July 9, 2007

What This Job Pays: machinist

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Pay: The average pay of a machinist in the Seattle area is $20.70 an hour, with most making $17.04 to $23.62 an hour, according to PayScale, a Seattle company that tracks compensation and benefits.

Demand: Employment of machinists is projected to grow more slowly than average for all occupations in coming years because of rising productivity among these workers and strong foreign competition. Machinists will become more efficient as a result of the expanded use of and improvements in technologies such as CNC machine tools, autoloaders and high-speed machining. This allows fewer machinists to accomplish the same amount of work previously performed by more workers. Technology is not expected to affect the employment of machinists as significantly as that of most other production occupations, however, because machinists monitor and maintain many automated systems. Because of modern production techniques, employers prefer workers, such as machinists, who have a wide range of skills and are capable of performing almost any task in a machine shop.

Need to know: Machinists train in apprenticeship programs, informally on the job, and in vocational schools, or community or technical colleges. Experience with machine tools is helpful. Many entrants previously have worked as machine setters, operators or tenders. People interested in becoming machinists should be mechanically inclined, have good problem-solving abilities, be able to work independently, and be able to do highly accurate work (tolerances may reach 1/10,000th of an inch) that requires concentration and physical effort. High-school or vocational-school courses in mathematics (especially trigonometry), blueprint reading, metalworking and drafting are highly recommended.

PayScale, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

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