How Much Money Does A Machinist Make

Alvarado Wholve · Monday, November 8, 2021

How much should an entry level machinist make?

How much should an entry level machinist make?

Hi,
Even though I'm new to machining I feel like I'm worth more than I make. I would like to know if I'm just being greedy or if my shop is ripping me off.
I work at a company with 40+ employees in rural northern california (not the bay, I don't expect that kind of money)

I worked in their deburr department until I was proficient at deburring. I have been on a machine for 2 months now. My setup time is about double that of the veterans, but once I'm setup my production rate and quality match or exceed the veterans'. By no means can I program, but I have been reading the book and am familiar with many G and M codes. I find this allows me to avoid asking a lot of questions and wasting my supervisor's time. I have never been late and never called in sick. The work I do usually has a .001 or less tolerance. The jobs are usually 500 or more parts.

I make $10.50/ hr and get a medical benifits worth $200/month.

I work 50 hours a week and bring home less than $2000/ month.
I enjoy the work, but I could easily (no exageration here) make more money waiting tables 30 hours a week and am seriously considering it.

What is your honest opinion? If I am being greedy tell me. I don't need to be told my sh*t smells like roses haha

Thanks for your input!
Look around for another job in machining and find out what other shops would pay for your time. Wages will vary a lot around the country and you need to consider what is right for your area.
Originally Posted by Planker101

I enjoy the work

Go do tables on the weekends if you want the extra money. If you enjoy the work and you get benefits after only having been there a short time I would stay there. For your first year just learn the work and be a good employee after that first year if you know you wont get automatic raises perhaps sitting down with your supervisor would be worth while. Be able to show you've been on time and put forth your best foot for that year. Offer to get additional training if that would help you get a raise. But the important thing is you should enjoy the work you do. There is no point in working tables for 30 hours a week it caps out, fewer benefits and its not a challenge and you have to deal with people. Life isn't all about money, but I know esp out in Cali it dosn't hurt
Most jobs these days the pay isn't the bait for the employees its the benefits...took me a year to work for the company I work for me to start getting benefits but now that I have them It takes a huge weight off of me as I have some health issues a 26 year old shouldn't have.
Originally Posted by Planker101

Hi,
Even though I'm new to machining I feel like I'm worth more than I make. I would like to know if I'm just being greedy or if my shop is ripping me off.

I work at a company with 40+ employees in rural northern california (not the bay, I don't expect that kind of money)

I worked in their deburr department until I was proficient at deburring. I have been on a machine for 2 months now. My setup time is about double that of the veterans, but once I'm setup my production rate and quality match or exceed the veterans'. By no means can I program, but I have been reading the book and am familiar with many G and M codes. I find this allows me to avoid asking a lot of questions and wasting my supervisor's time. I have never been late and never called in sick. The work I do usually has a .001 or less tolerance. The jobs are usually 500 or more parts.

I make $10.50/ hr and get a medical benifits worth $200/month.

I work 50 hours a week and bring home less than $2000/ month.
I enjoy the work, but I could easily (no exageration here) make more money waiting tables 30 hours a week and am seriously considering it.

What is your honest opinion? If I am being greedy tell me. I don't need to be told my sh*t smells like roses haha

Thanks for your input!

You are getting screwed. I pay my part time help with no experience more than that. (Iowa) If they trust you setting up/running a machine, you are worth more.
Most places around here that are worth working at start help around 14 - 16 bucks an hour with little to no experience, 16 - 18 with a couple years under your belt and ability/drive
You are worth more then 10.50, it sounds like you and the boss need to have a serious talk: bring up your concerns, what you have learned and what you are providing for him, and why you deserve more money.

If he does not agree: that is your last day.

Let him hear your concerns and your side of the story: if hes got any sense he will realize your worth more, chances are hes paying you that much, because you haven't said much.

If he tells you well "you've made mistakes, blah blah." Point out your NEED to survive and the fact you enjoy this type of work, stick to your guns and if the conversation ends in a "O I'll think about it" just tell him "Well then do you mind if I use you as a reference? I have a couple job interviews coming up."

Realistically 10.50 in California has to be next to nothing, hes probably just kyking you because times were tough and he had too don't take it personally.
Originally Posted by tdeutmeyer

You are getting screwed. I pay my part time help with no experience more than that. (Iowa) If they trust you setting up/running a machine, you are worth more.

I agree to a certain extent.
He was working in deburring, a low wage skill at best and was lucky to not be making min. wage.

He also does not state how long he has been with this company which would reveal a lot more about the type of workplace he's in.

To me.......there is no such thing as "an entry level machinist". Though I'm not about to debate the fact he's on a machine, but being there for two months does not make anyone a "machinist". That my friend takes years and years of knowing and being proficient at a multitude of skills across a wide array of machines. Being a button pusher is not one of them........go ahead......let the debate rage on......my stance is solid on this one.

Being paid $10.50/hr? You would to me in my shop be worth more.

But, let's just say I agree with you that you are most likely worth more by reading what you describe as your skills, but the spoken word in these instances is typically a lot different than the actions seen in real life.

Perhaps you should be talking with management about your concerns and express your sentiments exactly as you have here to them and see what they say. Maybe they are already considering you for an increase.

Best Regards,
Russ
You stated you work in Cali. How many illegals/ and or imigrants work for the company? Is the payscale influenced by them? In MN you would make around $13/hr
$10.50 is shit.
Ask for a raise or find another job.
Even with 10-20yrs experience on every machine, you still wouldn't be getting paid anywhere near what the skills are worth.
You need to figure out what their pay scale is and what the requirements are to reach each level, and then decide what you're gonna do about it.
Welcome to the metal working industry.
My guess is, if you're doing your own set ups, you could squeeze more money out of them. Especially if you're doing set ups after being on a machine only 2 months.
The only thing that might hold you back just a little, is the question of whether or not you understand the tooling choices that are made for certain operations, the feed and speeds that are chosen for what materials, and why. Are all these things spelled out for you, or are you required to figure all these things out.
My point is, I could show a person how to set up a vice on the table, put the tools into the holders, measure them, pick up x and y zero, and load the program, and prove it out.
If he memorizes that process because he's done it 20 - 30 times now, it still doesn't make him a "machinist". He's really only memorized the procedure.
Not knowing where your skill level is on all these points, makes it kinda hard to determine where you should be, but I would say it's a bit low.
Shop I worked at we hired a guy that was be an operator and deburring guy and paid him $15 an hr. No machining exp. and no setups, tool changing or anything.
If you pass the physical and background check, join the Air Force and (wait if necessary) hold out for a "guaranteed job" as a machinist. Machinist and aircraft structural repair are combined fields nowadays. Structural repair folks are generally in much more demand in the civilian worth than aircraft mechanics, by the way. The specialty codes for each career field change fairly often and since I got out in 2007 I don't know what's current.
Avoid Civil Engineering, Transportation, Weapons, etc. Work on valuable systems such as aircraft.

Great working conditions and if you stay in you'll never feel a Recession. (I joined in the 1981 Recession.) Instant career, plenty of disposable income even early on since food and lodging are free, and of course full medical coverage. I'm happily retired and going to college on the G.I. Bill for fun.
Retiring in your forties is very nice.

Prior Navy folks can chime in about their careers, but bottom line either is a good deal.
Thanks for all the replies. I was already planning on talking to my manager, but I find that going into that sort of meeting is best done with more knowledge than I had.
A little more info about my abilities and shop (mostly because some people commented on what I left out)

The shop I work for Is strangly run. No illegals, but the same result occurs because 90% of the employees go to the same small church. I do not. The company hires based on whether you attend this church or not rather than based on skill, true story. (I got in because I knew someome at that church) because of this most of the employees put up with low wages. Then again many of the employees slack off A LOT. There are maybe 5 people at the company who can actually program. All the programs are written for us.

As for me:
I load the program gather the tools, set up the machine and start running. Pretty easy right? The difference between me and the other employees is that I actually work. I put out more parts per hour than most of the guys who have been there for years. This is imperical, not my opinion. I also read the programming book. I couldn't program, but I can look at a program and see what it is doing (with the occasional reference to the book for a code I don't know). I spot problems quickly and avoid turning in bad parts. I know how to check/correct runout on tools. As far basic machine operation goes (I am on a mori seiki sl-200) i am fairly set. I am learning to check my parts on the CMM and the MicroVu. MicroVu is cake because I just load programs. CMM I know the basics.
Where I am lacking:
I know almost nothing about tool selection or feed rates. I do not know how each metal will act. I don't know tricks such as adjusting chuck pressure to affect roundness/circularity (yes I know now, but that sort of thing in general) I have only been doing this 2 months, haha.

I don't think I'm a "machinist" I don't think I'm god's gift to this company. What I know is that on a two week job I might spend 8 hours swtting up where the more experienced guys take 4 or even 3, but after that I knock out my thousand parts two days before the guys who know what they are doing. I might scrap 20 parts where they scrap 15, but the pieces I send to QC ALL pass while the other guys get parts sent back as reworks. I don't know for sure, but I imagine I make the company as much or more money than their other employees.

I'm not looking for anyone to tell me I'm good or bad. I was just wanting to know what reasonable pay was and this forum helped me with that. Now when I ask for a raise I will be able to throw out reasonable numbers.

Thanks again for the input!
My comment on whether you're a "machinist" or not was not really meant to be insulting or complimentary. I think you already know that, but I just thought I'd throw that out there.
Based on what you've told us, you could have a job in my shop anytime. You have a ways to go, but you've conquered quite a bit already. You're the type of guy a person can train with minimul effort. In my shop, (and this should be true in most), a guy like you should be doing pretty good within about a year. So, I guess if I were you, focus on your good points, and don't let what little you lack in knowledge, force you to sell yourself short. You're attitude and willingness to learn is of greater value in my opinion, than an experienced slacker. So, yes, I think you're worth more than what they're paying you.
The company might not care what you are capable of. We staff for companies like that. They get you to the basics, don't want you to think more than necessary, and want to pay accordingly. It sucks and those are usually the worst places to get a raise in. They see little value in anything extra.
Maybe wait until you have been doing your new position for 90 days and sit down and ask if we can reevaluate your pay schedule. Come prepared to justify your stance with specifics. Usually with more responsibility comes more compensation. Remember that you need to show them why you are better specifically than someone else they will just hire off the street. Be careful comparing yourself to others that are there. Let them want to figure that out, they probably already have.

What do you want to be at? You also have to consider that you might never be where you should be with that company. We have one place that has the highest turnover on welders I've ever see. They keep them with our temp company for 6 months, pay $11/hour, rave about how great they are, finally take them on as their own, give insurance, 40 hours pto, and a 50 cent raise. They are gone in a couple months after that. The company says the welding doesn't require their skill level but when we send in someone that has the skill level they think they need they aren't happy. They also have more managers than anyone I've ever seen.
My 2 cents. Anyone that stays employeed for more than 2 weeks in any kind of shop in America should be paid more than $10.50 an hour.
If you have to talk to management to get a raise they aren't worth working for now or later. Don't waste youir time with them.
At those wages you don't have to pay your dues. They are criminals taking advantage of whoever they can. Let them hire another guy
who can wreck their machines for them.
In many structured working environments, there are written guidelines for advancement. Most are tied to time on the job / hours worked, as well as skills achieved and verified by a supervisor and signed off. You might ask your manager if they have such a program explaining to him that you are willing to learn what is required and move forward as rapidly as the program allows. That you could use the increase in wages that would come with the advancement.
This may be a less confrontational aproach to the subject and still let them know you are looking for a wage increase.

For what it's worth

Bernard
Re: How much should an entry level machinist make?

At 2 months experiance you know very little. It takes years to master this trade there is a reason the veterans make more than you. Besides why would you ask about a rasie in less than 90 days. There are lots of people who want your job, so decide if you like it, wait 90 days, then ask about evaluations and pay incentive to see what your advancement opportunities are. At a 40 plus employee shop you may be looked as expendable if you come across too strong.
If you want to move down to Central Cali I could probally help you get a better job at a local shop around here. While I'm not hiring I'm pretty cool with other local bigger shops and they are always looking for good employees... (I.E. I won't send you to the bad places...) Also there is a good company to work for up in Sacromento that starts with a C. Start goggling and going on Craigslist.