Is there much work out there for an independent programmer

[JCasper]

I have kind of been kicking around the idea of trying to find some programming to do on the side away from my normal job.

 

Is there very much work out there?

[Kannon]

Not here...

 

Me, Steve Z. and Midwest got this state covered.

 

welcome to the forum!

[crazy^millman]

I think it really depends on your abilities more than anything. If you are a good 5 axis, 3d, and Mill/Turn guy I would think you could get as much works as you could stand maybe more. IF what you can do is limited then I would also think the work you could get would be as limited kind of goes hand and hand.

[Steve Zirtzman]

JCasper,

Wecome to the Forum!

I would guess PA needs help with the difficult jobs.

[Storkman]

Like installing a beta?

[John13]

PA is just fine, thank you very much.

 

Welcome to the forum JCasper

 

Ignore the 2 yahoos above me, listen to Crazy^Millman, not the rest of these knuckleheads

[Hardmill]

quote:

---

not the rest of these knuckleheads

---

Someone call me ??

 

 

 

PEACE

[mold100]

Like Ron said, it depends on 1st your abilities, 2nd type of area your in. Is there alot of companies locally that could utilize your strengths. Most want to keep it fairly local, in the beginning there could be set up issues, post issues, adapting to how they do certain things are some things to consider. Are ypou looking to do onsite or offsite programming. You have to get familiar with companies tooling, and things as simple as tool libraries for some customers. I can tell you its not quite as simple as getting a part throwing some toolpath on it and shooting them the code. At least not until there is some establishment of a relationship. If something goes wrong or needs to have a change will you have the ability as having another full time job to drop what your doing and fix it for someone else. Just some things to consider and my .02, welcome to the forum

[YoDoug®]

I'll be busy for the next 3 months with all of the contract work I have. I have actually been using some of my vacation days from my day job just to get contract jobs done on time. I do a lot of tooling/fixture design for aerospace and composites companies around town. Sometimes programming too. It's not enough that I would consider going full time contract, but it makes a little extra money for the family.

[YoDoug®]

I am honest with my customers up front. I tell them that I have a full time job and that is my first responsibility. I let them know that although I have a flexable schedule that I may not be able to come over to address issues until before or after my regular working hours. I also tell them that I will not take any jobs that are in any way competition for my day job. Since we are a specialized consumer product company its usually not a problem. Many bosses would not be happy to hear you are running aroud town help ing other shops be more competitive. One other issue is to address up front is program revisions. I tell them that if the program will not run (alarms) or if does not cut to size I will fix it. If their oprators want me to make changes because they want the code to look a "certain" way it will cost them for the changes. Except for a few customers that I have a good relationship with I always quote and get a signed quote back before I do any work. I normally shoot for $65/hr.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

If you're good, there's ALWAYS contract work out there. If you're not... well... there's not.

 

Usually the good guys don't have to advertise. People come to them.

 

HTH

[Dave Ball]

Its not just about programming, I usually find myself meeting with the president or some other representative of management, and it comes down to professionalism and salesmanship. Can you sell yourself? They are the ones who usually sign off on these "contracts".

[JCasper]

Thanks everyone for the replies and welcomes.

 

I am a CNC Programmer/Moldmaker and have been using Mastercam for the last 8 years or so. I feel that I am a good programmer, but not on 5 axis stuff. We only have Vertical mills where I work.

 

I don't know if this is quite what I am looking for, but we have been slow at work and it seems to be getting more and more frequent that we have these slow times.

 

What does a seat of Mastercam cost these days? I haven't even checked into that, just kind of thinking out loud here.

[Kannon]

12. CNC Software discourages any discussion of pricing over the Internet, and we will respect their wishes on this forum. Around the globe product prices may fluctuate for various reasons including but not limited to economic conditions, varying service structures, international translation costs, and distribution costs.

 

best contacting your reseller for pricing...

[Storkman]

4 bucks in Thailand.

[JCasper]

Sounds good. If I decide to do this I will contact them.

[Zoober]

J, we use contract folks on occasion, but they MUST know 5 axis, aero specs, casting targets, etc.

Not to disparage anyone, but if you can't do 5 axis work, then you are not experienced enough to contract. Most companies are not going to contract out the 2-3 axis stuff, because "a 6 yr old can do it with FBM". They want help on their tough projects, and with resource problems.

 

Good luck!

[Thee Rickster ™]

quote:

---

4 bucks in Thailand.

---

i thought you said:

 

4 bucks in Thighland.

 

cus that is about right too

[YoDoug®]

quote:

---

They want help on their tough projects, and with resource problems.

---

My regular customers call me when they can't figure out how to get it done or they don't have the resource to get it done the right way. I have learned that some of my customers have other contract guys that they use as well. I am told that the other guys are cheaper than me but I keep my prices where they are and they keep calling me for the difficult work. I am not going to get into a bidding war and end up doing complex work for less than I make at my day job.

[MotorCityMinion]

"Not to disparage anyone, but if you can't do 5 axis work, then you are not experienced enough to contract. Most companies are not going to contract out the 2-3 axis stuff"

 

What a bunch of BS. How many shops out of one hundred have 5 axis mills? How many out of one hundred have mill turns?

 

There is tons of both average and sophisticated 3 axis work out there, and if your work is above average, throw out some freebies, check out the shop and get a feel for their tooling and processes. Good business people will like your attitude and willingness to work with them.

 

Heh, $65 an hour. My current hourly wage is less than half that. If only I could work at home for my hourly wage in my spare time, doing three axis work, I'd be on it like flies on $hit.

 

Point is, don't let theses peeps discourage you, go for it. I know, you still have to figure in hardware and software cost, but on the flip side, this would be one of the cheapest businesses to start up.

[Zoober]

Not trying to discourage anyone. Maybe you don't have much five axis work in motown, but the northwest is loaded with it. My point is/was that shops (in this area - don't know about the other areas) are going for higher and higher end processes to compete. That means probing, 5 axis, lasers, lights out, etc...I can't think of any shops in this area that are going to farm out 2-3 axis work..... Those programmers are fairly easy to hire, so no reason to farm out. It's the tough work that goes out more often than not.

 

No offense meant to anyone, but that's reality.

[MotorCityMinion]

Motown is hurting right now to find qualified people, operators and programmers, but that may be do to the fact that the pay actually stinks pretty bad around here.

[dvaliket]

What is the norm with contract 5 axis work as far as posts go? If you bought a seat of Mastercam to do contract work, do you do the programming then post it out at their shop? I would think they would want the nc file but that seems very dangerous with 5 axis work.

[JCasper]

Hey Robert, I have heard about your shop I think.

 

Did you have some Monarch CNC's rebuilt a while back?

 

I am not discouraged, just curious. I am a bit bummed that I have not had the oppurtunity to do 5 axis work. But with working in a mold shop as a moldmaker/CNC Programmer that is just the way it goes.

[Andy]

Keep in mind that there are some small shops who would rather occasionly hire a programmer than have full time employee constantly on payroll. I know I hire outside contractors occasionally to do special jobs for me. (More complicated 3d jobs than I have time for.) Of course the hard part is finding clients and then proving your value to them.