Veeky Forums i need some life advice and seeing as youre my homeboard i feel that i can trust you guys more than other boards.
Im 26 years old and currently working construction. Ive been a construction worker for 5 years but its starting to drag me down with getting up at 3am everyday and a 3 hour commute back home every afternoon.
Id like to test the waters and try to land an apprenticeship as a CNC worker.
Can anyone tell me how difficult of a job it would be to operate a CNC machine and learn everything there is about operating those machines?
Id be taking a severe paycut (29 to 12 dollars). Would it be worth it? Or should i suck it up and try to branch out more in the construction field?
>construction worker for 5 years Why are you not a foreman?
Anthony Johnson
>29 to 12 dollars fuck no nigga jesus christ
Jackson Garcia
Ive been with different companies. >1st company got laidoff when project finished >2nd company i was almost a foreman but a Superintendant botched a job super hard and blamed everyone else on the project (15 other people). Company laid us off and fired him and made sure he was not hireable in the top half of the state. >current company Project finished and currently waiting on my dispatch
Daniel Thompson
Do you have a savings? Do you have good credit? Have you tried asking for a promotion based on experience?
Jordan Reyes
Yes. Yes. Doesnt work that way, promotions are based on time with company and they give you trial runs on new projects to see if you can be a decent foreman. Company im with is very catty and plays favorites alot so that extra 2 dollars isnt worth all the BS especially when people botch something, then they try to throw you under the bus. Theres been alot of higher ups quitting.
Ryan Bell
Think about civilian contracting for the airforce? Bases hire anyone who can do basic metalwork or work stamp presses and molding machines for replacement parts, pay is 20+ an hr and mad benefits, also training is all provided.
They will take anyone that passes background, I've had ex cons working with me who got hired once their time was done and kept clean.
If you are near any mid size or large base you can find work for someone good with their hands, my installation hires hundreds of people every year and it's impossible to be fired unless you fail a random screen or just don't show up a lot. Most that get let go simply don't like being outside and just stop showing up and the work is soo easy it boggles my mind.
Christian Foster
>Yes. >Yes. Start a lawn mowing/landscape company. Make your own hours, or do nothing and hire a couple young guys to do the work for you. If you hire employees you can hold another job too.
Andrew Evans
Thats a thing? Ill totally look into it, i think the nearest base is Travis AFB and its about an hour away. The commute wouldnt bother me.
I have experience welding but im good with a grinder and decent with a torch since i was cutting ALOT of steel at the last job i was at.
What would the job title be under and check the Air Force website?
William Rogers
No* experience welding.
Sorry my thumbs screw me up on touchpad.
Its tempting but the market for that is super saturated here in California. The area im in doesnt even have grass on 1/2 of the lawns cause of the water restrictions.
Carter Kelly
>California Damn. Well i tried.
Jack Miller
I'd suggest calling their HR department if you can't find an online listing for the bases job page. Sometimes they use crappy government sites that require you to search by job number, that's something that HR can give you if you call about openings. Their jobs id's are all like GS11-13, which at my installation is the job of aircraft metal shop workers. You literally have three tasks all day, remove metal panels from furnace, place in water, move to stamp and push button, repeat.
If you do get listings that show multiple positions in the same area, don't apply for all of them but just the one that fits your skills the best. Applying for everything is irritating for the managers since each one has to interview you and can drag out the process for weeks vs just applying for shop then speaking to the manager about other openings since the application can be transferred to another later.
And make sure you can pass urine and saliva tests, we do both for most of the new guys, a secondary screening a week after the urine to detect stealthy users.
Justin Morgan
Im looking right now and i keep getting error pages whenever i click anything.
So the work is fairly repetative? Whats the dress code?
Im assuming if i do get hired on then theyd do the usual finger printing, background check, and badging process?
Hmm okay passing a drug test shouldnt be a problem. What about prescription drugs? Im currently taking 2 for my back but i can stop. These arent painkillers, ones an anti-inflammatory and the other is for muscle spasms. I tweaked my back about 2 months ago and have been taking those and stretching alot.
Benjamin Ramirez
Prescriptions are fine but will need doctors scripts.
The government sites are a time machine back to the year 2001, they go down all the time and often have janky search options, you might see if they have a paper application they can hand out, but the online option might be the only way so you may need to chill for the site to come back up.
And the jobs available rage of repetitive work on machines in the shop to more entertaining things like giving planes sandblasting and chemical baths for newly returning aircraft. There is also a wide range of opportunity if you go get certified in anything ranging from auto work, welding or electrical. Only a simple cert is needed to work those jobs and they can be very interestind pay a good deal more $30+hr for the aircraft cleaners for the risk of chemicals and having to wear suits in the summer while you do it.
Asher Brown
you should honestly ask You're more likely to get a better informed answer/opinion over there.
Eli Baker
Also, the background check is extensive and prints are taken and you get a DOD contractor id that works anywhere you are supposed to be, just don't ever try to use it to enter an area you don't work in because they monitor access and you will be flagged immediately.
Alexander Cruz
my dad works a CNC mill
Benjamin Cook
Yeah ive got my paperwork for them.
And i could tell hahaha. I tried clicking a page and it loaded then errored. Tried other pages and they crashed too.
As far as certifications go, are OSHA certifications valid or do i need to retrain? Im OSHA certified to drive scissor lifts and forklift -gradall/skyjack/etc certified. I know how to drive excavators and skidsteers also.
Saving that doggo pic
Ill prob try in abit, that board is very slow, and ive seen some anons/tripfags on here that are CNC workers. Figured id try here first
Blake Young
Basically you can show up right after prison and they will certify you in whatever you need during training. We have dindus doing stamp work that can barely read sometimes, but they work well with their hands and show up on time. The government is desperate for manpower on occasion and will just hire temps for a few months then keep a few dozen and furlough the rest. It's sometimes hard but honest work that pays well and gives great benefits and even a free gym for paid workouts once a week to maintain workforce health.
William Gutierrez
I bet OP is mexican
Dominic Evans
Try and up-skill yourself into a related trade.
Josiah Diaz
>You literally have three tasks all day, remove metal panels from furnace, place in water, move to stamp and push button, repeat. gee, that sure doesn't sound mind-numbing at all OP wants to become a CNC machinist, not a glorified factory worker
Brody Flores
It's kinda cool Go for it, you'll need some good math shit like trigonometry. It's fun watching shit get milled out. Coding is decent and you won't have to worry since CAM/CAD software is there but it's good to know how to read and write a code from scratch since it helps finding a fuck up when testing a new program out on the machine. You're going to need to know some print reading as well, no shit.
Have some OC mill porn. I wish it was small enough to post. CONTAINS PLEASING SOUNDS webmaster.com/WnBnq
James Evans
webmshare.com/WnBnq fucked up the link Made this bullet keychain in the lathe but I fucked up the dimensions ;_;
Ryder Sullivan
M8. As a CNC operator, you may very well be doing the same couple things a day anyway. They're just different things and possibly more ass time.
I'm posting this sitting on my ass at work right now. I may be in different parts in the program on a day to day basis but it's always changing parts, refurbishing cutting tools, measuring and adjusting (current process is very good so I basically never have to adjust shit anymore, except one thing), a couple of minor maintenance items, and cleaning. Lots of ass time reading cause the part takes so long. This is the case as a production operator running big parts.
On the other hand, if you end up in a job shop or smaller so in general, you might be trending as couple differed machines and be in a nonstop cycle of loading and unloading. It's hard to say because there is such as large variety of shops.
Luis Cooper
and by telling OP to apply to a job as a press-monkey for the airforce, how do you help him exactly?
the point is to NOT end up in such a treadmill job you need to find a company where work is challenging and diverse, not actively seek out a job description that boils down to "grab a sheet of metal from the furnace, quench it and put it into the press...a thousand times a day"
