CNC Machinist
You set up and operate computer-controlled machines that cut metal parts to extremely tight tolerances. It's part programming, part hands-on machining, part measuring with precision tools.
What Tuesday looks like
You clock in at 6 a.m. at a machine shop that makes aerospace parts. Your shift lead hands you a job — 200 aluminum brackets, tolerance of half a thousandth of an inch. You pull the program up on the Haas, load the tools into the carousel, set work offsets with an edge finder. First part: you run it slow, single-block, watching everything. You measure it with calipers and a micrometer — it's two tenths over on one dimension. You tweak the offset, run another. Good. You let it rip and start cycling parts. Between cycles you deburr, measure, log data. There's a steady rhythm: load, cycle start, measure, unload, repeat. Around 10 a tool breaks mid-cut and scraps a part — annoying, but you swap the insert and keep going. Lunch is 30 minutes. By 2:30 you've got 180 parts done. You like the quiet focus. You don't love the fluorescent lights or the smell of coolant on your clothes.
Career profile
Career shape
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In the landscape
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Salary range
No salary data
10-yr growth
+2%
Reward profile
3 quick questions to see how this career fits the way you work.
What school costs — and when it pays off
Certificate program · A short training program — usually done in under a year.
The chart shows your annual salary over time alongside the annual loan repayment. The shaded band at the bottom is what goes to the loan each year — when it disappears, your full salary is yours.
School cost fully covered by year 7, with strong earnings well beyond that.
Entry-level salary
$42K
25th percentile — what most people start at
Experienced salary
$62K
75th percentile — after ~10 years in the field
School & training cost
$8K
+ $3K interest over 10 yrs
Loan paid off
Year 11
$91/mo for 10 years
First year of work
After loan's paid (yr 11)
Salary range reflects 25th–75th percentile nationally, growing from entry-level to experienced over 10 working years. School costs are national averages — yours will vary. Loan assumes you borrow the full amount at 6.54% interest, repaid over 10 years. Monthly figures are pre-tax.
The first years
Year 1: Trade School or Apprentice
You're in a machining certificate program or working as a shop helper, learning to read blueprints, use calipers and micrometers, and understand GD&T symbols you've never heard of. If you're in school, you're paying tuition while running manual lathes and mills to learn the fundamentals before touching a CNC. If you're an apprentice, you're making $15–18/hour deburring parts, sweeping chips, and watching the experienced guys set up jobs. It feels slow, but the people who skip this step never really understand what the machine is doing.
Year 2–3: Machine Operator
You've got a job running CNC mills or lathes on second shift, probably making $18–22/hour. You're not programming yet — someone else sets up the job and you load parts, hit cycle start, measure, and swap tools when they wear out. It's repetitive and the shop is loud, but you're getting fast at measuring and you've started catching mistakes before they scrap parts. You're also learning which shops treat people well and which ones burn through operators.
Year 4–5: Setup Machinist
You can now set up a job from scratch — load the program, dial in work offsets, pick tools, prove out the first part, and hand it off. Pay is usually $24–30/hour depending on the shop and what they make. You're trusted with tighter tolerance work and you've started editing programs at the machine when something isn't cutting right. This is where the job gets interesting, because you're solving problems instead of just running parts.
Decision point
Around here you have to pick a lane. You can stay on the floor and become a high-level machinist or shift lead — steady work, good pay, hands stay dirty. You can move into CAM programming and write the code that other machinists run — better pay ($70–90k), but you're at a computer all day and the work is more abstract. Or you can chase a specialty like 5-axis aerospace work, Swiss-style lathes, or medical implants, where the pay jumps but so does the pressure. Some people also start saving up to buy their own used machine and run side jobs out of a garage, which is a slow, risky path to owning a shop.
Year 6–7: Journeyman Machinist or Programmer
You're either a respected machinist running the hardest jobs in the shop, or you've moved into a programming/engineering role and spend your day in Mastercam or Fusion. Pay is somewhere between $30–40/hour on the floor, or $75–95k salaried as a programmer. The work is steadier now, but the industry is shifting — automation, lights-out machining, and AI-assisted CAM are changing what skills matter. The machinists who keep learning new controls and software stay valuable; the ones who don't get stuck running the same three parts for a decade.
Related paths
Welder
Both work in manufacturing shops shaping metal with precision tools. Machinists run programmed cutting machines while welders join metal, but the shop environment and attention to detail overlap.
Mechanical Engineer
Machinists who learn CAD/CAM and pursue a degree often move into mechanical engineering roles designing the parts they used to make.
Robotics Engineer
Both work with precision automated machines, but machinists run them on the shop floor while robotics engineers design them.