Looking for direction, career change at 30
Hi, I'm looking for advice.
I'm planning on making a career transition to becoming a machinist.
From what I hear on this sub reddit is that the field is dying in some places but not others, entry level machinist jobs don't offer much to any training, experienced machinists are gnerally under valued, and the older skilled demographic are leaving the field. Also, the guaranteed good paying jobs are aerospace, automotive, and defense.
My Experience:
- I interned at Habitat for Humanity for a summer in project management but enjoyed doing the manual work more than the admin part.
- I'm good at Trig. I can do geometry and algebra as well. I passed calculus. I'd need to study to pass Statics, but I understand the concepts.
- I took a sculpture class in college, where I had a lot of fun welding, using a plasma cutter and a grinder to make an outdoor sculpture.
- I've used sketch up make. I need to take a course to learn Blender. I'm good at creating with ms paint and drawing on built-in phone note apps, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint (You can layer a lot of shapes and make custom: layouts, fonts etc.)
(I know this is work and not fun, and games, but I hate my current job.)
I live in Las Vegas with friends and family in Boston. Going through a 1-2 year AAS certification course with machine time sounds fun as hell! But is it worth getting if you can succeed with a CAD, CAM cert, and knowledge of G-code? Also, can I walk into a shop as ask for an apprenticeship or training?
There seems to be a lot of demand still in this field. I'm not sure where to start this journey.