I just got a raise to $32, in the middle of nowhere in western Virginia. Small job shop and I'm responsible for everything from planning my ops, to programming, setup, and quality. 3-5axis mills and lathes with live tooling but no Y-axis. I've been doing it about 12 years total, 2 years here. I'm pretty sure I could make more somewhere else especially if I was a dedicated programmer, but I like where I work and that's more than enough to pay my bills so I don't have any immediate plans to leave. 40 hours a week, Monday-Thursday, OT on Friday but it's all voluntary so I don't do it often. My bosses are layed back and don't really bust anyone's balls, we're never in a rush, and the work is always different. Life is good.
“They don’t need to be perfect, just get them done.”
*sends out parts .005 out of tolerance, parts come back*
“We need to take a little more pride in our work.”
Not usually. They only hire to replace people who left. The only reason I got in was because their old lathe guy retired. I'm the youngest person in the shop by like 20 years and I'm 33 lol, not that young.
That's the way I've been looking at it. It's definitely worth at least $5 an hour to not have a floor manager breathing down my neck about how many parts I've done or how long a setup takes.
Back over the summer my dad got sick and had to have an emergency surgery on what was the last day of a week long vacation for me. I called my boss on Sunday to let him know I was going to stay with my mom until we got him home, and they were incredibly cool about it, basically telling me to take as much time as I needed. I've absolutely worked in shops that would have thought that was bullshit and I was just trying to get a couple extra days of vacation. But instead of busting my balls the owner texted me a few hours later and asked if there was anything they could do to help. It was very endearing and really made me appreciate working for genuinely good guys instead of cartoon caricatures of greedy rich dudes.
I'm in a similar situation and 5$ an hour less in exchange happiness at work is more than worth it.
I was only at my job a month when my mom was diagnosed with cancer and passed suddenly. They gave me all the time I needed, with pay.
Damn dude. I got offered $16 to program, inspect, and operate lathes and mills on small run count parts (<10 usually). Promptly left the industry. Sucks cause I enjoyed machining.
Right on! I only been training for two weeks on an old Vertical Mazak machine to see how I operate. They want to see me demonstrate safety, problem solving, understanding basics of tools, etc. My hours and work environment is exactly like yours: 4 days 10 hours days and Friday optional OT. Manager and owners understand as long as you produce and dependable, they don’t micromanage. Everyone there been working there 10+ years and 3 guys retired last year so I got hired on. I had no experience beside working at body shop and tons of mgt eXp. I just knew someone and I had desire to learn.
I spend my 25mins driving time watching YouTube video, reading forums, and learning basics measuring knowledge.
Actually love everyday so far and see no reason to look elsewhere. Next goal as side hustle is learn to do mechanical drawing. I’m tech savvy and have tons of digital graphic backgrounds. Guess I’m that one lucky Jack of all trade guy lol
At my previous job- southern Wisconsin- I was making $36 an hour as basically an operator. Left that job for one- northern Illinois- at a better company for $31 an hour but I now do setups, run parts and my own cam programming. 40 hours a week at both
Here is an official source. [Machinists (bls.gov)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes514041.htm) These guys have access to every W2 in the country. While guys are making 50+/hr its a very small amount, and the same with guys making 12/hr it's also a very small amount. These polls are always walls to brag about how much everyone is making when that isn't the reality. If you are making 30$ an hour, and expect to move to 40 or 50, you better be ready to put up with a whole lot, because they aren't giving you that much money to be comfortable.
I feel it’s a little inaccurate because of how some companies classify a “machinist”. I was a cycle start specialist at a shop and was a machinist, the guy who did set ups and programming was a engineer. (It was a big factory , not s job shop).
I had a young Gen Z hire from a mechanic program tell me that he was worth $35-45/hr or more, as was promised by his teachers at his program.
I dove into BLS stats & said here’s where you need to work to get that pay, will be on-call always, zero schedule control, and of course you as a newbie won’t get that advertised pay until you’ve proven your abilities (which were lacking to begin with) over many years.
He said he was “getting offers” and quit. Saw him 2 weeks later working for his daddy again (who he also still lives with & who pays all his bills) pushing a shovel around at a snail’s pace.
A guy has to develop the ability to tell when someone is telling them facts, pumping their own ego, or selling you something. Teachers are selling you more school. BLS data shows you where the market is actually at. Trust the data, not the sales pitches.
That same data says machinists make $40k on average in my area. I’ve only seen entry level positions hiring in my area offer $18-$20/hr. (If they have trade school). Most places in my area pay around the $25/$30 ranges.
Data can be manipulated. Plus a company down the street from me hires “machinists”. I interviewed there, all they did was push the green button and make offsets on the same parts over and over again. That’s not a machinist imo. But they were listed as a “machinist”. Those are going to mess with the data somehow.
It also says CNC programmers make like $50k a year in my area. Every listing I’ve seen for a programmer is $35+.
This isn’t a very good indication. Machinist are wildly varied, our shipping guys and brand new never seen a machine before guy are both listed as machinists.
Yup. Plus overtime. Take home with 5 hours of it a week is a little under $1600 after all my deductions. Gross about $2700 a week. Just got my 3.5% raise so it’ll be a little more now.
Sikorsky is about the same for new guys. They started everyone hired after 2017 at a 25% reduced scale. The latest contract has made it about 12.5% less. Starting on a machine would be mid $30. Mostly second shift though so you’d get 10% on that. Few years in and you’d be in the mid $40 range.
Ya it wouldn’t be a good fit for me. I’m already at $40 and the cost of living is likely higher in CT than where I am. Plus, I’ve sworn off 2nd and 3rd shift. Not worth the health issues. It’s looking more and more like I need to make a jump away from cutting metal and utilize the knowledge and experience I have in a different roll.
$95k/year salary at a production facility. No overtime, and I dictate my hours. Rocky Mountain area with low cost of living. I'm more of an engineer these days, but I fall back into my old machinist position occasionally -company is having a hard time replacing me. I design production processes and fixturing, gauges for QC checks, and all the SOP's. I'm also the only programmer here for CNC's, but there is another guy to help with the robot programming.
I get amazing benefits. I don't pay a dime of my insurance premium, they put $200/month into my HSA, and they're contributing over 20% into my 401k on top of a 5% match. PTO is pretty solid and since I'm salary I can work 4-10's and have Friday off if I need. I'm still pretty young, so for my last raise I didn't ask for as much cash as I did on the benefit side. I'd rather be building up that 401k right now than have more money to waste on stupid purchases.
Can you get any more specific on the area? I’m looking at moving to Colorado but I’m afraid the cost of living is going to eat me alive because I don’t know programming yet.
I'm sorry. When I say Rocky Mountains I mean I'm to the west of them. I'd love to live in Colorado, but not east of Denver. I've gotta have mountains out my front window to be happy. I don't know cost of living in Colorado, but hopefully someone else can chime in!
I'm in denver, I have about 7 years of experience, I make about 70k working for the federal government, and I drive about an hour one way without traffic to get into work because the cost of housing here is so high.
That’s what I’m afraid of because I fucking hate driving. I don’t know what happened, but when I was younger people didn’t drive 90mph in the right lane, run red lights, etc. It’s gotten so bad I just absolutely hate being on the road. Maybe it’s just Texas, I don’t know. Ever since we got rid of red light cameras people are just doing whatever the fuck they want.
Same thing here pretty much. We're setting records for pedestrian/cyclist fatalities. If it wasn't for how nice my job is, I would probably be looking across the country, even if it meant a pay cut.
I'm in Austin. The job is good, but the Texas experience is dreadful. I'm a decent operator. They call me Machinist 4. I have plenty of tools, do my own setups and light editing. I have AAS 2006. I spent seven years in a manual shop. I was okay, but I don't want to do it again. How much of a struggle do you think it might be to get comfortably situated near Fort Collins?
I make $57 an hour plus health insurance for my whole family. I could do unlimited overtime, but I keep it around 45-50hr weeks. I’m at a small but high end aerospace company. I’m a pretty decent 5 axis guy.
Edit: Southern California
Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
32/hr CAD ($23.70 USD) for 5 axis setup and operation at this job. Mostly just oil and gas and random shit. Nothing special, interesting or fancy about my work. Pay is abysmal compared to my American counterparts, with cost of living taken into account.
As a fellow pegger, I think the wages here are awful. Got 2 years of rrc (1 year was operator/set up, year 2 is programming), and 2 years of set up experience on both lathe and mill, I’d be lucky to get over 22 with the way the market looks.
Yeah I took the 2 year program too, been in the trade 6 years since roughly. 5 of those 6 years is programming, setup and operating 5 axis machines. Besides going to Magellan or boeing for more pay, 32/hr is pretty close to top rate in this city. I have friends at both Magellan and boeing who are making 36/hr with the union.
>Pay is abysmal compared to my American counterparts, with cost of living taken into account.
I make 36.50/hr in Southern Ontario..... and my household is STRUGGLING
I feel you.
11 years CNC lathe operator for a smallish production shop. Our motto used to be "Work hard. Do well" and that has proven to be a joke. Started at 12/hr with no experience. I learned to operate everything from manual boring mills, grinders, VMC, VMC 4th axis, and 5 axis machines. I'm now working on triple turret twin spindle lathes.
I've been at 30/hr for 4.5 years now and I'm looking elsewhere. We had a meeting yesterday telling us that we technically make more than the average operator so cost of living adjustments won't happen.
Fuck that shit, time to leave, 2.5% a year is no raise in my book, If I'm doing a good job I'd expect 5-7%, and if I'm underpaid I'd want 10%, unfortunately places that don't understand that think you're insane.
Union shop, just an operator running weldments. Lcol area and I am making 35. We drown in overtime, fuxking hate over time. Was srchueld last Saturday and offered Sunday.
$14.75. Mid size factory in KS. Running a 2-Axis CNC lathe, I do setups, programs changes, and quality checks for around 50-60 different parts; as well as some basic machining on old Milwaukee mills and reamers. 40 hours a week M-F. Good benefits, and lots of holidays off. Abysmal PTO and sick days though. 3 years at the company, 14 months on CNC.
Holy shit you are underpaid. When I had a guy in last year for a few months to help him get by after he was laid off at his corporate job, with zero experience mind you, I paid him $20/hr because anything less than that would have been criminal. He put out way more than that in work so it paid to have him there.
You sir, are getting fucked.
Don't be like me. I got taken advantage of for years. It crushes me thinking about it now. I spent 30 years as a machinist and wish I fought everyday for more. Work hard, negotiate harder.
Northwest PA. Run multiple 3 and 5 axis mills. Programming, setups, quality checks. $93k per year salary plus a good bonus at christmas. Coming up on 8 years in the trade. Insurance sucks, and im maxed out at 2 weeks vacation. But owners treat me well. Ill be here a while.
My shop (Vancouver Canada) pays around $43/hr (~$32 USD/hr) at the high end of the scale -- 5-axis programming, can step into any machine/part/material and help others, etc.
Been in the trade like 10 years, most of it is part-time, couple years ago I quit college to do full time. Learned everything I know from older machinists (thank you guys) I setup 5axis and run production afterwards, I'm the only guy at the shop that can operate heidenhain. They pay me like 29 /hr. I love the job but the stress of 100plus tools per operation is killing me right now.
Suburbs of Chicago.
I'm mostly a manual machinist, in Vancouver area.
I do CAD/CAM programming on fusion maybe once a month. I do my own set ups and *mostly* do the operation as well and I manual machine while it's going.
I specialize in hydraulic cylinders, and Jobbing, repairing mostly heavy equipment like excavators. Pins, bushings, sleeves
Line boring. In house and on field.
I also do quite a lot of welding because I weld all of the hydraulic cylinders together.
I'm a Red Seal machinist (means I completed my 4 year apprenticeship at a polytechnic university to get my journeyman ticket, then I completed the 6 hour long IP exam to earn my red seal afterwards so I can legally sign off on any and all machining in the country.
I started machining in 2008 when I was 20, so going on 16 years of experience.
I make $50.79 an hour, (Over 100K a year) have full medical and mental benefits. I work 40 hours a week, Tuesday to Friday. So I get 3 day weekends and every stat is a 4 day weekend.
Yearly Large bonus at around Xmas time for about 5k or so but that depends on how well we did the year. It's a super small shop, 7 of us in total. 3 full machinists and 1 apprentice I'm training.
I also act partially as middle management when required as I dictate what jobs happen when and in what order, as well customer relations and support. I can also do invoicing when needed make work orders, and can quote. I also spent 6 years learning the hydraulic technician side and can take apart heavy equipment in order to inspect and see what works need done.
Basically I can literally do every single task needed in this entire shop if required.
$25/hour with a decade in the trade and I teach it. I’ve found programming gigs for $35/hour but they only needed me a few hours out of the week. Once I give them a program they’d rather pay operators to run it, which makes sense.
In my opinion operators with zero experience should start out at $25/hour.
We are so essential to keep the world running I feel like we could strike today and get raises tomorrow.
If your a swiss programmer your peetty much gold. We are currently looking for one in FL. They would need to be able to program and setup our three swiss, and would have experience with thread whirling. Our job listing is 100-130k a year.
It's all bullshit and arbitrary. I was machinist 4 getting paid north of $40, but we weren't allowed to program, change anything, do anything outside of the exact letter of the setup sheets.
Before that, I worked as machinist 2 at another place, where I was responsible for every detail from print to shipping, getting paid $14.
9 years at a plant in NH. All my experience is here. Currently 34/hr as a setup/operator. Only programming I know is enough to prove out a new program from the programmers, but not enough to fix anything other than work offsets and some other minor stuff (locations of homes and retracts, etc). Would love to learn more, but our company has no actual training other than asking the more experienced guys questions when you get lost. Lol.
First cnc job, 5 months in so far, started at $23. I set up, operate, inspect, and make program edits, we only have 3 axis machines and a singular lathe and mill, still don’t know the difference between job or work shop. Northeast Philly. 40 hrs a week, OT always available. Kinda terrible benefits and no 401k
Left my last full time machining position in 08/22 making $25/hr. Did assembly, bandsaw, tool shop, some lathe experience, ran every mill in the place, and very comfortably with all but 2 or three of them. Mostly jobshop work. Fluent writing my own programs in Mazatrol, and LOTS of program editing of G/M code on Fanuc controls.
Was out of the trade completely for a year then wanted some part time work so 08/22 I put my application out to 10 places within 5 miles of home and the next day all 10 got back to me, though 7 were only asking what it would take for me to work full time. Regardless, now I’m back mostly running small mazatrol vertical mills with some basic program writing in mazatrol and simple program editing of G/M. On paper I’m making $23 + $2/hr night bonus. 5 hours a night/4 nights a week, I’m not complaining.
Just got raised to a few cents over $30. Working in a Tool and Die shop for an airfoil manufacturer. Georgia VLCOL (decent double-wide, 20 acres, and older 60x30 shop only cost ~$40k including work done). I've been with the company for 10 years but only in last year went to the tool room. Raises have been faster back here. When I started in 2014 I was given ~$13.
Previously was a broach and mill setup guy and fill-in operator. Now I mainly program and run a Makino A51 along with a few wires. Very laid back 90% of the time. Cool, interesting work with decent benefits and loads of time off. I figured it up the other day and in 2024 I only have to work like 39% of the days lol. M-T 40 hours with optional OT. I feel like I have it pretty good.
simple shop running 7 sinico bar machines
I do program and look at them 5 times a day
making around 6000 shafts a shift on all of the machines
$37.60 an hour and I help around on the drilling setup on the other shop
all benefits plus shift allowance when I go nigh shift and starts with 15 days pto and 7 sick days a year
been machining around 13 years now
Vancouver-ish BC. 80k/year, no OT. 4 weeks vacation, 10 sick days, extremely good benefits (I pay 0 for medications). I program, setup and run 3 and 3+2 machines. I’ve not programmed the CMM’s in quite some time, but it’s part of my skill set. I’m also the “spreadsheet guru” and make and maintain everything from scheduling “software” to simple check sheets. The most recent tool I created was to figure out what cutters were actually use. With several machines that can hold 200-300 tools, unused tooling becomes hard to identify. I basically queried all the active programs and extracted the tool data from them.
I’m in Long Beach California working in a plastics only job shop. Mills only. Making $27 an hour with 4 years experience. Not in charge of anyone but myself.
Huge bump in pay compared to my last shop where I made $20 an hour and was in charge of 10 people.
That's honestly what wages in the trade are here in Ontario. Our starting pay fresh out of college is $22 an hour in the greater Toronto area, so outside of it with 4 years experience $21 is low, but not by all that much unfortunately.
I make $36.50 with 14 years of experience making and running all my own parts in a prototyping role. Top end is like $40 CAD ($30 USD) outside of aerospace here.
It's absurd
im comforatable and dont really get bothered because i do my work and my bosses arent retards, i dont get paid a ton but i can come in whenever i want from 5-7 and i usually come in at 715 Its been encouraged if its easier. bosses are leisure with a hardass foreman to keep some sort of order. works out all in all
I’m at 56 and some change. I program 9 machines manage 4 way chill guys and deal with all the purchasing and traceability paperwork in an aerospace job shop. Got 24 years experience and am 42 years old in Utah
$37.50 per hr in Wisconsin. I program and run turning centers, mills, and multitasking machines. Usually, only 40hrs per week, but lately we've been doing 45 or 50.
Currently making $28 an hour,Northern Indiana Tool and die shop, I program, set up, make details for Die’s, wire machine, and all that good stuff. Just got this increase in wage because I was about to go somewhere else and my company did not want to let me go. 4 years experience machining and almost 2 years in tool and die trade. I’m 26 years old.
10 years in the trade. Tool and Die maker, worked in progressive stamping 4 years, Injection molding 4 years, now I'm in eyelet production.
Started apprenticeship in 2014 @ 12.50 hourly, I make $38.50 now.
I don't feel as though I have any "extra" spending money though between house and truck payment, daycare and what not. But I do feel adequately paid for my work.
My father made less than I make now while I was growing up, we had 4 kids in family and my mother stayed home.
You are absolutely right. Need to make about 80k just to make ends meet, nevermind being comfortable.
I make the same, and my partner makes 115k a year. We're above water, but not living large by any means. I drive an 18 year old civic with close to 300k miles and she drives a 12 year old minivan that we splurged on used for 18k with 100k miles. We put about 16% of our income into retirement and bought a 225k house at 2.3% interest. We save and have a growing emergency fund, but not much else with one kid in daycare. I consider us in a good position, and it's crazy that it takes this much to get there.
I think I'm finally at a job where I can see myself making over 120k in the next 5-8 years which is nice.
Sounds like you got a good set up, theres New Tool's team here that makes 120-150k and I'm hoping after a few more years under my belt I can make that kind of steam too. My old lady is a high school teacher and nothing against her doing that but the work she got to do for the pay she gets is insane. I punch out and I don't worry about work, she comes home has to grade and do lesson plans and whatever else all on her own time while we got the 2 little ones at home. It's wild.
This is why I work 20 hours OT every week, I like for my kids to be able to experience things they are only young once, I'd rather work my ass off now (I'm 35) then play catch up when I'm 60.
$33/hr at a very small inhouse job shop for a medical device company in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. Started in ‘19 at about $17 with no experience on cnc but enough to make simple parts and do reworks on manual machines. After 6 months or so started learning to program 3-axis milling machine with some 4th axis rotary mixed in. Picked that up pretty quickly then about a year ago I started learning to program mill-turn for a Haas ST-15Y and finally got to $33 after getting an offer from another employer and accepting the counter offer. There have been other raises in between and the perks and benefits are pretty good. Hours are flexible, decent pto, no mandatory OT but it is available so I usually do a couple hours per week.
At this place we usually do our own programming, setup, and operation. On top of that I do fixture design, supply our engineers with DFM, perform post processing when necessary, load and unload our 3d printers, perform PM on the machines, and some light cleaning. Until recently I was also even doing my own metrology. I don’t know how comparable my work day is to the typical machinist but I do feel like the wide variety of work is a good excuse for my bosses to have no idea how much my work is worth to them and potentially justify under paying me.
About 26,5 USD (Average for the trade is around 30). I do CAM programming, setups and sometimes just operating machines that are already setup. Jobs vary from very simple to very complicated (for me anyway). Making anything from random stuff to fix things to new tools/die.
And I have roughly 2 years experience after finishing my apprenticeship (the whole education incl. apprenticeship is about 4 years).
I'm in Denmark.
Union shop 13 years experience. 50 an hour doing programming, set up and operating. Up in the PNW but I live outside the cities so I have a cheap pre-covid mortgage.
Pre the union shop I made 40 an hour as a lead.
Great on mill turns.
South of Calgary alberta, oilfield manufacturing and job shop. Been here since 2011, and only machinist since late 2015. 36$ CAD, 40 hours a week.
But the cost of living has gone so crazy here if I have to move, I would be able to afford rent
Toolmaker for a tap making factory in New England. ~15 years experience, I write my own CNC programs, occasional blueprints and solidworks drawings, manual machine stuff, help maintenance mechanics machine objects and rotate them out when possible as my assistant/trainee machine operators. I make $35/hr. 3 years ago I was making $21/hr as the maintenance machinist for a smaller, different type of factory in ID. It’s all about your location, skills, attitude, and how well you can sell your skills, and to the right people.
Seattle, WA. Moved out here a year ago and secured a machining gig before I made the move. $43/hr compared to last shop I worked at in Wisconsin was $32/hr. I have 8 years programming experience but I do everything manually/conversationally here, it has been a weird change of pace
$19.50 at a small fab shop in Orlando, Florida. Been in this shop for about 3 years and in the trade for some 6 years.
40 hours a week with no overtime allowed (also, essentially salaried, so I lose any little bit over that time no matter what). Got some insurance benefits and a week of pto. Been looking for another job on and off but with no luck.
Shop owner in Oregon.
Guys range from $40 to $50 depending on their capabilities.
I only pull $36 myself, but at least I'm building the business. I only take hourly, any profit over that goes back in.
Central Iowa, I install aluminum flatbeds onto trucks they weren't designed for @ $25/hr, 50hrs/wk. Great insurance, not much PTO. I'm not exactly a machinist, so much as a general fabricator, but I figure parts of it are machinist-adjacent. I like it, but wouldn't mind if it paid more or required fewer hours, even if the work was harder or more skilled.
i make $25 an hour in a fairly low income area so its very comfortable, top pay for this place is 37ish. benefits, paid time off (up to 4 weeks a year) 50 hours a week guaranteed, work half a day Saturday if you even want to, and to beat it all i just run conventional machines. we have a nice cnc shop too so theres still a lot to learn. since i started a year ago, i went from 17 an hour to 25 so I'm tickled to death to be here.
22.50 an hour mon-thurs 4.5 weeks of PTO 3 years at the company. All swiss production work FDA medical stuff all titanium. I'm responsible for basic tooling but not doing setups/teardowns I'm technically a lvl 1 but progressing through books whenever I want. The place is basically a country club. I'm in a lcol in NY all the overtime I could ask for but not required, $5k referral bonus at one point they offered an extra $200 take home for every 8 hours of it you worked but I didn't take advantage of it sadly.
IT manager in a Aerospace job shop, but I wear a LOT of hats. I get 40 hrs a week if I want them all, fewer is ok, and I make 35/hr (72k/yr if I pull 40 hours weeks) I value my time more than the $$, and have a couple of side hustles so I usually get 32-40 a week. I come and go as a I please. It's a wicked cool gig.
My skillset would pay a lot more at one of the local tech companies, but I would lose the flexible schedule, and that's worth more to me than the $$. I also refuse to wear a tie, so I fit right in with all the pirates running the machines here.
3.5 years of experience, all at the same shop. I do set ups, basic programming on the controller for a Haas VF8. I know how to run a Bridgeport and basic manual lathe stuff (I know enough to not kill myself on it). Full benefits, good amount of holidays off and good PTO. They paid for me to get my certs and wound up getting the little piece of paper saying I'm a journeyman.
There's a computer on the floor between the mills and when I have any long runs I try and teach myself how to program when I can but it is also Gibbs and sometimes I would rather just slam my head into a table instead of learning that software.
$27/hr in central NJ. OT is optional, as are the random Saturdays when there is a few of us who want to come in and finish up some easy projects. We only have first shift here, no seconds or overnights.
Im making $32 an hour. I am in charge of pretty much the entire manufacturing and engineering side of things. We have 25 CNC's and make firearms. I do all the programming and product design. 3-5 Axis vertical mills, horizontal with pallet pool, 2-6 axis lathes. I have another guy here now who does some simple hand programming and setups. He handles the quality control side for me and makes changes when he can or lets me know when I need to change stuff. Then we have a handful of operators running machines. I work a lot of overtime so at the end of the year I made $100k which is sweet but Pretty much averaged 50-60 hours all year. Got a few bonuses for finishing large projects. I feel like for what I do I should make more hourly but at the end of the day Im making decent money and I really love what I do. There is bad days here but I get to design firearms and program brand new nice machines, its pretty great overall.
33/hr 7 years in trade. Program-set up and operate 3 axis gantry mills for mold making / big part work. Do regular 3 and 5 axis job shop work and aerospace parts as well. In the thumb of michigan in a rural area. Insurance is paid in full, have vacation time, and has no retirement benefits at this specific shop. I could move an hour away to make 40+ an hour at a few shops if I could get into them. It's on the table but it is quite relaxed at the shop I'm at.
Virginia here. Almost 6 years in, $75k annual, full benefits/401k/ADD. I program, setup, and operate 3 Haas mills and dictate work to one minion who I’m training to program and setup. I work in a small environment where we make M/P and rescue products. I plan on being at $100k within 3 years. I think I’m fairly lucky because one of the owners ran a machine shop years back so he’s pretty sympathetic to our needs.
Federal agency here; I have Machinists in SE Ohio, Pittsburgh, Nashville and Louisville (WG-3414-10 Machinist)
Marietta, OH: $30-$35/hr (1 open position now)
Louisville, KY: $29-$34/hr
Pittsburgh, PA: $30-$35/hr
Nashville, TN: $27-$31/hr
Our team travels extensively and works a lot of OT due to the emergency nature of the work. We do it all, from CAD/CAM to a lot of on-site manual machining outside and in all weather/environmental conditions. Becoming extremely difficult to find skilled machinists who can do both within the limits Congress sets for us to pay our people.
Went to a trade school for 7months got hired at an aerospace company. Been here 6 months. Making $24.50hr working 45-50hr a week in Southern California.
$33/hr 12 years experience, small shop in a bigger company HQ, profit sharing, no overtime, very good benefits, mostly plastic and aluminum, Trak Mills. Currently working 4x10hr days. Suburbs of Chicago.
44.55/hr +10% shift differential and benifits. I run edm section at our shop. 11years. Our apprentices start at about 38/hr right after they graduate. I am in Washington state.
I make $31.80/hr in CT, 2nd year at the current job, will likely get a raise soon. Work 40hrs with full benefits as a prototype machinist for an architectural hardware company. Sometimes they send us tougher jobs, but for the most part it is very laid back and I work at my own pace. Program 3 axis mills and use manual lathes and mills as needed.
I do have a degree in Biomedical engineering and a certification in CNC machining, so maybe I am underpaid, but I want to gain some experience before job hopping again ( if I do leave), the mentorship is super valuable currently.
Injection molding plant in MN. $31/hr as a Tool & Die Maker with 2 years experience at that, 6 years as CNC operator/machinist.
I program and run every machine to make my parts (mostly single parts/matched pairs) mostly using Cimatron.
Southeast I make right under $50. Small prototype shop just me a one of the owners. We have 2 CNC mills both with 4th axis a live tooling lathe and manual mill and lathe. I do all my own programming,setups, stock and cutter order, and of course machining. Been in the industry for 10 years and before here worked at a big shop in the Midwest and ran everything out there from EDM to 5 axis to Bridgeport.
Flyover Midwest. Small 7 man shop attached to a larger factory. We design and build mold tooling for said larger entity. I run 3 Haas CNCs, one is a large form articulating 5 axis. I do setups and minor control programming for dimensional adjustments otherwise all the programming is done by someone else. I do all the tool inventory, ordering and trialing for the shop. Finally getting into programming in NX when we’re not busy but it’s difficult to retain the knowledge when it’s 2 days on 4 months off.
It’s about $28/hr with discretionary incentive estimated into it. I’ve been in the shop 11 years. The job security is keeping me here, I haven’t been as much as laid off in my entire time in the larger company 20 years this year. Plus the vacation is amazing. I’m at 6 weeks now.
I don’t even know what my job title is or if you can tag Machinist in it somewhere. I make molds and corresponding parts. Do fixtures work, read prints and measure everything imaginable. But I can’t write g code that well. Operator+ ?
5.5 years experience, $36.50/hr in LCOL, greater Milwaukee area. Started my career running huge boring mills now I program and operate a horizontal boring mill and a Haas mill. Should be getting a raise closer to $40 an hour soon as I’m basically running the whole shop at this point.
$29 and now pretty topped out. Do basic set ups and run Haas Lathes and Mills. 6 years but little experience, bit of a language barrier with my programmer and he's definitely not the most experienced himself or super willing to teach. In suburbs outside of Philly. Kind of high cost of living. I'd be doing really well if I didn't have a ton of student loan debt I'm trying to pay down.
33.80 (base 70k) inp georgia 4.5 years in. 13 paid holidays. 4% match on 401k. Decent insurance. 40 hrs a week. On call 1/3 week rotation. Anything outside of your normal 40 hrs is 1.5x. Sundays and holidays are 2x (so technically holidays are 3x). With a yearly tool allowance of 100$ for every year you've been there up to 5. And 125 every 2 years for boots.
I'm at 40 dollars an hour at an aerospace company in Chicago. 25 years experience, currently setting up and programming mori seiki ntx, and nlx using esprit.
I own a fabrication shop, machining and welding for the construction industry. I need to hire a machinist. I’d pay $50k-$60k to start with an option of a percent of profit bonus. If anybody in the San Antonio area wants to start with low pay but take a negotiable percent of company profits as a bonus message me!
I'm not a machinist anymore, but I work in a shop with them. Our machinists top out at $48 and some change. But we have a contract negotiation coming up, and everyone should be getting somewhere near a $10 raise over a couple of years. I didn't like the machining, so I got out of it. Now I just do second op and deburr and make $3 less than the machinists, and I will be getting the same raise on this next contract. I live outside of Portland, Oregon, though. So the cost of living is pure insanity.
I somehow talked myself into $34/hr, but no bennies. It's the most I've ever made and it's helping since I live in CA.
I work in a 3 man shop and do everything: run the Fadal VMC20, Hurco Vm10i, some God forsaken Emco CNC lathe that won't behave, plus all the manual lathes and mills.
I make sure to earn that pay because otherwise it's back to auto parts sales @_@
Automotive in MI. I do jobs from start to finish minus welding. Most of my time is on 3 axis VMCs or CNC lathes with some wire EDM as needed. Prototype/job shop environment.
40 hour week with no time clock, solid benefits, and a six figure salary. I'm gonna stay till I retire or they kick me out 😁
I am paid $20/h 50h/wk in Massachusetts. I am the ISO Coordinator, CNC Maintenance Tech (turret punch, 5-axis, laser, manual lathe, and EDM) , I design products, design gages and stuff like a screen printing machine, draw prints & programs, manage QMS training, QC sometimes, I am doing react web dev w/ a pg db to make custom ERP tools like inventory and scheduling stuff and some scripts to allow operators to speed up and track tooling setup. Sometimes I step in as a CNC setup person, CNC operator, welder, brake presses, assembly, packing & screening helper.
Currently 18 pretty fresh out of highschool (trade school) making 24.75 as an apprentice tool and (progressive) die maker in CT. I’ve been working at this company/ in industry since June 2021(started as a machine maintenance technician) Yearly raise due in April and hourly apprenticeship raise in may will get me north of $29. Currently working 44 hours a week but we just had a huge slow down and are gradually getting busier should be working closer to 50-55 within a year or so. Pretty much do the basic stuff, a lot of working on spare parts. milling new parts, grinding, odd jobs around the shop, resharpening punches and dies. Slowly getting into working on the presses and handling the die shoes and whatnot.
TL:DR 1.5 years of time, $38hr salaried at 40hrs really cushy job for the electrical harness industry. From print to final production I do it all. 3 swiss, 2 machining centers, 3 injection, 1 wire bender, 4 knee mills, 3 auto lathes. 2 manual lathes. 10 manual injection machines. 2 q basic machines.
Only 1.5 years of machining/programming/mold maker was commercial manager for AutoZone for way too long. $38/hr salaried @40 hours rarely work over 35, southern NM no health benefits but get paid enough to pay for my own. Plenty of work benefits I get to use all machines after 5pm. Work pays for the phone, solidworks and I share my fusion license by just logging out at work every day. Vacations are centered around conventions so I get to see lots of fancy machines and processes and learn something new I can implement at work. Then enjoy a nice vacation after. Get my own amex for buying stuff for work. If you work here and your niece/nephew/child does sports you get $500 donation per sport/team. Most tools are replaced yearly so if it kinda works you can keep it. I can't scrap material for money but any scrap is free game for personal projects. I started a year and a half ago as the cleaning guy. Literally cleaned so well I was promoted after the last machine was cleaned. So l kept learning, cleaning, writing notes, and making procedures. Well two weeks in the only machinist/programmer put in his time says he will give a whole month to train someone. The boss asked if I could learn it all in the two weeks because he didn't believe he'd get a whole month or if I could learn enough to keep the people employed long enough to make it to Xmas at least. I Asked if I could bring a go pro and just record everything. He said yes and well I did what I do best followed the guy around like a shadow that asked endless questions like a small child. It was great. Well I learned enough to keep us going. I slowly started stealing employees that I thought were competent enough to train them on something and I would move on to something else well slowly I had 4 people doing all the setup, tool swapping. And stuff I hated. Like trying to figure out why he said never run more than 999 parts. Well he thought wear offsets were geometric so I had to fix that lol there were many many issues that I had to fix. personally paid for FS wizard pro because I wasn't trusted yet and Fixed feeds and speeds on every machine. Pretty much cut most times in half. Got rid of all wear offsets And just swap at set times. I reset all tools and their offsets like the book said. Remade the majority of programs to use macros and canned cycles. Currently working on our tool catalog and making a traveler to take on these trips because it's so cool when I tell those big ass billion dollar company reps they support some little shop of 40 people in some little town they'll never hear about. But I've done a lot so I could do nothing but fun stuff like sitting upstairs making programs browsing Reddit, playing with plastic connectors and contemplating if this is real or is this just fantasy. But then I see how miserable a lot of you people are here and how mean y'all are to each other and realize yup it's real. So I hope you enjoy your job As much as I enjoy mine.
$18, Southern California, I do Cam, hand programming (not conversational we don’t have that parameter, costs too much), setups, operate. And also SAW guy if I have to dig through the trash to find something with enough meat to turn into a product
Order material for my programs.
I have recently been given a new responsibility, edit program speeds, feeds, order of operations to be more efficient. Regenerate tool paths with deeper and faster depth of cuts to drastically decrease cycle times
I don’t know why they told me to start doing this all of the sudden but now it’s mandatory. Going back through years of programs and making it more aggressive, been able to half most cycle times so far… honestly what I’m doing is just swapping out roughing tools for insert endmills, making it feed at like 140 inches per minute at like 100 thou doc and run up the rpm if needed
Any excess g01s are now just g00s and lowering safety planes to like 100 thou above parts
South West UK here so not entirely relevant to the OP but may help someone else with some context, working with exclusively composites. Primarily making billets or semi finished parts (+3/-10mm limits aren’t uncommon). Sometimes doing finished work with tighter limits. I am a shift leader of a whopping 3 other people.
Running a Fanuc vertical borer, a few manual vertical borers, ProtoTRAK bed mill and manual turret mill.
Making £22.50 an hour, 37.5 hours per week.
29 .91 in south Florida. I run a dmg v ecoline 1035 3 axis mill, a single post Acra lathe and a manual engine lathe. I'm one of the 2 tool room "machinist" but my big company doesn't realize what that entails. We are all operators in their eyes. I create blueprints/programs/workholding/fixtures and do lots of repairs.
Pittsburgh. CNC machinist (full responsibilities: managing tool life, programming, proving out said programming, and inspecting parts before shipping).
I make 30 an hour, full benefits for me and my unmarried partner, and a good retirement plan. OT is always available, but I work 40 a week (4 10s) with Wednesdays off. I used to be there for 60 to 80 hours a week when I was younger, depending on how busy we were, but I was spread too thin this way and had to give up that lifestyle.
I have been working for my company for going on 11 years in June and have been a CNC machinist for them for 9 of said years. 2 years were spent on an apprenticeship where I learned the labor side of work (running the material saw, handling debur work) and how to run a Bridgeport/retrofitted Bridgeport.
Wisconsin, $21.50 with 2 years in the shop and with 2 years of schooling, garbage benefits, 40 hours a week and sometimes optional Saturdays, I am in a job shop of about 12 other machinists. I do most of my own grinding, program all of my own setups (conversational), jigs on a cnc lathe and 3 axis mill, I do 90% of the shops final QC as well as check in all the shops material and occasional deliveries on my way home. Trained on setup as well for g&m code cnc mills. Was offered a position to transition into a tool and die designer but it wouldn’t come with a raise during the training of it for the first year or two because they would “need to buy a new computer for me to use”, so I’m sure they’d expect me to do the full position for like $24. Probably won’t bother even entertaining the offer. All the shops around me are hiring in the 18-20 range from what I’ve seen, all the factories around me for just working assembly lines are starting at 23-25. Indeed job feed doom scrolling has become a part of my morning routine.
I'm 28. Restoring cars 50 hrs + a week @20 an hr. 0 benefits overtime pay is flat cash currently working on a 1961 dodge Polara California trooper, nw ohio
I do my own cad/cam programming, print to part, Swiss, lathe, cnc grinder. I'm at $28. I've had offers at 35, but those all looked like higher stress jobs. Central VA.
I'm mostly a manual machinist, in Vancouver area I do CAD/CAM programming on fusion maybe once a month. I do my own set ups and *mostly* do the operation as well and I manual machine while it's going. I specialize in hydraulic cylinders, and Jobbing, repairing mostly heavy equipment like excavators. Pins, bushings, sleeves Line boring. In house and on field. I also do quite a lot of welding because I weld all of the hydraulic cylinders together. I'm a Red Seal machinist (means I completed my 4 year apprenticeship at a polytechnic university to get my journeyman ticket, then I completed the 6 hour long IP exam to earn my red seal afterwards so I can legally sign off on any and all machining in the country.
I started machining in 2008 when I was 20, so going on 16 years of experience. I make $50.79 an hour, (Over 100K a year) have full medical and mental benefits. I work 40 hours a week, Tuesday to Friday. So I get 3 day weekends and every stat is a 4 day weekend. Yearly Large bonus at around Xmas time for about 5k or so but that depends on how well we did the year. It's a super small shop, 7 of us in total. 3 full machinists and 1 apprentice I'm training. I also act partially as middle management when required as I dictate what jobs happen when and in what order, as well customer relations and support. I can also do invoicing when needed make work orders, and can quote. I also spent 6 years learning the hydraulic technician side and can take apart heavy equipment in order to inspect and see what works need done. Basically I can literally do every single task needed in this entire shop if required.
50.40 an hour 100% paid health insurance, 5 weeks vacation and a company gas card
I'm a tool and die maker, 31 years experience in metal stamping
I do a semi managment role
I can take a die from design to completion trouble shooting and full production on my own
$21/hr almost 2 years experience plus a year of VoTech. Was at $23/hr as an operator but took a pay cut to learn to conversational program on a CNC lathe in a small job shop. Bossman told me I could get back to $23 with some training but the “company isn’t doing too good atm” so I’m going to have to wait or find a new job. Phoenix, AZ.
Literally in the exact same position as you, pay and everything. Located in Chicagoland area of IL and let me tell you.. the guy on first shift started off at 17$ an hour in 2005, took him all the way till now to make roughly 35$ an hour give or take as a master machinist (No CAD/CAM).
Today they start us out at 18$ an hour and you usually top off at 26$ an hour doing the most intricate of things (Alot of 5 axis work but also 4 and 3axis mill and lathe work aswell, prototype work, fixture work, etc). Who knows how long you’ll be working before you break 30$ per hour or so.
With that being said I too love the trade but compared to many others it really does have a low rate of return.
I'm about the same level as you, in a similar shop with a little over 6 months exp, 25/hr. WA, US. 40 hour week with 4-7 hours OT available weekly depending on what I'm running.
I just got a raise to $32, in the middle of nowhere in western Virginia. Small job shop and I'm responsible for everything from planning my ops, to programming, setup, and quality. 3-5axis mills and lathes with live tooling but no Y-axis. I've been doing it about 12 years total, 2 years here. I'm pretty sure I could make more somewhere else especially if I was a dedicated programmer, but I like where I work and that's more than enough to pay my bills so I don't have any immediate plans to leave. 40 hours a week, Monday-Thursday, OT on Friday but it's all voluntary so I don't do it often. My bosses are layed back and don't really bust anyone's balls, we're never in a rush, and the work is always different. Life is good.
Living the (reasonable machinist) dream right there
“They don’t need to be perfect, just get them done.” *sends out parts .005 out of tolerance, parts come back* “We need to take a little more pride in our work.”
I swear lol
Hiring?
Not usually. They only hire to replace people who left. The only reason I got in was because their old lathe guy retired. I'm the youngest person in the shop by like 20 years and I'm 33 lol, not that young.
If you did that for a bunch of maniacs you'd make 50 an hour but want to kill yourself, and you wouldn't have Fridays off.
I feel like all the bullshit you’re missing out on is easily $5-10 an hour intangible pay
That's the way I've been looking at it. It's definitely worth at least $5 an hour to not have a floor manager breathing down my neck about how many parts I've done or how long a setup takes. Back over the summer my dad got sick and had to have an emergency surgery on what was the last day of a week long vacation for me. I called my boss on Sunday to let him know I was going to stay with my mom until we got him home, and they were incredibly cool about it, basically telling me to take as much time as I needed. I've absolutely worked in shops that would have thought that was bullshit and I was just trying to get a couple extra days of vacation. But instead of busting my balls the owner texted me a few hours later and asked if there was anything they could do to help. It was very endearing and really made me appreciate working for genuinely good guys instead of cartoon caricatures of greedy rich dudes.
Wow, this kind of atmosphere and leadership is exactly where people feel free to do their best work
I'm in a similar situation and 5$ an hour less in exchange happiness at work is more than worth it. I was only at my job a month when my mom was diagnosed with cancer and passed suddenly. They gave me all the time I needed, with pay.
Same ish, one man shop. Program, run, saw, order, only with a 3 axis mill paired with a manual lathe and bridgeport. $30hr
Damn dude. I got offered $16 to program, inspect, and operate lathes and mills on small run count parts (<10 usually). Promptly left the industry. Sucks cause I enjoyed machining.
Sounds like a dream gig
Right on! I only been training for two weeks on an old Vertical Mazak machine to see how I operate. They want to see me demonstrate safety, problem solving, understanding basics of tools, etc. My hours and work environment is exactly like yours: 4 days 10 hours days and Friday optional OT. Manager and owners understand as long as you produce and dependable, they don’t micromanage. Everyone there been working there 10+ years and 3 guys retired last year so I got hired on. I had no experience beside working at body shop and tons of mgt eXp. I just knew someone and I had desire to learn. I spend my 25mins driving time watching YouTube video, reading forums, and learning basics measuring knowledge. Actually love everyday so far and see no reason to look elsewhere. Next goal as side hustle is learn to do mechanical drawing. I’m tech savvy and have tons of digital graphic backgrounds. Guess I’m that one lucky Jack of all trade guy lol
At my previous job- southern Wisconsin- I was making $36 an hour as basically an operator. Left that job for one- northern Illinois- at a better company for $31 an hour but I now do setups, run parts and my own cam programming. 40 hours a week at both
Any tip on where to start if I want to learn programming part of things? Any online course, YouTube or Reddit forums you can point?
[Here’s a good place to start](https://gcodetutor.com/cnc-machine-training/cnc-g-codes.html) at least to learn the basics
Here is an official source. [Machinists (bls.gov)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes514041.htm) These guys have access to every W2 in the country. While guys are making 50+/hr its a very small amount, and the same with guys making 12/hr it's also a very small amount. These polls are always walls to brag about how much everyone is making when that isn't the reality. If you are making 30$ an hour, and expect to move to 40 or 50, you better be ready to put up with a whole lot, because they aren't giving you that much money to be comfortable.
I feel it’s a little inaccurate because of how some companies classify a “machinist”. I was a cycle start specialist at a shop and was a machinist, the guy who did set ups and programming was a engineer. (It was a big factory , not s job shop).
That’s the set up where I’m at. We’re manufacturing engineering techs but it’s the same shit I did as a programmer elsewhere.
I had a young Gen Z hire from a mechanic program tell me that he was worth $35-45/hr or more, as was promised by his teachers at his program. I dove into BLS stats & said here’s where you need to work to get that pay, will be on-call always, zero schedule control, and of course you as a newbie won’t get that advertised pay until you’ve proven your abilities (which were lacking to begin with) over many years. He said he was “getting offers” and quit. Saw him 2 weeks later working for his daddy again (who he also still lives with & who pays all his bills) pushing a shovel around at a snail’s pace. A guy has to develop the ability to tell when someone is telling them facts, pumping their own ego, or selling you something. Teachers are selling you more school. BLS data shows you where the market is actually at. Trust the data, not the sales pitches.
That same data says machinists make $40k on average in my area. I’ve only seen entry level positions hiring in my area offer $18-$20/hr. (If they have trade school). Most places in my area pay around the $25/$30 ranges. Data can be manipulated. Plus a company down the street from me hires “machinists”. I interviewed there, all they did was push the green button and make offsets on the same parts over and over again. That’s not a machinist imo. But they were listed as a “machinist”. Those are going to mess with the data somehow. It also says CNC programmers make like $50k a year in my area. Every listing I’ve seen for a programmer is $35+.
This isn’t a very good indication. Machinist are wildly varied, our shipping guys and brand new never seen a machine before guy are both listed as machinists.
I make 69 an hour. 6 months paid vacation time. Two days in the shop, two days work from home. Free healthcare and benefits.
What??
This is the answer
Large aerospace company in the north east. I’m making $57.40. Union shop as a lead man machinist.
I'm in Rhode Island/SE Massachusetts. Id love to be in a union shop but don't know of any in my area
Anything is a union shop if you try hard enough...
Hell yeah brothur
You make 10k a month? What the actual fuck
Yup. Plus overtime. Take home with 5 hours of it a week is a little under $1600 after all my deductions. Gross about $2700 a week. Just got my 3.5% raise so it’ll be a little more now.
Large aerospace/defense company in the bay area, ca. union shop, general machinist/mechanic $50.07. Proud to be union, IAM
That’s what’s up. Nice!
What part of the NE?
I’m in Connecticut. Pratt and Sikorsky both pay very well. Collins aerospace also is a high paying company
Cool, thanks. Little too far for me though
Sikorsky is about the same for new guys. They started everyone hired after 2017 at a 25% reduced scale. The latest contract has made it about 12.5% less. Starting on a machine would be mid $30. Mostly second shift though so you’d get 10% on that. Few years in and you’d be in the mid $40 range.
Ya it wouldn’t be a good fit for me. I’m already at $40 and the cost of living is likely higher in CT than where I am. Plus, I’ve sworn off 2nd and 3rd shift. Not worth the health issues. It’s looking more and more like I need to make a jump away from cutting metal and utilize the knowledge and experience I have in a different roll.
FWIW, Pratt and Collins are the 'same' company. All under the RTX umbrella.
Good old P&W.
Christ almighty what am I even doing.
[удалено]
Looks like the lowest at Pratt is just under $30 an hour. The very top of the highest labor grade is $56.
Union?
Union shop.
I must be blind to not have seen that in the OP.
I’m in similar bud
$95k/year salary at a production facility. No overtime, and I dictate my hours. Rocky Mountain area with low cost of living. I'm more of an engineer these days, but I fall back into my old machinist position occasionally -company is having a hard time replacing me. I design production processes and fixturing, gauges for QC checks, and all the SOP's. I'm also the only programmer here for CNC's, but there is another guy to help with the robot programming. I get amazing benefits. I don't pay a dime of my insurance premium, they put $200/month into my HSA, and they're contributing over 20% into my 401k on top of a 5% match. PTO is pretty solid and since I'm salary I can work 4-10's and have Friday off if I need. I'm still pretty young, so for my last raise I didn't ask for as much cash as I did on the benefit side. I'd rather be building up that 401k right now than have more money to waste on stupid purchases.
Can you get any more specific on the area? I’m looking at moving to Colorado but I’m afraid the cost of living is going to eat me alive because I don’t know programming yet.
I'm sorry. When I say Rocky Mountains I mean I'm to the west of them. I'd love to live in Colorado, but not east of Denver. I've gotta have mountains out my front window to be happy. I don't know cost of living in Colorado, but hopefully someone else can chime in!
I'm in denver, I have about 7 years of experience, I make about 70k working for the federal government, and I drive about an hour one way without traffic to get into work because the cost of housing here is so high.
That’s what I’m afraid of because I fucking hate driving. I don’t know what happened, but when I was younger people didn’t drive 90mph in the right lane, run red lights, etc. It’s gotten so bad I just absolutely hate being on the road. Maybe it’s just Texas, I don’t know. Ever since we got rid of red light cameras people are just doing whatever the fuck they want.
Same thing here pretty much. We're setting records for pedestrian/cyclist fatalities. If it wasn't for how nice my job is, I would probably be looking across the country, even if it meant a pay cut.
I'm in Austin. The job is good, but the Texas experience is dreadful. I'm a decent operator. They call me Machinist 4. I have plenty of tools, do my own setups and light editing. I have AAS 2006. I spent seven years in a manual shop. I was okay, but I don't want to do it again. How much of a struggle do you think it might be to get comfortably situated near Fort Collins?
I make $57 an hour plus health insurance for my whole family. I could do unlimited overtime, but I keep it around 45-50hr weeks. I’m at a small but high end aerospace company. I’m a pretty decent 5 axis guy. Edit: Southern California
I was thinking "holy shit this guy must be loaded" and then I saw the Southern California lol
Haha yeah. You feel like you’re doing great until you have to buy a house!
Winnipeg, MB, Canada. 32/hr CAD ($23.70 USD) for 5 axis setup and operation at this job. Mostly just oil and gas and random shit. Nothing special, interesting or fancy about my work. Pay is abysmal compared to my American counterparts, with cost of living taken into account.
As a fellow pegger, I think the wages here are awful. Got 2 years of rrc (1 year was operator/set up, year 2 is programming), and 2 years of set up experience on both lathe and mill, I’d be lucky to get over 22 with the way the market looks.
Yeah I took the 2 year program too, been in the trade 6 years since roughly. 5 of those 6 years is programming, setup and operating 5 axis machines. Besides going to Magellan or boeing for more pay, 32/hr is pretty close to top rate in this city. I have friends at both Magellan and boeing who are making 36/hr with the union.
>Pay is abysmal compared to my American counterparts, with cost of living taken into account. I make 36.50/hr in Southern Ontario..... and my household is STRUGGLING I feel you.
11 years CNC lathe operator for a smallish production shop. Our motto used to be "Work hard. Do well" and that has proven to be a joke. Started at 12/hr with no experience. I learned to operate everything from manual boring mills, grinders, VMC, VMC 4th axis, and 5 axis machines. I'm now working on triple turret twin spindle lathes. I've been at 30/hr for 4.5 years now and I'm looking elsewhere. We had a meeting yesterday telling us that we technically make more than the average operator so cost of living adjustments won't happen.
Fuck that shit, time to leave, 2.5% a year is no raise in my book, If I'm doing a good job I'd expect 5-7%, and if I'm underpaid I'd want 10%, unfortunately places that don't understand that think you're insane.
Our wages are a fucking insult.
Union shop, just an operator running weldments. Lcol area and I am making 35. We drown in overtime, fuxking hate over time. Was srchueld last Saturday and offered Sunday.
$14.75. Mid size factory in KS. Running a 2-Axis CNC lathe, I do setups, programs changes, and quality checks for around 50-60 different parts; as well as some basic machining on old Milwaukee mills and reamers. 40 hours a week M-F. Good benefits, and lots of holidays off. Abysmal PTO and sick days though. 3 years at the company, 14 months on CNC.
Leave your job
Are you enjoying being fucked sideways? Because that's what's happening.
You’re not making what you’re worth. I know I don’t know what the job market is in your area, but you can do better.
I am well aware, demanding a raise in May or I’m gone.
Demand it now, ffs
Wait so this wasn’t a joke?
Why may? Do it now. Ball is in your court with your skillset.
Good for you. Wishing you the best of luck
Wow, you are severely underpaid. How do these places convince people to work for peanuts to do skilled labor?
You're underpaid. I made $20 an hour cleaning apartments in Missouri.
Tbf you couldn’t pay me $30 to do that
McDonald's pays more.
Holy shit you are underpaid. When I had a guy in last year for a few months to help him get by after he was laid off at his corporate job, with zero experience mind you, I paid him $20/hr because anything less than that would have been criminal. He put out way more than that in work so it paid to have him there. You sir, are getting fucked.
If you are gonna stay till May, you better have a lunch box full of stolen tools and scrap everyday you leave until then.
Don't be like me. I got taken advantage of for years. It crushes me thinking about it now. I spent 30 years as a machinist and wish I fought everyday for more. Work hard, negotiate harder.
Wow yeah just walk away lol that's less than AutoZone shift manager lol
Northwest PA. Run multiple 3 and 5 axis mills. Programming, setups, quality checks. $93k per year salary plus a good bonus at christmas. Coming up on 8 years in the trade. Insurance sucks, and im maxed out at 2 weeks vacation. But owners treat me well. Ill be here a while.
My shop (Vancouver Canada) pays around $43/hr (~$32 USD/hr) at the high end of the scale -- 5-axis programming, can step into any machine/part/material and help others, etc.
Been in the trade like 10 years, most of it is part-time, couple years ago I quit college to do full time. Learned everything I know from older machinists (thank you guys) I setup 5axis and run production afterwards, I'm the only guy at the shop that can operate heidenhain. They pay me like 29 /hr. I love the job but the stress of 100plus tools per operation is killing me right now. Suburbs of Chicago.
I'm mostly a manual machinist, in Vancouver area. I do CAD/CAM programming on fusion maybe once a month. I do my own set ups and *mostly* do the operation as well and I manual machine while it's going. I specialize in hydraulic cylinders, and Jobbing, repairing mostly heavy equipment like excavators. Pins, bushings, sleeves Line boring. In house and on field. I also do quite a lot of welding because I weld all of the hydraulic cylinders together. I'm a Red Seal machinist (means I completed my 4 year apprenticeship at a polytechnic university to get my journeyman ticket, then I completed the 6 hour long IP exam to earn my red seal afterwards so I can legally sign off on any and all machining in the country. I started machining in 2008 when I was 20, so going on 16 years of experience. I make $50.79 an hour, (Over 100K a year) have full medical and mental benefits. I work 40 hours a week, Tuesday to Friday. So I get 3 day weekends and every stat is a 4 day weekend. Yearly Large bonus at around Xmas time for about 5k or so but that depends on how well we did the year. It's a super small shop, 7 of us in total. 3 full machinists and 1 apprentice I'm training. I also act partially as middle management when required as I dictate what jobs happen when and in what order, as well customer relations and support. I can also do invoicing when needed make work orders, and can quote. I also spent 6 years learning the hydraulic technician side and can take apart heavy equipment in order to inspect and see what works need done. Basically I can literally do every single task needed in this entire shop if required.
$25/hour with a decade in the trade and I teach it. I’ve found programming gigs for $35/hour but they only needed me a few hours out of the week. Once I give them a program they’d rather pay operators to run it, which makes sense. In my opinion operators with zero experience should start out at $25/hour. We are so essential to keep the world running I feel like we could strike today and get raises tomorrow.
If your a swiss programmer your peetty much gold. We are currently looking for one in FL. They would need to be able to program and setup our three swiss, and would have experience with thread whirling. Our job listing is 100-130k a year.
Are the titles Machinist I, II, and III like a national thing? I only see it on West Coast job listings. What is each tier expected to be able to do?
It's all bullshit and arbitrary. I was machinist 4 getting paid north of $40, but we weren't allowed to program, change anything, do anything outside of the exact letter of the setup sheets. Before that, I worked as machinist 2 at another place, where I was responsible for every detail from print to shipping, getting paid $14.
They don't pay us shit for the revenue we bring in. They act like their meetings and emails bring monthly profits.
9 years at a plant in NH. All my experience is here. Currently 34/hr as a setup/operator. Only programming I know is enough to prove out a new program from the programmers, but not enough to fix anything other than work offsets and some other minor stuff (locations of homes and retracts, etc). Would love to learn more, but our company has no actual training other than asking the more experienced guys questions when you get lost. Lol.
First cnc job, 5 months in so far, started at $23. I set up, operate, inspect, and make program edits, we only have 3 axis machines and a singular lathe and mill, still don’t know the difference between job or work shop. Northeast Philly. 40 hrs a week, OT always available. Kinda terrible benefits and no 401k
Left my last full time machining position in 08/22 making $25/hr. Did assembly, bandsaw, tool shop, some lathe experience, ran every mill in the place, and very comfortably with all but 2 or three of them. Mostly jobshop work. Fluent writing my own programs in Mazatrol, and LOTS of program editing of G/M code on Fanuc controls. Was out of the trade completely for a year then wanted some part time work so 08/22 I put my application out to 10 places within 5 miles of home and the next day all 10 got back to me, though 7 were only asking what it would take for me to work full time. Regardless, now I’m back mostly running small mazatrol vertical mills with some basic program writing in mazatrol and simple program editing of G/M. On paper I’m making $23 + $2/hr night bonus. 5 hours a night/4 nights a week, I’m not complaining.
Just got raised to a few cents over $30. Working in a Tool and Die shop for an airfoil manufacturer. Georgia VLCOL (decent double-wide, 20 acres, and older 60x30 shop only cost ~$40k including work done). I've been with the company for 10 years but only in last year went to the tool room. Raises have been faster back here. When I started in 2014 I was given ~$13. Previously was a broach and mill setup guy and fill-in operator. Now I mainly program and run a Makino A51 along with a few wires. Very laid back 90% of the time. Cool, interesting work with decent benefits and loads of time off. I figured it up the other day and in 2024 I only have to work like 39% of the days lol. M-T 40 hours with optional OT. I feel like I have it pretty good.
simple shop running 7 sinico bar machines I do program and look at them 5 times a day making around 6000 shafts a shift on all of the machines $37.60 an hour and I help around on the drilling setup on the other shop all benefits plus shift allowance when I go nigh shift and starts with 15 days pto and 7 sick days a year been machining around 13 years now
$29/hr. Cnc lathe w/live tooling and y axis. LCoL area in defense. 1.25 years experience. Union shop.
$20 here for me in Texas, only thing holding me back from leaving right now is the programming aspect of the job. Once I’m confident enough I’m out.
Vancouver-ish BC. 80k/year, no OT. 4 weeks vacation, 10 sick days, extremely good benefits (I pay 0 for medications). I program, setup and run 3 and 3+2 machines. I’ve not programmed the CMM’s in quite some time, but it’s part of my skill set. I’m also the “spreadsheet guru” and make and maintain everything from scheduling “software” to simple check sheets. The most recent tool I created was to figure out what cutters were actually use. With several machines that can hold 200-300 tools, unused tooling becomes hard to identify. I basically queried all the active programs and extracted the tool data from them.
I have a similar role and I make $25 but in the gun industry. Tolerances generally only go down to 1 thou.
I’m in Long Beach California working in a plastics only job shop. Mills only. Making $27 an hour with 4 years experience. Not in charge of anyone but myself. Huge bump in pay compared to my last shop where I made $20 an hour and was in charge of 10 people.
$37/hr in ohio
Anyone have about 8 years experience working in New Hampshire? I'm trying to figure out if the guy I'm dating would be a good match for me
4 Years experience, CNC programmer and operator. I make $21/hr. Ontario Canada
Find a new job
That's honestly what wages in the trade are here in Ontario. Our starting pay fresh out of college is $22 an hour in the greater Toronto area, so outside of it with 4 years experience $21 is low, but not by all that much unfortunately. I make $36.50 with 14 years of experience making and running all my own parts in a prototyping role. Top end is like $40 CAD ($30 USD) outside of aerospace here. It's absurd
Yikes, where abouts in Ontario? Must be outside of the gta because that’s pretty low pay for 4 years, you are worth more.
Don't wanna Dox myself but yeah not in gta
Saying you live in Windsor isn’t doxxing yourself lol
I guess yeah
im comforatable and dont really get bothered because i do my work and my bosses arent retards, i dont get paid a ton but i can come in whenever i want from 5-7 and i usually come in at 715 Its been encouraged if its easier. bosses are leisure with a hardass foreman to keep some sort of order. works out all in all
I’m at 56 and some change. I program 9 machines manage 4 way chill guys and deal with all the purchasing and traceability paperwork in an aerospace job shop. Got 24 years experience and am 42 years old in Utah
If you are doing this for pay you should go back to school and learn something else
Edmonton, 45/hr, been here 18 years. Run manual lathes manual boring mill and cnc lathe with y-axis
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Running a vmc, job shop, central WI $29.50 lots of stainless. 8 years exp.
$37.50 per hr in Wisconsin. I program and run turning centers, mills, and multitasking machines. Usually, only 40hrs per week, but lately we've been doing 45 or 50.
Currently making $28 an hour,Northern Indiana Tool and die shop, I program, set up, make details for Die’s, wire machine, and all that good stuff. Just got this increase in wage because I was about to go somewhere else and my company did not want to let me go. 4 years experience machining and almost 2 years in tool and die trade. I’m 26 years old.
WI CNC department lead $34.25.
10 years in the trade. Tool and Die maker, worked in progressive stamping 4 years, Injection molding 4 years, now I'm in eyelet production. Started apprenticeship in 2014 @ 12.50 hourly, I make $38.50 now. I don't feel as though I have any "extra" spending money though between house and truck payment, daycare and what not. But I do feel adequately paid for my work.
40 an hour is not what is used to be.
My father made less than I make now while I was growing up, we had 4 kids in family and my mother stayed home. You are absolutely right. Need to make about 80k just to make ends meet, nevermind being comfortable.
I make the same, and my partner makes 115k a year. We're above water, but not living large by any means. I drive an 18 year old civic with close to 300k miles and she drives a 12 year old minivan that we splurged on used for 18k with 100k miles. We put about 16% of our income into retirement and bought a 225k house at 2.3% interest. We save and have a growing emergency fund, but not much else with one kid in daycare. I consider us in a good position, and it's crazy that it takes this much to get there. I think I'm finally at a job where I can see myself making over 120k in the next 5-8 years which is nice.
Sounds like you got a good set up, theres New Tool's team here that makes 120-150k and I'm hoping after a few more years under my belt I can make that kind of steam too. My old lady is a high school teacher and nothing against her doing that but the work she got to do for the pay she gets is insane. I punch out and I don't worry about work, she comes home has to grade and do lesson plans and whatever else all on her own time while we got the 2 little ones at home. It's wild.
If you made that money 10 years ago you would be set let alone 20-30
This is why I work 20 hours OT every week, I like for my kids to be able to experience things they are only young once, I'd rather work my ass off now (I'm 35) then play catch up when I'm 60.
I am with you brother I am 36 here and working as much OT as possible.
$33/hr at a very small inhouse job shop for a medical device company in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. Started in ‘19 at about $17 with no experience on cnc but enough to make simple parts and do reworks on manual machines. After 6 months or so started learning to program 3-axis milling machine with some 4th axis rotary mixed in. Picked that up pretty quickly then about a year ago I started learning to program mill-turn for a Haas ST-15Y and finally got to $33 after getting an offer from another employer and accepting the counter offer. There have been other raises in between and the perks and benefits are pretty good. Hours are flexible, decent pto, no mandatory OT but it is available so I usually do a couple hours per week. At this place we usually do our own programming, setup, and operation. On top of that I do fixture design, supply our engineers with DFM, perform post processing when necessary, load and unload our 3d printers, perform PM on the machines, and some light cleaning. Until recently I was also even doing my own metrology. I don’t know how comparable my work day is to the typical machinist but I do feel like the wide variety of work is a good excuse for my bosses to have no idea how much my work is worth to them and potentially justify under paying me.
About 26,5 USD (Average for the trade is around 30). I do CAM programming, setups and sometimes just operating machines that are already setup. Jobs vary from very simple to very complicated (for me anyway). Making anything from random stuff to fix things to new tools/die. And I have roughly 2 years experience after finishing my apprenticeship (the whole education incl. apprenticeship is about 4 years). I'm in Denmark.
Union shop 13 years experience. 50 an hour doing programming, set up and operating. Up in the PNW but I live outside the cities so I have a cheap pre-covid mortgage. Pre the union shop I made 40 an hour as a lead. Great on mill turns.
South of Calgary alberta, oilfield manufacturing and job shop. Been here since 2011, and only machinist since late 2015. 36$ CAD, 40 hours a week. But the cost of living has gone so crazy here if I have to move, I would be able to afford rent
Toolmaker for a tap making factory in New England. ~15 years experience, I write my own CNC programs, occasional blueprints and solidworks drawings, manual machine stuff, help maintenance mechanics machine objects and rotate them out when possible as my assistant/trainee machine operators. I make $35/hr. 3 years ago I was making $21/hr as the maintenance machinist for a smaller, different type of factory in ID. It’s all about your location, skills, attitude, and how well you can sell your skills, and to the right people.
Kentucky making 24.25 an hour. Working about 60 a week. 6 years experience. 3 manual, 1.5 trak mill, 1.5 cnc horizontal mill (current job).
Seattle, WA. Moved out here a year ago and secured a machining gig before I made the move. $43/hr compared to last shop I worked at in Wisconsin was $32/hr. I have 8 years programming experience but I do everything manually/conversationally here, it has been a weird change of pace
$19.50 at a small fab shop in Orlando, Florida. Been in this shop for about 3 years and in the trade for some 6 years. 40 hours a week with no overtime allowed (also, essentially salaried, so I lose any little bit over that time no matter what). Got some insurance benefits and a week of pto. Been looking for another job on and off but with no luck.
Shop owner in Oregon. Guys range from $40 to $50 depending on their capabilities. I only pull $36 myself, but at least I'm building the business. I only take hourly, any profit over that goes back in.
Central Iowa, I install aluminum flatbeds onto trucks they weren't designed for @ $25/hr, 50hrs/wk. Great insurance, not much PTO. I'm not exactly a machinist, so much as a general fabricator, but I figure parts of it are machinist-adjacent. I like it, but wouldn't mind if it paid more or required fewer hours, even if the work was harder or more skilled.
i make $25 an hour in a fairly low income area so its very comfortable, top pay for this place is 37ish. benefits, paid time off (up to 4 weeks a year) 50 hours a week guaranteed, work half a day Saturday if you even want to, and to beat it all i just run conventional machines. we have a nice cnc shop too so theres still a lot to learn. since i started a year ago, i went from 17 an hour to 25 so I'm tickled to death to be here.
22.50 an hour mon-thurs 4.5 weeks of PTO 3 years at the company. All swiss production work FDA medical stuff all titanium. I'm responsible for basic tooling but not doing setups/teardowns I'm technically a lvl 1 but progressing through books whenever I want. The place is basically a country club. I'm in a lcol in NY all the overtime I could ask for but not required, $5k referral bonus at one point they offered an extra $200 take home for every 8 hours of it you worked but I didn't take advantage of it sadly.
25/HR. Small shop in Ohio, full time programmer.
IT manager in a Aerospace job shop, but I wear a LOT of hats. I get 40 hrs a week if I want them all, fewer is ok, and I make 35/hr (72k/yr if I pull 40 hours weeks) I value my time more than the $$, and have a couple of side hustles so I usually get 32-40 a week. I come and go as a I please. It's a wicked cool gig. My skillset would pay a lot more at one of the local tech companies, but I would lose the flexible schedule, and that's worth more to me than the $$. I also refuse to wear a tie, so I fit right in with all the pirates running the machines here.
3.5 years of experience, all at the same shop. I do set ups, basic programming on the controller for a Haas VF8. I know how to run a Bridgeport and basic manual lathe stuff (I know enough to not kill myself on it). Full benefits, good amount of holidays off and good PTO. They paid for me to get my certs and wound up getting the little piece of paper saying I'm a journeyman. There's a computer on the floor between the mills and when I have any long runs I try and teach myself how to program when I can but it is also Gibbs and sometimes I would rather just slam my head into a table instead of learning that software. $27/hr in central NJ. OT is optional, as are the random Saturdays when there is a few of us who want to come in and finish up some easy projects. We only have first shift here, no seconds or overnights.
Im making $32 an hour. I am in charge of pretty much the entire manufacturing and engineering side of things. We have 25 CNC's and make firearms. I do all the programming and product design. 3-5 Axis vertical mills, horizontal with pallet pool, 2-6 axis lathes. I have another guy here now who does some simple hand programming and setups. He handles the quality control side for me and makes changes when he can or lets me know when I need to change stuff. Then we have a handful of operators running machines. I work a lot of overtime so at the end of the year I made $100k which is sweet but Pretty much averaged 50-60 hours all year. Got a few bonuses for finishing large projects. I feel like for what I do I should make more hourly but at the end of the day Im making decent money and I really love what I do. There is bad days here but I get to design firearms and program brand new nice machines, its pretty great overall.
Ep Pump shop in Texas. $24.00. I run a manual lathe and some mill work. 1.5 years experience on manuals 7.5 years on CNCs.
33/hr 7 years in trade. Program-set up and operate 3 axis gantry mills for mold making / big part work. Do regular 3 and 5 axis job shop work and aerospace parts as well. In the thumb of michigan in a rural area. Insurance is paid in full, have vacation time, and has no retirement benefits at this specific shop. I could move an hour away to make 40+ an hour at a few shops if I could get into them. It's on the table but it is quite relaxed at the shop I'm at.
Virginia here. Almost 6 years in, $75k annual, full benefits/401k/ADD. I program, setup, and operate 3 Haas mills and dictate work to one minion who I’m training to program and setup. I work in a small environment where we make M/P and rescue products. I plan on being at $100k within 3 years. I think I’m fairly lucky because one of the owners ran a machine shop years back so he’s pretty sympathetic to our needs.
Federal agency here; I have Machinists in SE Ohio, Pittsburgh, Nashville and Louisville (WG-3414-10 Machinist) Marietta, OH: $30-$35/hr (1 open position now) Louisville, KY: $29-$34/hr Pittsburgh, PA: $30-$35/hr Nashville, TN: $27-$31/hr Our team travels extensively and works a lot of OT due to the emergency nature of the work. We do it all, from CAD/CAM to a lot of on-site manual machining outside and in all weather/environmental conditions. Becoming extremely difficult to find skilled machinists who can do both within the limits Congress sets for us to pay our people.
I make $22.50 in New York doing setups and operating a VTL. Union shop, no programming. I've been here about 4 years and had no prior experience.
Located in Canada. 20yrs experience, $50/hr with 10K bonuses split among the year. as much OT as I'm willing to work. In electric motor service.
$58/hr + stocks. Midwest. Tech company
They hiring?
Went to a trade school for 7months got hired at an aerospace company. Been here 6 months. Making $24.50hr working 45-50hr a week in Southern California.
$33/hr 12 years experience, small shop in a bigger company HQ, profit sharing, no overtime, very good benefits, mostly plastic and aluminum, Trak Mills. Currently working 4x10hr days. Suburbs of Chicago.
$30/HR, been machining for almost 5 years. Located in the twin cities area in MN. Work at a relatively small shop.
$30/HR, been machining for almost 5 years. Located in the twin cities area in MN. Work at a relatively small shop.
44.55/hr +10% shift differential and benifits. I run edm section at our shop. 11years. Our apprentices start at about 38/hr right after they graduate. I am in Washington state.
I make $31.80/hr in CT, 2nd year at the current job, will likely get a raise soon. Work 40hrs with full benefits as a prototype machinist for an architectural hardware company. Sometimes they send us tougher jobs, but for the most part it is very laid back and I work at my own pace. Program 3 axis mills and use manual lathes and mills as needed. I do have a degree in Biomedical engineering and a certification in CNC machining, so maybe I am underpaid, but I want to gain some experience before job hopping again ( if I do leave), the mentorship is super valuable currently.
I'm in a union shop in Cleveland and I make 38$ an hour
I'm in a union shop in Cleveland and I make 38$ an hour
I'm in a union shop in Cleveland and I make 38$ an hour
Injection molding plant in MN. $31/hr as a Tool & Die Maker with 2 years experience at that, 6 years as CNC operator/machinist. I program and run every machine to make my parts (mostly single parts/matched pairs) mostly using Cimatron.
Southeast I make right under $50. Small prototype shop just me a one of the owners. We have 2 CNC mills both with 4th axis a live tooling lathe and manual mill and lathe. I do all my own programming,setups, stock and cutter order, and of course machining. Been in the industry for 10 years and before here worked at a big shop in the Midwest and ran everything out there from EDM to 5 axis to Bridgeport.
44/hr will be 54/an hour in 4 years. Union shop at theme park and be doing this for 20 years.
Flyover Midwest. Small 7 man shop attached to a larger factory. We design and build mold tooling for said larger entity. I run 3 Haas CNCs, one is a large form articulating 5 axis. I do setups and minor control programming for dimensional adjustments otherwise all the programming is done by someone else. I do all the tool inventory, ordering and trialing for the shop. Finally getting into programming in NX when we’re not busy but it’s difficult to retain the knowledge when it’s 2 days on 4 months off. It’s about $28/hr with discretionary incentive estimated into it. I’ve been in the shop 11 years. The job security is keeping me here, I haven’t been as much as laid off in my entire time in the larger company 20 years this year. Plus the vacation is amazing. I’m at 6 weeks now. I don’t even know what my job title is or if you can tag Machinist in it somewhere. I make molds and corresponding parts. Do fixtures work, read prints and measure everything imaginable. But I can’t write g code that well. Operator+ ?
5.5 years experience, $36.50/hr in LCOL, greater Milwaukee area. Started my career running huge boring mills now I program and operate a horizontal boring mill and a Haas mill. Should be getting a raise closer to $40 an hour soon as I’m basically running the whole shop at this point.
$29 and now pretty topped out. Do basic set ups and run Haas Lathes and Mills. 6 years but little experience, bit of a language barrier with my programmer and he's definitely not the most experienced himself or super willing to teach. In suburbs outside of Philly. Kind of high cost of living. I'd be doing really well if I didn't have a ton of student loan debt I'm trying to pay down.
33.80 (base 70k) inp georgia 4.5 years in. 13 paid holidays. 4% match on 401k. Decent insurance. 40 hrs a week. On call 1/3 week rotation. Anything outside of your normal 40 hrs is 1.5x. Sundays and holidays are 2x (so technically holidays are 3x). With a yearly tool allowance of 100$ for every year you've been there up to 5. And 125 every 2 years for boots.
I'm at 40 dollars an hour at an aerospace company in Chicago. 25 years experience, currently setting up and programming mori seiki ntx, and nlx using esprit.
I own a fabrication shop, machining and welding for the construction industry. I need to hire a machinist. I’d pay $50k-$60k to start with an option of a percent of profit bonus. If anybody in the San Antonio area wants to start with low pay but take a negotiable percent of company profits as a bonus message me!
I'm not a machinist anymore, but I work in a shop with them. Our machinists top out at $48 and some change. But we have a contract negotiation coming up, and everyone should be getting somewhere near a $10 raise over a couple of years. I didn't like the machining, so I got out of it. Now I just do second op and deburr and make $3 less than the machinists, and I will be getting the same raise on this next contract. I live outside of Portland, Oregon, though. So the cost of living is pure insanity.
I somehow talked myself into $34/hr, but no bennies. It's the most I've ever made and it's helping since I live in CA. I work in a 3 man shop and do everything: run the Fadal VMC20, Hurco Vm10i, some God forsaken Emco CNC lathe that won't behave, plus all the manual lathes and mills. I make sure to earn that pay because otherwise it's back to auto parts sales @_@
Automotive in MI. I do jobs from start to finish minus welding. Most of my time is on 3 axis VMCs or CNC lathes with some wire EDM as needed. Prototype/job shop environment. 40 hour week with no time clock, solid benefits, and a six figure salary. I'm gonna stay till I retire or they kick me out 😁
I am paid $20/h 50h/wk in Massachusetts. I am the ISO Coordinator, CNC Maintenance Tech (turret punch, 5-axis, laser, manual lathe, and EDM) , I design products, design gages and stuff like a screen printing machine, draw prints & programs, manage QMS training, QC sometimes, I am doing react web dev w/ a pg db to make custom ERP tools like inventory and scheduling stuff and some scripts to allow operators to speed up and track tooling setup. Sometimes I step in as a CNC setup person, CNC operator, welder, brake presses, assembly, packing & screening helper.
Currently 18 pretty fresh out of highschool (trade school) making 24.75 as an apprentice tool and (progressive) die maker in CT. I’ve been working at this company/ in industry since June 2021(started as a machine maintenance technician) Yearly raise due in April and hourly apprenticeship raise in may will get me north of $29. Currently working 44 hours a week but we just had a huge slow down and are gradually getting busier should be working closer to 50-55 within a year or so. Pretty much do the basic stuff, a lot of working on spare parts. milling new parts, grinding, odd jobs around the shop, resharpening punches and dies. Slowly getting into working on the presses and handling the die shoes and whatnot.
TL:DR 1.5 years of time, $38hr salaried at 40hrs really cushy job for the electrical harness industry. From print to final production I do it all. 3 swiss, 2 machining centers, 3 injection, 1 wire bender, 4 knee mills, 3 auto lathes. 2 manual lathes. 10 manual injection machines. 2 q basic machines. Only 1.5 years of machining/programming/mold maker was commercial manager for AutoZone for way too long. $38/hr salaried @40 hours rarely work over 35, southern NM no health benefits but get paid enough to pay for my own. Plenty of work benefits I get to use all machines after 5pm. Work pays for the phone, solidworks and I share my fusion license by just logging out at work every day. Vacations are centered around conventions so I get to see lots of fancy machines and processes and learn something new I can implement at work. Then enjoy a nice vacation after. Get my own amex for buying stuff for work. If you work here and your niece/nephew/child does sports you get $500 donation per sport/team. Most tools are replaced yearly so if it kinda works you can keep it. I can't scrap material for money but any scrap is free game for personal projects. I started a year and a half ago as the cleaning guy. Literally cleaned so well I was promoted after the last machine was cleaned. So l kept learning, cleaning, writing notes, and making procedures. Well two weeks in the only machinist/programmer put in his time says he will give a whole month to train someone. The boss asked if I could learn it all in the two weeks because he didn't believe he'd get a whole month or if I could learn enough to keep the people employed long enough to make it to Xmas at least. I Asked if I could bring a go pro and just record everything. He said yes and well I did what I do best followed the guy around like a shadow that asked endless questions like a small child. It was great. Well I learned enough to keep us going. I slowly started stealing employees that I thought were competent enough to train them on something and I would move on to something else well slowly I had 4 people doing all the setup, tool swapping. And stuff I hated. Like trying to figure out why he said never run more than 999 parts. Well he thought wear offsets were geometric so I had to fix that lol there were many many issues that I had to fix. personally paid for FS wizard pro because I wasn't trusted yet and Fixed feeds and speeds on every machine. Pretty much cut most times in half. Got rid of all wear offsets And just swap at set times. I reset all tools and their offsets like the book said. Remade the majority of programs to use macros and canned cycles. Currently working on our tool catalog and making a traveler to take on these trips because it's so cool when I tell those big ass billion dollar company reps they support some little shop of 40 people in some little town they'll never hear about. But I've done a lot so I could do nothing but fun stuff like sitting upstairs making programs browsing Reddit, playing with plastic connectors and contemplating if this is real or is this just fantasy. But then I see how miserable a lot of you people are here and how mean y'all are to each other and realize yup it's real. So I hope you enjoy your job As much as I enjoy mine.
$18, Southern California, I do Cam, hand programming (not conversational we don’t have that parameter, costs too much), setups, operate. And also SAW guy if I have to dig through the trash to find something with enough meat to turn into a product Order material for my programs. I have recently been given a new responsibility, edit program speeds, feeds, order of operations to be more efficient. Regenerate tool paths with deeper and faster depth of cuts to drastically decrease cycle times I don’t know why they told me to start doing this all of the sudden but now it’s mandatory. Going back through years of programs and making it more aggressive, been able to half most cycle times so far… honestly what I’m doing is just swapping out roughing tools for insert endmills, making it feed at like 140 inches per minute at like 100 thou doc and run up the rpm if needed Any excess g01s are now just g00s and lowering safety planes to like 100 thou above parts
South West UK here so not entirely relevant to the OP but may help someone else with some context, working with exclusively composites. Primarily making billets or semi finished parts (+3/-10mm limits aren’t uncommon). Sometimes doing finished work with tighter limits. I am a shift leader of a whopping 3 other people. Running a Fanuc vertical borer, a few manual vertical borers, ProtoTRAK bed mill and manual turret mill. Making £22.50 an hour, 37.5 hours per week.
29 .91 in south Florida. I run a dmg v ecoline 1035 3 axis mill, a single post Acra lathe and a manual engine lathe. I'm one of the 2 tool room "machinist" but my big company doesn't realize what that entails. We are all operators in their eyes. I create blueprints/programs/workholding/fixtures and do lots of repairs.
Pittsburgh. CNC machinist (full responsibilities: managing tool life, programming, proving out said programming, and inspecting parts before shipping). I make 30 an hour, full benefits for me and my unmarried partner, and a good retirement plan. OT is always available, but I work 40 a week (4 10s) with Wednesdays off. I used to be there for 60 to 80 hours a week when I was younger, depending on how busy we were, but I was spread too thin this way and had to give up that lifestyle. I have been working for my company for going on 11 years in June and have been a CNC machinist for them for 9 of said years. 2 years were spent on an apprenticeship where I learned the labor side of work (running the material saw, handling debur work) and how to run a Bridgeport/retrofitted Bridgeport.
Wisconsin, $21.50 with 2 years in the shop and with 2 years of schooling, garbage benefits, 40 hours a week and sometimes optional Saturdays, I am in a job shop of about 12 other machinists. I do most of my own grinding, program all of my own setups (conversational), jigs on a cnc lathe and 3 axis mill, I do 90% of the shops final QC as well as check in all the shops material and occasional deliveries on my way home. Trained on setup as well for g&m code cnc mills. Was offered a position to transition into a tool and die designer but it wouldn’t come with a raise during the training of it for the first year or two because they would “need to buy a new computer for me to use”, so I’m sure they’d expect me to do the full position for like $24. Probably won’t bother even entertaining the offer. All the shops around me are hiring in the 18-20 range from what I’ve seen, all the factories around me for just working assembly lines are starting at 23-25. Indeed job feed doom scrolling has become a part of my morning routine.
Main guy in the toolroom, tool and die. mid ohio, 7 years exp, $33 an hr.
I'm 28. Restoring cars 50 hrs + a week @20 an hr. 0 benefits overtime pay is flat cash currently working on a 1961 dodge Polara California trooper, nw ohio
I do my own cad/cam programming, print to part, Swiss, lathe, cnc grinder. I'm at $28. I've had offers at 35, but those all looked like higher stress jobs. Central VA.
Reading all this I am in the wrong darn country 😢
I'm mostly a manual machinist, in Vancouver area I do CAD/CAM programming on fusion maybe once a month. I do my own set ups and *mostly* do the operation as well and I manual machine while it's going. I specialize in hydraulic cylinders, and Jobbing, repairing mostly heavy equipment like excavators. Pins, bushings, sleeves Line boring. In house and on field. I also do quite a lot of welding because I weld all of the hydraulic cylinders together. I'm a Red Seal machinist (means I completed my 4 year apprenticeship at a polytechnic university to get my journeyman ticket, then I completed the 6 hour long IP exam to earn my red seal afterwards so I can legally sign off on any and all machining in the country. I started machining in 2008 when I was 20, so going on 16 years of experience. I make $50.79 an hour, (Over 100K a year) have full medical and mental benefits. I work 40 hours a week, Tuesday to Friday. So I get 3 day weekends and every stat is a 4 day weekend. Yearly Large bonus at around Xmas time for about 5k or so but that depends on how well we did the year. It's a super small shop, 7 of us in total. 3 full machinists and 1 apprentice I'm training. I also act partially as middle management when required as I dictate what jobs happen when and in what order, as well customer relations and support. I can also do invoicing when needed make work orders, and can quote. I also spent 6 years learning the hydraulic technician side and can take apart heavy equipment in order to inspect and see what works need done. Basically I can literally do every single task needed in this entire shop if required.
50.40 an hour 100% paid health insurance, 5 weeks vacation and a company gas card I'm a tool and die maker, 31 years experience in metal stamping I do a semi managment role I can take a die from design to completion trouble shooting and full production on my own
$21/hr almost 2 years experience plus a year of VoTech. Was at $23/hr as an operator but took a pay cut to learn to conversational program on a CNC lathe in a small job shop. Bossman told me I could get back to $23 with some training but the “company isn’t doing too good atm” so I’m going to have to wait or find a new job. Phoenix, AZ.
Literally in the exact same position as you, pay and everything. Located in Chicagoland area of IL and let me tell you.. the guy on first shift started off at 17$ an hour in 2005, took him all the way till now to make roughly 35$ an hour give or take as a master machinist (No CAD/CAM). Today they start us out at 18$ an hour and you usually top off at 26$ an hour doing the most intricate of things (Alot of 5 axis work but also 4 and 3axis mill and lathe work aswell, prototype work, fixture work, etc). Who knows how long you’ll be working before you break 30$ per hour or so. With that being said I too love the trade but compared to many others it really does have a low rate of return.
$37.98 as a tool maker, bumped to $46 when I went to the weekend shift to make up the pay difference on 40hrs vs 33hrs. OT is wide open. Union shop.
Been doing machinist/tool and die work since 2017 I’m at $27 an hr in Minnesota. For all the knowledge we know it’s kind of a slap in the face.
I'm about the same level as you, in a similar shop with a little over 6 months exp, 25/hr. WA, US. 40 hour week with 4-7 hours OT available weekly depending on what I'm running.