in the welding program, then switched to machining.
“I could weld anything, but I had limited on-the-job training,” Clemons said. In the machining program, he received comprehensive training. “Now I can do anything, from top to bottom.”
Machining and fabrication came easily to Clemons, so in class, he would often help other students. After graduation, he soon found work as a prototype machinist.
At NIC, Clemons said, the instructors teach the fundamental skills, and from there students can explore what interests them and how they can use machining to pursue those interests. Because machining technology is used in so many industries, the applications are virtually endless.
“They give you an opportunity to see what interests you,” Clemons said, “and then they challenge you to think outside the box.”
In fact, Kimberling estimates that there are around 600 different facets of machining, from tool and die makers, to precision grinders and mold makers, and beyond. In recent years, he said the industry has become somewhat compartmentalized, so many machinists specialize in certain areas.
Jobs for machinists will increase by six percent between now and 2024. Kimberling said that a lack of skilled labor has created a deficit in the machining industry.
“The need for machinists is huge,” Kimberling said. “There’s a huge demand for these skilled workers, and there’s a good salary to go along with it.”
The median pay for machinists is $41,510 per year.
Machining is a craft that requires a commitment of time and effort to master, Kimberling said, but the ultimate payoff is well worth it. “It’s a very satisfying, challenging career,” he said. “From a raw piece of material, you can create anything you can imagine.”
For information on NIC’s Machining and CNC Technology, call (208) 769-3311 or visit www.nic.edu, click on “Instructional Programs” and then select “Machining and CNC Technology” from the drop-down menu.
Lots of great skill job opportunities out there. Skip snowflake saturated academia that trains you to hate success. Go learn a hard skill and earn real money.
We don’t have much of a machine tool industry here and haven’t since the early 1980s. Without it, we probably could never be the “Arsenal of Democracy” again, even if we had to.
We need to bring back shop classes in 7th, 8th, and 9th grade.
I live in Silicon Valley.
A journeyman CNC machinist can pull 120K easily here.
I self learned machining 25 years ago and know G code for easy stuff, sell some motorbike parts online made on a friends mill.
My home shop is an Ecello mill and a vintage South Bend 10K heavy lathe.
Talked my millennial nephew into taking CNC classes, there is a future in it.
Yep, and building trades. A high school graduate should be able to walk away with a basic certification for any number of skills (welding, carpentry, plumbing, masonry, auto mechanic, sheet metal fabrication, etc...).
My wife was a journeyman electrician when I married her 25 years ago, and I have two nephews who are journeyman machinists. My nephews are both in their 20s and are making in excess of $50K a year each. If they had gone to college like their mother (my sister) wanted them to, they would probably be like most of the other college grads whose future is uncertain.
My Dad was a trained machinist who went on to get a Mechanical Engineering degree. He made his living as a design engineer for some big companies then set up on his own. He was always working in his shop creating prototypes to see if his designs would work. It’s just a great skill to have.
You don't live in Texas. I have over 35 years of machine shop experience.
This is just one of the various types of things Mike Rowe (DIRTY JOBS) is trying to get high school kids interested in. I think he even has scholarships and apprenticeship leads for youths of all colors and stripes. Plumbing, electrician, HVAC, machining, etc. GOOD PAYING jobs, begging for somebody to come and DO them.
I suspect that equaviator was talking about the the industry that makes machine tools, not the machinists themselves.
I admit to not knowing anything except to suspect that sentiment may be true.
What is your take on it?
The median pay for machinists is $41,510 per year?
In CA that would come out to about 22k after taxes.
In the SF Bay Area, machinists make well over $100k a year. The key is to know advanced programming and to stay current on the rapidly changing technology.
Even at 100k, in SF that comes to about 55k per year. You can’t even buy a home in SF on that.
That's exactly right. When I got out of the Marine Corps, I had a choice. Go to a four-year college and go back to living with my parents in the meantime or acquire a skill fast and get out into the workforce to make some money. So what I did was get a job and then went to night school learning a trade (electronics and computer repair). My daytime employer reimbursed 80% of it and my military college benefit (VEAP) covered the rest. Within two years, I had my certifications and was making as much as any college graduate with zero debt in student loans.
A college education is a good thing and I did end up taking college courses at night and cobbled together enough credits for a business degree which got me on the management track. But my advice to young people today is to only go to college if you are going to learn a profession, such as engineering, law or medicine. Don't waste your money on college loans if you are going to major in something stupid like Liberal Arts, Fashion Design or Sociology. If you got rich parents who will foot the whole bill, go for it, but don't expect to set the world on fire in the workplace.
I think if more kids got to see, up close, what skilled trades operators actually do, they would become interested in "vocational" (what a "weasel" word) education.
I had Wood Shop in 7th Grade; Metal Shop in 8th Grade; Drafting in 9th Grade. Those were the greatest classes ever. It’s such a shame they all fell by the wayside in so many school districts across the US.
I hope to go to night school for industrial applications and some machine type stuff early next year.
I’m getting burned out on IT.
Couple that with some 3d modeling for 3d printing and you'll be in business. You could design both subtractive (material removal) and additive (3d printing) prototyping & manufacturing.
It’s been 15 years since I or anyone else in the shop I worked at, put any tool in any machine that wasn’t Made in China, down to the lowly drill bit.
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