Please dont misunderstand me. As a Production Manager I do not set the wages for the company , that is the Company President and General Managers responsibility. Additionally I stated "good" CNC machinist...Not "Exceptional"..or "Brillant"...or "Top Notch". And as a 30 yrs veteran in the trade I have worked with all the above. And in my opion no one above average should be worth less than 20.00/Hr.
However in looking at the Poll percentages it is interesting to note how close
all the wage windows exist. And that the lowest margin is in the UPPER wage bracket. I since this is primaraly a result of geographic location as opposed to any experience level valued result. Supply and demand can drive the winds of wages as well as the value of our properties. Unfortunately this can give some a false since of value realitive to there true value in the trade.(Either + or -)
As stated by tobyaxis in an earlier post
BTW: Most of the people I meet in Shops call themselves First Class Machinists, but they are nothing more than Overpaid Glorified Machine Operators, nothing more.
Here is a Test.
1) Go to a Mill guy and ask him to make an Arbor for an Indexing Head.
2) Go to a Lathe guy and ask him to make a Fixture for holding an irregular shaped part that need to be Turned.
3) Ask both to Sharpen a Drill buy hand.
4) Ask both to make a Gear on a Bridgeport.
5) Ask both to the other's Job for one day.
Try these and see what results you get. Chances are you will get a puzzled look or a "That's Not My Job" answer.
The answer you should get is NONE, they just go and do what was asked.
That is a Machinist!!!!!!
YAAAAAA......Well put tobyaxis
This is the Machinist I feel is VERY difficult to find at any wage!
But as I stated in my post earlier, I have a hard time even finding "good machinst".
CNC machinist with
good milling and turning capabilities, tooling and planning abilities coupled with inspection plate skills will bring 16.00-20.00+/Hr. But WHERE ARE THEY.