CNC Machinist (Milling)
⚙️Machines complex parts on a milling machine: slots, gears, moulds. These days it's usually a CNC machine, a program and a micrometer.
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
CNC and AI-generated programs cut manual work, but setup, complex parts and checking dimensions stay with an experienced machinist. Skilled people are scarce.
Who it suits
Interests: 🔧 Making things by hand, ⚙️ Tech and engineering, 📐 Maths and data.
Key strengths: manual dexterity, logic, attention to detail.
Where to study
- Apprenticeship Machinist / engineering technician apprenticeship (UK, Level 3); registered machinist apprenticeship (US)
- Vocational Ausbildung Zerspanungsmechaniker (DE)
- Vocational CNC machining certificate at a community college (US)
Key school subjects (A-level / IB / AP): Maths, Physics.
🧗 The main route is a paid apprenticeship (3–4 years in the UK and US) or the Zerspanungsmechaniker Ausbildung in Germany. Next steps: CNC programmer, supervisor or Techniker. There's a skills shortage.
Things to know
🛢️ Dirt, noise, smells
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