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Picking a career

I get to work on cnc machines alot in my field (maintenance @ caterpillar transmission plant) we basically make all of our own chit in-house, gears, bevels,shafts, housings, etc. And test each one on dynos. Its really cool stuff. I guess it all depends on which company you get an oppurtunity to work for. Some can pay really well, and some can be lame and boring with chitty pay. We've got well over 1500 dif machines so it keeps us pretty busy.
 


Erich... A bit of advice after hanging out with a mechanic buddy for years. Take a look at the jobs you are thinking about, possibly find a shadow opportunity where you can see a day in the life of these careers. Maybe it would work for a school project at the time. Really look at the long term though. Here's what little I know about some of the stuff you mentioned.

HVAC guys tend to like their jobs these days, although long hours and on call is part of the gig. Years ago asbestos was a hazard of the job. Sucking in furnace dust etc all day, grind that into your pores.

Electrician, Along the same as an HVAC in that long hours and on call can suck. Money is good though. Work for the right company/your self and it can be a nice gig. Outside in cold/hot etc. Always crawling in attics or being on a construction site.

CNC - may be boring, but what hazards are you around on a long term health scale? Probably whatever material is being machined etc.

Desk job - Not so bad if you wanna typically get out at a certain hour and then go detail/ have a physical side job.
 
mechanic - lol. know why mechanics drive ****ty cars? they get home and dont want to continue doing their job.

HVAC - meh, the job is a lot of work. you'll also have to do a lot of work outside as bill said.

electrician - if youre into electrical, skip the manual labor and go straight for the design position. cushy job with a large pay grade. ask me how i know. ;)

CNC - this is a good job NOW, but it's a super dying trade in america. it's just too cheap to make some dude in asia do it. seriously, im not joking. this field is dying for a reason.



i am currently an electrical design engineer for a company that makes loading dock equipment. my job is to put together special requests for customers that isnt offered on our normal price list. give that, the circuits i work with are actually very simple. however, electrical tends to confuse people and because i understand what i am doing i make some decent bank for it. i sit at a desk all day and i screw around 30% of the time i am here. granted, i got lucky and fell into a great company with a fantastic line up of co-workers, but that is something you have to strive for in the end.

all in all, don't cheap out now. put in your time in school and use that expensive piece of paper they give you to get ahead of others in the job market. it is really the only thing that is going to save you from the hard labor jobs mentioned above.

also, if youre interested, union labor can be rewarding if applied correctly. i just hate unions because they drag the people down that actually know what they are doing. therefore, ill never be pro-union because at the end of the day im better than you so i deserve better pay and benefits. ;)
 
Maybe work in the macaroni fields picking macaroni, It's hard work but it does pay real good :)

Good job for the side while your taking your course, etc.
 
Bio is right on the CNC part dying out. Production environments for sure, but custom environment is a little different. Now they have crazy CAM software that does just about anything with CAD software. Nowadays, CAM and CAD software go hand and hand. I on the otherhand do it old school style where I have to manually input the coordinates.
 
NegativeOne13 said:
Bio is right on the CNC part dying out. Production environments for sure, but custom environment is a little different. Now they have crazy CAM software that does just about anything with CAD software. Nowadays, CAM and CAD software go hand and hand. I on the otherhand do it old school style where I have to manually input the coordinates.
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Yeah, the basic CNC machining stuff where you put a part in a cell and hit a button is dying out and getting sent overseas. That stuff can be done by anyone.

But where there is still demand here is the custom job shop stuff. If you can learn programming AND run a machine, you are set. If you know that stuff and can think on your feet, come here and I will give you a job tomorrow in my tooling department. It's crazy how many CNC operators are just operators and can't edit a simply program.
 


I actually started out as an operator here, then forced to be the programmer with lack of training. The guy before was a total dick, and pretty worthless. I trained myself and help with a few other people, and now I do all the programming here.
 
redlinepontiac said:
being a mechanic sucks lol
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Some places, I went to school, was in the top 5, was a great tech(still have an open offer to come back), but now I work at a soy bean processing plant because I make almost $6 per hour more than when I was wrenching. I think if I had gone to a different dealer I would have been sitting a little better
 


BillBoost37 said:
Erich... A bit of advice after hanging out with a mechanic buddy for years. Take a look at the jobs you are thinking about, possibly find a shadow opportunity where you can see a day in the life of these careers.
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Yeah that's probably what I should do, find somebody I can shadow in each of these fields and see which appeals to me the most.

Bio248 said:
electrician - if youre into electrical, skip the manual labor and go straight for the design position. cushy job with a large pay grade. ask me how i know. ;)
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I want a job that I can advance in and make good money so it looks like the electrical field might be my best bet so far

twol8uluz said:
I get to work on cnc machines alot in my field (maintenance @ caterpillar transmission plant) we basically make all of our own chit in-house, gears, bevels,shafts, housings, etc. And test each one on dynos. Its really cool stuff. I guess it all depends on which company you get an oppurtunity to work for. Some can pay really well, and some can be lame and boring with chitty pay. We've got well over 1500 dif machines so it keeps us pretty busy.
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Sounds like you've got a decent job, I'll have to see what kind of stuff is in my area. Seems to me it is a hit or miss with CNC guys and liking their jobs.
 
I do HVAC; maybe up there, it wouldn't be so oppressively hot, but in Fl, it's miserable. It's very seasonal here because of our climate. Super profitable in the summer, but winter we just have to get by on our planned maintenances. Hours can suck because you are ALWAYS on call.
37.5 hours ago, some kind of electrical surge killed 33 units at a nursing home we have a contract with, I have yet to sleep.

But, get in with the right people and get a real degree, and it can be big money.

I can tell you electrical engineers are generally happy with themselves...
 


Yeah, its a decent gig. I get to work on everything, electrical, mechanical, anything that needs fixin. And with over 1500 dif machines, most doing dif things, i.e. grinders, heat treating, cnc, too many to list. But it gives me the oppurtunity to do diff things all day rather than the same chit day in and day out. I just started in nov and there's lots to learn and plenty of room to advance and grow.
 
Along with Bio I'd agree 100% EE is where its at. EE Starting pay for a DOD company in the states is around 70k a year. Willing to work over seas for a DOD contractor 100K plus easy.

Same as working in the Guard I used to be a grease monkey and worked on HMMWV'S and Bradley's and got tired of it work on Radar's now and don't regret changing jobs for a second!
 
Fortehluls said:
IT is the shiznazz.
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this is super funny. i hate IT because they don't let me do what i want to do on my own devices. you're all jewish.

98GrandPrixIraqVet said:
Along with Bio I'd agree 100% EE is where its at. EE Starting pay for a DOD company in the states is around 70k a year. Willing to work over seas for a DOD contractor 100K plus easy.
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dont expect to start anything north of 50k in this economy. i JUST got to my minimum cap for my position and ive been here for two years. granted that i started with less experience than they wanted, but even so you shouldnt expect to be that well off immediately.
 
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