I am 55, and from an IT background but have given up on it. I am interested in getting into CNC and I found this course, but I am not sure how good it is
Even if the course is good, I am not sure that I am employable given that I have no machine shop background and the age factor also might b a real killer. On the plus side I also have enough money to purchase a few machines myself, so I may be able get something going with an experienced CNC person.
cnc is a young mans game- 55 is way too late to start; maybe get into transport trucking and use your saving to tie you over untill you get some experience on the road
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Life was so much simpler in the old day when the average age at death was 40 or so, and people did not outlive the utility of their apprenticeships.
The problem is that many of the trades, and I include IT as a trade, are either going the way of the buggy whip maker, or are being exported to low wage countries. IT has the added complications of extremely rapid progress or at least change where by the time an individual becomes master of a segment of the trade such as COBOL programming or C+, it is already obsolete, and institualized ageism, where even 30 year olds are considered too old in many cases.
There is the additional problem in that many of these trades/professions guarantee that you will always be working for someone else and subject to the passing whims, hallucinations and incompetency of the organization and/or your immediate supervisors.
I have no silver bullet solution for this problem, but suggest you look into taking the civil service exams for federal and state employment, and examine the licensed trades such as plumber and electrician.
You may also wish to consider establishing your own home based IT practice, possibly emphasizing the implementation of open source solutions and training for small businesses that are tired of being ripped off by proprietary software applications and o/s providers with their continual changes, patches and upgrades, i.e. Ubuntu and Open Office.
Good luck on your job hunt. The difficulties you, and thousands if not millions like you, are facing are not of your own making, and the only mistake you (and they) made was getting old.
-- Unka George (George McDuffee) .............................. The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author. The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).
Take the course. You will find out if CNC machining is something you like. If you have a background in music or sports, the discipline is the same. Get a little better every day by learning something new every day. I have seen people make tremendous progress in a year due to their enthusiasm and attitude. There is no better teacher than experience. Offer your services at an entry level wage at a local job shop just operating machines. Loading, unloading, and inspecting parts all day is a great way to learn the business. You may want to get some books on blueprint reading, machining fundamentals and CNC programming. Find people that know what they are doing and ask questions. Good luck.
IT has an added disadvantage over most other sectors in that anything new is being marketed as a game changer, i.e., dump all the accumulated skills of your staff and hire new and cheaper people fresh out vocational training in this not-really fantastic revolutionary step.
Thanks Bill! I am wondering if my being ready to invest money in a shop could motivate a shop to bring me in as a partner, and how much $$ $ is it likely to take to interest them?
Obviously, this would only work in a small shop trying to grow..
============ Indeed.
Any trade that does this has continual problems in that it has difficulty accumulating a knowledgebase and will have the tendency to repeat the same errors over and over again.
There are some areas where a very limited working life is to be expected such as world class professional soccer where physical condition/reflexes are important requirements, but their compensation reflects this, i.e. a top ranked professional makes several times the median life time income concentrated in their few playing years. This is also very limited in that while there are millions of people who play soccer and golf, there are very few make big money at it. For example:
This clearly is not what happens in IT unless you are the owner of the company such as Jobs, Allen or Gates, and even there, this high return is not the result of IT skills but rather managerial skills and ownership.
In too many cases IT and many other trades requires the investment of very considerable amounts of money and time in an asset [knowledge/degree] that rapidly depreciates in value and cannot be sold or willed to your heirs.
Being on call 24/7 and responsible for increasingly critical sectors of a business can be intoxicating for its feeling of importance but feelings of importance do not pay the bills. Whatever you go into, keep reminding yourself that the goal is to make money for *YOURSELF*, not just make money, with the hope that a little of what you earn will trickle down or a few crumbs will fall your way.
-- Unka George (George McDuffee) .............................. The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author. The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).
Thanks Bill! I am wondering if my being ready to invest money in a shop could motivate a shop to bring me in as a partner, and how much $$ $ is it likely to take to interest them?
Obviously, this would only work in a small shop trying to grow..
Well if you bought the machines and offered some rolling capitol for tooling and material and you found someone who could program and set them up and you run the job out I could see where that would work. You could pay the programmer/setup guy an hourly rate or give him a fixed price. You own and operate the machines while running the business end while paying or partnering with someone to program the machines and set them up for you. Depending on the area there might be someone available. There are a lot of talented people looking for that opportunity, all you have to do is find them. As far as start up costs it would probably be better to buy an existing shop that is sinking rather than piece one together from scratch. There again location, and opportunity. All you have to do is find one to fit the other. Good luck. Someone with money, enthusiasm, work ethic, and the ability to continuously improve shouldn't have any problem with entering the manufacturing business as long as they are patient and don't mind paying their dues.
OK, and thanks! Right now I am in the Philippines pondering what to do. I may try some non-machining business here, but I have enough savings that 6 months stay here won't be a big dent in my $$$$.
Michel
======== You are in a very enviable position.
There is no apparent reason that you should again plunge into the rat race. Consider calling it a career and enjoy what time you have left doing the things *YOU* want to do, including establishing a hobby/home cnc machine shop.
If you decide to go this route, the course offerings at most of the US junior/community colleges or tech centers are a good place to start. It will get you started on the right foot including safety instruction, give you a chance to see what's out there in terms of cad/cam/cim and machines, and let you practice with someone else's machines and tooling.
A major concern should be capital preservation, given the lunatics and shamans now running the treasury departments, central banks, and banks/brokerages/hedgefunds.
Good luck, and let the group know what you discover, good and bad.
-- Unka George (George McDuffee) .............................. The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author. The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).
One of the very fastest ways to become a millionaire is to start out with 3 million dollars and invest it all into a start-up machine shop.
Thanks, and all that is stuff to think about. I am in a position where I have enough money that if I stay in the Philippines I am likely to have enough $$ to not work as long a I live a modest lifestyle, which is OK by me. I would likely live pretty well that way even if I had twice as much money. But I like business, so I am looking about for something to do and make money at it.
ews: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...
Good point, but most start-ups fail anyway. I would be best to team up with someone with an existing profitable small shop who needs growth capital. I am not a gambler by nature!
Mediochre at trolling too.
a few hundred grand is peanuts
if it's already profitable then who needs crap growth and the always attendant headache ?
The priginal owner is all but brain dead anyways.
AlwaYS thinking
A gazillion possibilities yet zero execution
They just print more money anyways, the overwhelming majority of which goes directly into the hands of the aLREady rich who could give a rat f*ck but they don't instead they hoard any money they aready have and they align themselves politically...
Yes Im agsinst re-distribution of wealth...
esp since what's been going on for the past 4 decades has been re-distribution from the poor and middle tpwards ther upper classes.
---Screaming in the background is he saying ---
BUY *MY* SHOP
LOLOL
Sorry not yet for sale...I can still operate it...
Not so sure about that, I am seeing more than a few people here crying over having to spend $10,000 to $20,0000 on some machine ...
While CNC is an industry where people figure they are worth big bucks, Gumby is not the only one without work, he just cries louder and we can well imagine how many of these guys will be happy to work for minimum wage when gov checks run out.
Just wondering about the wisdom of some of these guys packaging themselves with a good quality machine to a shop that can use the machine. Yes, after the cost of machine is factored in they are likely to take a pay cut, but still better than working at Starbuck.
=========== When the interest rate of return is calculated on the value of the required personal tools and the value of the education/training/apprenticeship including the lost wages, in many case the real rate of compensation is below minimum wage, and may possibly be negative.
Being a barista does not involve heavy lifting or much personal danger, although you can burn yourself, and you do get tips. It appears Starbucks management is currently fighting the age old wars of efficiency v. effectiveness with their customers and baristas, as usual, caught in the middle.
-- Unka George (George McDuffee) .............................. The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author. The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).
Actually, I am considering getting in the food court stall business. From a quick look I found that the profit on these can be about $30,000 a year, so if a person gets two of them in the same food court (easy to supervise) you can bring in pretty good money and every few years get a new stall ...
Hotdog stands in China don't effect on the ones in Canada.
ROFLMAO!
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