Considering A Career Move To Machinist Apprentice

[silverforgestudio]

@JP- Thanks for the positive thoughts- and you're right about the $$$- that is part of my reason for asking... I will take a pay CUT to start- but make it up within 3 years or so... so not a biggie, but definitely to consider!

@ Jim Dawson- you wrote "Lets go back to 1971..." WOW- I was born in '71! Your time spent in the writeup alone was worth the read not to mention the thoughts IN the writeup... a lot to chew on there as well.

I think I share the "Yeah- I can do that..." mentality- and enjoy the challenge as well. I will be referring to this thread while I am having the internal discussions with myself about HOW and WHY I am evaluating this... and your thoughts are well received.

Thanks again folks- KD

 

[Chris g.]

Wow! We must be twins. Same age, same situation. The bones of your story sound as if you wrote about what is going on in my life!

A few weeks ago, I told my wife I wanted to go back to school for machining and she just smiled, told me to go for it, and is fully supportive. It has been my hobby for years, but I have always been aware of my need for more formal training. I have never made a secret of the fact that I wanted to go back to school, but with two kids and all the bills that go along with life... Well, you know the story. But, the kids are in college now, both studying engineering, and I guess it's time. There are several schools in my area offering machining and tool and die classes. after talking to several of the machine shop owners in this area, I found most have a good opinion of all of the schools. The need for machine shops and machinist here is pretty robust. i have settled on a school and am now just waiting on placement. My boss at work has been supportive as well, and has let me change my work schedule to a three day weekend day shift position in order to accommodate the class schedule. I must admit that the thoughts of being the oldest kid in the class is kind of intimidating, but hey, they can't kill and eat me! I would just taste bad anyway. It's been a long time since formal education.

Good luck! I'll be there with you.

 

[eeler1]

They will pay you. You'll learn manual machining on decent machines and using every piece of tooling you can imagine. They will keep you busy, if no machining work you'll do maintenance on the machines. You'll never get wealthy as a machinist, at least I don't know any rich machinists. But it isn't that hard and you can make a decent living. If you find it interesting, go for it, you still gotta get hired. If you don't apply, it's a sure thing that you won't get hired. If you do, you just might. Agonize then, not now.

BTW, she have a sister?

 

[Mac1]

OK folks- long time reader and lurker of threads.... poster to a few... I have enjoyed the fellowship and respect the guidance here. I am asking for input on a matter somewhat personal- but pertaining to machining... and that is- "Becoming a Machinist"

I am looking for input from anyone- not "just" professionals or "just" Hobbyists...

In the interest of time/space, sanity and bandwidth- I will boil the saga down to the "Cliff Note" version of why I am posting and what I am asking:

Chapter ONE: 12 years ago-
Here is the spec's: My "Metal fever" started about 12 years ago when I had a girlfriend who liked jewelry- and I couldn't afford it... so I took a class, learned to make some trinkets and poof- fell in love! (With metals)

Chapter 2: 10 till about 7 years ago-
Lost the girl- kept making jewelry- loved to see silver and pearls and little things and sell them too... but found the silver was not the expensive part- it was the tooling to work it... so I joined the local blacksmiths guild to learn how to hot-work steel and heat treat things. Loved it. Forging and grinding knives, kitchen tools and other tooling was simple, unadulterated pure fun... for a few years

Chapter three: Six or so years till last year...
Now it was a hobby- and the real world came closing in fast... new wife, soon a baby, and the dreaded "real-job" (which had NOTHING to do with metals) all ate away at my time (as did a part-time business built around other things)... I became a domesticated fellow- with a schedule and duties outside my hobbies- I had "outgrown" things. I missed it.

Chapter four: Last Year...
Wife gets out of college- gets a job- notices Im still sad- encourages me to find my happy... I go back to metals- reading, cleaning old tooling, buying an old Rockwell lathe and some other old iron... but don't know exactly HOW to use it... Looking for formal training- nothing in my area- mentors are hard to find as well, and there seems to be NO written curriculum or benchmarks available to train myself to... although I enjoy the Guy Lutard readers and have devoured 300 issues of practical machinist, Projects in Metal and other magazines I acquired from an estate sale of a retired machinist. (Wife curls up with Stephen King books- Im reading Rudy Kohupt...) I want more, I want practical application and skills.

Chapter five: 4 months ago-
So here we are... an old paramedic (22 years in the streets) wanting to make the hard left-turn into becoming a machinist- really intrigued by tool and die work and making tooling... I'm not UN-employable at my early 40's... so I am trying to get into the DOD/DON Shipyard Machinist Apprentice program close to me. (DOD= Dept of Defense whereas DON= Dept of Navy) Im hooked on Myfordboy, ABOM79, Mr Pete, Kieth Rucker, and Dale's videos from Youtube... and I still love tinkering and moving metal- ferrous, non-ferrous, precious and utility...

Here are my questions- for those professional as well as those who are hobbyists (and professional about that hobby!)

1- What am I looking at besides 4 years of grunt work?
2- Any pro's or cons I need to consider from your perspectives (or retrospectives)?
3- I am looking down the road- not just at my current position- I want to have a shop of my own- How should I approach this (Mentorship, work part-time for another guy, just do it out on my own?)
4- HOW do I start prepping for tool and die?

Just looking for opinions and thoughts to add filler to the decision making process as well as broaden my conversation outside my personal sphere.

And thanks for taking the time to read and hopefully share your thoughts! Be safe and as always- at peace.

KD

Your description of your potential job "its a refurb depot for navy ships so always something broke or need fixing from what I have been told. The job "specs" are fabrication, repair and rebuild of components an/or machinery or tools within the scope of the vessel's call of duty/r". Based on my experience working in power plants, don't be disappointed if you catch a lot of crap jobs and very little machining jobs. We had no title of machinist in our machine shop. Everyone was mechanic.

 

[silverforgestudio]

Wow! We must be twins. Same age, same situation. The bones of your story sound as if you wrote about what is going on in my life!

A few weeks ago, I told my wife I wanted to go back to school for machining and she just smiled, told me to go for it, and is fully supportive. It has been my hobby for years, but I have always been aware of my need for more formal training. I have never made a secret of the fact that I wanted to go back to school, but with two kids and all the bills that go along with life... Well, you know the story. But, the kids are in college now, both studying engineering, and I guess it's time. There are several schools in my area offering machining and tool and die classes. after talking to several of the machine shop owners in this area, I found most have a good opinion of all of the schools. The need for machine shops and machinist here is pretty robust. i have settled on a school and am now just waiting on placement. My boss at work has been supportive as well, and has let me change my work schedule to a three day weekend day shift position in order to accommodate the class schedule. I must admit that the thoughts of being the oldest kid in the class is kind of intimidating, but hey, they can't kill and eat me! I would just taste bad anyway. It's been a long time since formal education.

Good luck! I'll be there with you.

Chris- Nice to know I'm not the only "Oldest dude in the class" in this boat... only difference is my boss wont let me change my schedule so I have to take a leave of absence- oh well- gives me a change of pace/perspective and certainly a different outlook!

I am trying to amass a bit of a "shop" for my home so I can put a few things to work I learn as I learn them... If you don't mind I will PM you and lets chat. Never knew I had a brother in TN... pretty country out that way!

KD

 

[silverforgestudio]

BTW, she have a sister?

HA! No, unfortunately not... Several friends a lot like her though- all in Florida. I just got lucky she was staying in Norfolk with her brother (Navy Senior Chief) at the time for some down time... and she stayed!

Your description of your potential job "its a refurb depot for navy ships so always something broke or need fixing from what I have been told. The job "specs" are fabrication, repair and rebuild of components an/or machinery or tools within the scope of the vessel's call of duty/r". Based on my experience working in power plants, don't be disappointed if you catch a lot of crap jobs and very little machining jobs. We had no title of machinist in our machine shop. Everyone was mechanic.

MA- true that- and I did the "due diligence" as I don't want to go that route- its an actual journeymans program with the Dept of Defense/Navy benchmarks- so I know Im in for a true apprenticeship.

Don't get me wrong- I will be the tool-boy and sweeper and wrench-getter and mechanic until then... but the program has benchmarks and competency exams at each phase. I have met and spoken with several machinists from this program and they all spoke well of it (and all have their own shops as well).

 

[autonoz]

If I were 10 years younger I would be contemplating the exact thing you are. After 25 years in the fire service and planning my retirement I don't think I have it in me to start a new career. I do enjoy it as a hobby and take on some paying jobs at times. While I know most have heard Jim's advise before I have taken the same advise to heart at a young age.

The most important thing is to have confidence in yourself, and having a high risk tolerance helps too. I have been known to bid jobs without having any idea how to do it and just make it up as I go along. Nothing like a little pressure to get you motivated, being about half crazy helps too.

I have always felt if it can be done by someone else, I can do it. May take me longer, but if I have the tools, I am just as capable as the next person.

 

[silverforgestudio]

Nothing like a little pressure to get you motivated, being about half crazy helps too.

I have always felt if it can be done by someone else, I can do it. May take me longer, but if I have the tools, I am just as capable as the next person.

Auto- I will agree with the half crazy- and the pressure as well! More than one night I've been jamming along trying to get it done because someone else dropped the ball (and I picked it up and ran with it)!

Thanks for the thoughts!

 

[silverforgestudio]

OK- so update if anyone is hanging around my little niche of this thread... I received the offer for the apprenticeship! Woo Hoo! OK- had to let someone know- Just so this thing doesn't die in situ- I'm going to start a blog about it.

But- now I'm doing DOD paperwork... fun fun fun!

 

[francist]

Hey, congratulations! That's great.
Interesting idea about the blog too -- go for it. Not only will it be nice for you to write about your experiences, but it may be really beneficial for other down the road if they are considering a similar thing. It's one thing to write about things that happened in the past, quite another to write about them as they are happening to you.

-frank