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what is the average salary of mastercam programmers in usa


robel
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asking about wages in the usa is a bit of a misnomer. i'm in western new york and could move west to california and easily increase my income by 50%, if not double it. same if i went downstate to around new york city. however, my cost of living at those locations, especially regarding real estate would instantly quadruple if not more. what is a reasonable wage is very largely dependent on where you reside in the usa. you really should be looking at what are the prevalent competitive wages in the area to are going to, or do, reside in. 

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I've been at this career since 81. It's been the most challenging and rewarding 35 years of my life. I haven't always loved my job, but I have loved my job a lot. It satisfies my creative side and desire to solve problems. I happen to work in one of those shops where most of the employees are not highly valued. I had to teach myself almost everything that I know including digging Mastercam 3.1 out of a box, installing it on an old computer out on the floor and then teaching myself how to use it A to Z. The lathe programmer, my then boss was a Smartcam devotee (Hated it) but I persevered and ended up being offered the Milling Supervisor position which included being the programmer. Now I'm 60 making mid 60'S with 14 Mills in my section. I am as worried as most of you guys about the direction of machining in America. The young guys are so often unmotivated and downright lazy, but they seem to be whats available for employment so we chew through a bunch of them to find one or two who are worth their salt.

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Now I'm 60 making mid 60'S with 14 Mills in my section.

 

I'm just going to say, this is where, as mentioned above, location matters...

 

In the big scheme, you're not that far away from me but up there in northern Vermont, it's a different game than here is So. NH....

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I guess I've been one of the lucky ones. Self taught, but always given a chance to experiment and push.

Short of a couple months long hiccup, it's been an awesome ride and a career.

Now working from home with 2 full mastercam licenses, full blown vericut and camplete on a top notch boxx computer system. Corporate flies me to their offices monthly for few days to attend meetings and to stay in touch.

Live is good, just got to work hard and try to be the best that you can.

 

:cheers:

 

Ohh, and I get to program one of the coolest parts around ;)

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I have a 19 year old machine operator with three years experience making $30/hr.  He is good and worth every penny.  He got a $12/hr raise a month ago and about fell over :laughing:.  I should add that this guy almost didn't get hired because I didn't have the time to train him.  He came to the shop for a week straight (8:00am-5:00pm) during Christmas break on his own time to see how things were done and that is why I went ahead with the hire.  That is his approach to most things and it is no accident his pay is where it is.  He could be over $100k in a few years...

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U can get 25-30-range in houston tx just for operating

If u look enough and have a set of skills

Take my word for it

There not the most efficent or competent companies in regards to turning profit hence the pay

But thats not my part, they dont even listen when u make suggestions

 

Any machinist can make that money in Houston. Very different from other cities in TX where wages are very low.

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I'm reading all through this, and soo jealous of you all. We lost our CNC man due to pay. The CEO and lead engineers had a "exceptionally experience" CNC programmer to fill his spot. I volunteered to be the backup/assistant when I was not drafting/engineering. My thought was lets get some cross training so we don't have issues.

     

      Ended up that the CNC programmer didn't know how to program.... leaving me as the only CNC person with 0 experience. Three axis is pretty simple and I picked up on that real easy, The real struggle is five axis, and the only support I have is the online training I started year ago. I would kill to have a competent person I could learn from, and watch. I still struggle with the approach on some parts.

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What kind of shops are you guys talking about that pay $30/hr+ for programmers,  mom & pop shops or big business's? im in northern ohio btw

 

Im in a tool & die shop and the owner considers $25hr "high pay" and this goes for any position. He wants the cheapest people he can find and expects them to be usefull without me holding their hand the whole time.

hell, our CNC VMC guys have to know G code to program all the 2D stuff them selves and they are high 10's low 20's payscale. the TOP guy is mid 20's

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob w-

im a similar situation to your 19yo except my owner isn't as generous lol

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i understand that but also everything we do here is "one off", and 90% of mold bases can be done manually and he is stuck in the 80's

he still has a hard on for HSS and "how do you think we did it 10 years ago" is his second favorite line next to "are you done yet?"

 

 

he was pretty mad and totally negative the first time he saw me roughing a 20" x 20" core block with a .50" CEM going at 150. IPM

 

 

i could go on for hours about this place

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i understand that but also everything we do here is "one off", and 90% of mold bases can be done manually and he is stuck in the 80's

he still has a hard on for HSS and "how do you think we did it 10 years ago" is his second favorite line next to "are you done yet?"

 

I know in my area, if a person was unhappy with where they're at, there are shops dying and paying for quality people....

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A lot of local companies are losing a lot of good people because Pratt & Whitney is doing some serious hiring.

 

 

Nsoe was hired by Pratt & Whitney to machine engine blades in May. He earns $30 an hour plus a $3 shift differential.

 

 

 
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A lot of local companies are losing a lot of good people because Pratt & Whitney is doing some serious hiring.

 

 

 

 

 

The problem, in my experience, with those guys....

 

After many years, if they had any real talent, it's typically gone...and many who do work there, when a layoff comes, have no real skills, they can only follow an SOP

 

NO problem solving skills at all

 

That's been my experience, GE, Polaroid, Pratt & Whitney and several other very large places...

 

There are of course, sometimes exceptions to that statement....

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