John, I happy to see that you found your Miss Right Now. Good paying tech jobs are getting more and more scarce around here. Sure there are lots of jobs, but good paying, most of them are not. There are a lot of kids in or just out of collage willing to work dirt cheap. Makes it rough for us old-timers trying to make a decent living. I started working in the computer/internet field in 1994 when companies would pay a sign in bonus to go to work for them. Those were the days! May your days have a prosperous, enjoyable fling with Miss Right Now for as long as it suits you, your needs and yours wants! Perhaps areal Miss Rght will find you and provide the job of your dreams.
With the machine tool industry, it's gone quite different than other tech jobs. Most good machinists bailed out of this trade over ten years ago. A good machinist can jump into any other trade quite quickly. It's the way their brains get wired over the years. Anyone else, just can't become a good machinist overnight. As a result, there is a huge hole in the industry. People are not getting into it. Especially now with all the advances in CNC and automation. Most shops will have a couple of programmers (who really don't know
), a couple of set up guys, a bunch of noodniks just smart enough to hit the green button, and maybe a few older manual machinists because someone has to deal with fixturing, tooling, and rework. Once those guys retire, the industry will completely go down the toilet in this country. You still need real machinists to support the shops.
That's why I gave up on being a machinist back in '08. The pay and other possibilities were much better in Field Service. Again, no one is really getting into it. The pay and bennies are real good, but you have to put some time in for top pay. Most young people don't want to get dirty, do hard work, retain a boatload of knowledge regarding machining, electronics, electricity, mechanical engineering, travel, and other requirements of the job. Again, that makes it good for someone with my background. Ten years ago, no one wanted to pay me for my experience. Now, many companies will because they have no choice. People are not beating down the door to compete with me. I hope this one works out this time.
