[afr33sl4ve]

Hi guys,

I want to make this my first post, due to the spam (hyperlinks) filter.

The actual post will be in post #2.

[afr33sl4ve]

Hi guys,

I stumbled across this site when I searched "CNC Machinist School" via Google. This site is literally the 5th hit on the first page. Massive kudos to the site owner(s) and the community.

Anyway, I'm currently stuck in a cube working for a company who has archaic, and draconian policies for what they think IT should be. Let me tell you... It sucks. They want A done with as little resources possible while adhering to policy B which can't be done unless we throw policy C on it. That would be great if we had the manpower to carry out policy B and the training on the end users' part to carry out policy C. So that policy D doesn't get hammered down on us.

Yeah, it's a mess.

My supervisor, while perusing CNN, came across this article. He thought of me and shared it. I think it'd be a great step forward for me, as I can really use the increase of pay, and I love working with my hands.

Yeah, I'd miss the 40 hours a week of surfing the net -- working. But, the trade off of A) actually working, B) working with my hands, and C) feeling that I'm earning my pay, would be worth it. Call me old school minded (23 years old), living in modern times. Don't get me wrong, I love getting lost in technology, I just don't like making a living off of it.

Problem being, I can't seem to find a decent school in my area (Tucson, AZ, USA), as well as a decent employer.

Pima CC offers a certificate program that takes a little more than 2 years to complete (44 credits in total), which I think is a little more than necessary, in my opinion. Many people are going into this profession with as little as 9 months of schooling.

And, a little about myself;

I'm married to a beautiful wife, and we have a lovely daughter who is very quickly reaching the age of 1 year old.

My wife is enrolled in school full-time and makes what little she can selling items on eBay. I work, essentially, a 12 hour day (I'm including the bus ride to and from work), and can't fit much more time into my day. The wife has the car, which we just bought and are making payments on.

All in a nutshell, I'm looking to actually work for a better pay ($12/hour, currently), while not interrupting my wife's life too much.

I want to get my feet wet right away, then start swimming a slow marathon as I get settled into the profession.

By the way, this thread is what led me to registering, and eventually, making this post.

I sincerely appreciate what anyone can offer, and I will humbly heed every bit of advice, criticism, comment, and/or suggestion.

[bostosh]

I sincerely appreciate what anyone can offer, and I will humbly heed every bit of advice, criticism, comment, and/or suggestion.

Good to hear.

Do Cartesian coordinates, 3view drawings, analytic and plane geometry
ring any bells?
Do you like do know how things work, how things come into existence?
Have you done woodworking?
Are you ok with boredom, brain exercises, frustration?

You may have a chance if so.

[afr33sl4ve]

1) Yes, they do. In fact, I spent quite some time using almost all of those mentioned building vehicles in a game -- "physics simulator." Specifically, Rigs of Rods. Continued in answer 4.

2) Heh, I tend to drive my wife crazy picking things apart and almost putting them back together. There's no fun in it if it goes back the same way.

3) The extent of my woodworking is putting together the wooden fence that made the perimeter of my backyard. However, I will not shy away from anything challenging.

4) It's how I function. I get bored, I pick something apart, try to put it together, get frustrated when it doesn't work the first time, backtrack, repeat steps, repeat until done.

[underthetire]

Well, it seems like a good profession at first Are you mechanically inclined? Can you convert fractions to decimal in your head?

There are lots of positions in the machining field, programmer, operator, setup, de bur hand, scheduler, inspection, and what I eventually did, get out and fix equipment. Dealers are always looking for repair guys, I enjoyed it for years. Different location every day, usually home at night, but not always, working on the newest equipment. Then age sets in, and changing ballscrews and spindles no longer becomes fun, its hard on the joints. Then you find a place to work, specializing in what you want to do, and slowly live out your working years till retirement. I made it to the latter one, designing systems for machine tools, only repairing electrical on equipment, and training others. Only 20 years to go!

[afr33sl4ve]

I can... to a degree. The easy fractions (1/2, 1/4, 3/4, etc) are no problem. I can, for the most part, remember which buttons to press in order to convert a fraction in decimal using a basic calculator.

I want to say I'm mechanically inclined, however, the lack of (proper) tools, the lack of work space, and the lack of things to work on have taken their toll. :\

[aarggh]

The only thing to be wary of is that a lot of these courses in "extending peoples (especially mature age) careers into new fields" are:

1 - usually painting a much rosier picture than the market actually represents
2 - promising jobs, but if you have trouble at the end it must be something wrong with you, or your just too fussy
3 - are quite often part of a targeted campaign taking advantage of a public mis-conception, based on some obscure bit of government funding to alleviate a defiency of some aspect of a field.
4 - you don't end up acruing a massive debt that for all intents and purposes will be far greater than your likely to earn if you get a job in the field.

I ran into all the same problems when I went to RMIT, we were part of the "electronics and micro revolution" that were very highly in demand, and would have employers smashing our doors down to fight over us when finished, but in reality we couldn't even give our time and skills away for free when it came down to it. Many of the guys who did these streams ended up in very low paid junior or entry jobs, with very long hours and not much future and they acrued huge HECS debts that will take many of them 5-10 years to pay off. Those that ended up getting a job in a related field that is. Most ended up changing careers totally and did far better. Some jobs I saw for qualified technicians actually paid less than McDonalds! And with more hours usually!

I see the same exact things occuring year after year in a multitude of fields. You need to ask around, even go to factories or shops and ask their opinion on the merits of the course, and whether they would look favourably at those sorts of qualifications in hiring someone, seriously! You'll be surprised at just how helpful people can be when you show you are genuinely motivated. This could also lead to a call back, or the offer of paid part time work, or just plain common sense knowledge in the related field.

I'm not at all trying to dissuade you from expanding your skills or education, this is absolutely, very, very important and should always be encouraged, but training is only part of the overall picture and these are the sorts of things you need to consider, what is the post graduate support like, what is the hiring rate of full time jobs in the field you want to train in, etc, etc. Just keep in the back of your mind that unless they are a non-profit social org, they aren't there to help you, they are there to make money by extracting money from people, and assuring people of rosier futures is how they do it. You need to be sure you can make their system work for your benefit, otherwise it's a loss of time and money.

One other thing that is absolutely essential, is networking, if you go down that path, get some time in offering low or free services to a local shop, if your lucky, you'll at least pick up valuable skills, get a good reference, or even possibly a job through the shop. It's a very small world in every industry, and getting a good reputation with a business owner can sometimes be as valuable as doing the course due to the contacts that these people build up over the years. A handful of paper references looks good, but a phone call from a fellow machine shop could be all that's needed to seal the deal. I very heartily wish you the best of luck! Just having a go is half the battle.

cheers,
Ian

[afr33sl4ve]

Now, that's some helpful information. Thanks.


What search terms would one use to look up shops in a certain area? I live in Tucson, AZ, and I know that some schools exist in the Phoenix area (thus, leading to the assumption that there are shops, too). I cannot exactly make regular trips, as that would tally up quite the gas bill.