CNC Machinist
🛠️Turns a raw blank into a precise part on a lathe or milling machine. Programs the CNC, picks the tools and works to hundredths of a millimetre.
Prospects & pay
What the work is like
💼 Job market
🇺🇸 $62.9k a year on average · +1% jobs by 2035 · 26,100 openings a year
Machinists — US: Census ACS 2020–24 (full-time), BLS projections 2025–35
🇬🇧 £35.8k median a year · 45,000 jobs
Metal machining setters and setter-operators — UK: ONS ASHE 2025 (full-time)
🤖 AI & automation
CAM systems with AI write the programs and one person runs several machines; fewer operators are needed, while setters and all-rounders are valued more.
Who it suits
Interests: 🔧 Making things by hand, ⚙️ Tech and engineering, 📐 Maths and data.
Key strengths: manual dexterity, attention to detail, maths.
Where to study
- Apprenticeship Machinist / CNC engineering technician apprenticeship (UK)
- Apprenticeship Zerspanungsmechaniker/in (Ausbildung, DE)
- Vocational CNC machining certificate at a community college, NIMS credentials (US)
Key school subjects (A-level / IB / AP): Maths, Physics.
🧗 A 2–3.5-year apprenticeship (Zerspanungsmechaniker Ausbildung in Germany, UK apprenticeships) or a US college course with NIMS credentials. Next steps: setter, CAM programmer, supervisor.
Things to know
🛢️ Dirt, noise, smells
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