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I'm having considerable career troubles in my late 20s. i'm 27 now and just recently took an entry level machine shop position making 14.95 an hour. (graveyard) i'm promised 10 to 20hrs overtime a week, paid time & a half & I was told that my year to date earnings should hit closer to 40k as long as I average 50hrs or more per week. i'm also supposedly going to pickup a $1 or $2 raise at my 3 month review. BUT even then, i'll only be making $15.95 to 16.95 per hour WITH graveyard shift differential.
At 27 living in CT I was hoping i'd of hit 50-55k/yr by age 30 but that isn't panning out. The lowest rent I can find is $950 unless I want to live in the projects/ lower income crime center of a bigger city. ive worked since I was 16yo when I took my first job at a call center. ive worked hard manual labor for most of my life since then but at 5'3 as I age and slow down it seems like laborers and supervisors automatically assume i'll slow down production. I got my CDL early 2017 but after 10 months on the road I racked up 2 minor 1 major accidents (trailer dings, stuck in the mud, and a swipe during lane change bobtailing home) and so with 3 preventable accidents I was terminated & advised to change careers.
i'm extremely book smart - (i've researched mythology, philosophy, theology, sociology, & politics all my life) but I was always advised to stay away from college both from people I respected in media (liberals always advised that institutionalized learning was a rip off) & even my guidance counselor in highschool told me I was better off managing a mcdonnalds. (he retired and is well known for having jumped into the deep end just prior to retiring the year I graduated)
anyway... i'm absolutely terrible at math. it's the only subject I ever had actual trouble in. I was taken out of math class sometimes up to 3 days a week in 1st 2nd and 3rd grade because my spelling and reading weren't up to th3 standards my catholic school defined as necessary and ever since then, I excelled in word & did terribly in mathematics. ive recently filed a notebook with fractions and decimals, but it's difficult to retain! (I just want to note that I am trying to relearn highschool math)
so I haven't got a college degree. ive fallen through the cracks. I can trace where I went wrong I suppose...
I guess i'd really just appreciate some positivity & maybe some encouragement & suggestions.
i'm worried that I've taken a job in a machine shop that will ultimately lead no where.
maybe school is a viable option for someone in my situation? i'm trying to save for a small home or condominium but it seems like owning isn't even worth it if i'm working 12hrs just to afford tv and a bed room.
Last edited by JohnnyIsReady; 08-03-2018 at 03:34 AM..
Machining can turn into a very lucrative career. Once you get your feet under you, and have a couple of years experience, you will be a viable candidate for many more shops which pay more. There are those on this board that make >$100K in CNC fields. It will require perseverance but it can pay off more than anything else you stated. Plus it is a skill that translates well into most areas of the country.
Good Luck-
MichiganGreg is correct. Get some formal training in a place like this in East Hartford. They were around when I lived in CT.
Goodwin College has a CNC machining program that will likely allow you to greatly increase your earnings once you complete training. Used to be a CNC training place on Albany Ave. in the North End of Hartford but I suspect they are now long gone.
I have a friend in the Danbury area that may have an idea of other schools that offer CNC training. Will see if he can offer any suggestions.
Last edited by WILWRadio; 08-03-2018 at 06:13 AM..
I am not trying to discourage you or anything but you'll have a tough time getting any type of bachelor's degree if you are having difficulties doing fractions. Typically the degrees that are in demand require students to pass some type of math-based class like pre-calc, statistics, micro-economics, finance 1000, accounting 1000 etc...
I'd do some research online, if I were in you shoes. Find out what my options are for trades that have my desired earning potential.
I wish more people had your dedications! Many others would have use those obstacles as an excuse to be unproductive.
Last edited by Liar_Liar; 08-03-2018 at 09:10 AM..
Identify the machining jobs that pay $50k or more. Get a list of the skills and training you will need. You have three years to get those qualifications.
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Since you already have some experience, you can go to a trade school or even online and take classes with certification in CNC, or a degree, Associate of Applied Science in Computer Numerical Control Technology. That will get you out of the entry level machine shop and into a position averaging $20-28/hour.
So this is the problem with the trades. And a concern I have about the effects on the macroeconomic picture in this country. Compared to Germany our tracks are not robust. Too many like OP slip thru the cracks. By the time you reach a certain age (close to 30) you need to get into management otherwise the same thing happens that would happen to you in IT. They rather pick younger more energetic and cheaper.
And being bad a math will limit you in many trades. The economy is becoming more and more cutthroat and unless you are in the top 25% of some skill type people are going to get left behind increasingly.
People with bad math skills will get weeded out of the genetic pool due to our increasing reliance on AI, programming etc. to create "value". Now because we see journalism quality is at an all time low. People with exceptional communication skills no longer pursue journalism because it isn't respected and doesn't pay well. But we have all of these amazing productivity apps and we herald programming geeks and say thank you for your contribution. Right brained folks are quickly getting sidelined unless they possess savant level creativity.
At this rate individuals such as yourself need to strongly consider if you are more right brain focused go abroad and teach English. You'll make 40k and have a better quality of life than you do in America. It's pretty much the last bastion left available. And after that dries up. The sh** is gonna hit the fan and fast (next 50-100 years).
So this is the problem with the trades. And a concern I have about the effects on the macroeconomic picture in this country. Compared to Germany our tracks are not robust. Too many like OP slip thru the cracks. By the time you reach a certain age (close to 30) you need to get into management otherwise the same thing happens that would happen to you in IT. They rather pick younger more energetic and cheaper.
And being bad a math will limit you in many trades. The economy is becoming more and more cutthroat and unless you are in the top 25% of some skill type people are going to get left behind increasingly.
People with bad math skills will get weeded out of the genetic pool due to our increasing reliance on AI, programming etc. to create "value". Now because we see journalism quality is at an all time low. People with exceptional communication skills no longer pursue journalism because it isn't respected and doesn't pay well. But we have all of these amazing productivity apps and we herald programming geeks and say thank you for your contribution. Right brained folks are quickly getting sidelined unless they possess savant level creativity.
At this rate individuals such as yourself need to strongly consider if you are more right brain focused go abroad and teach English. You'll make 40k and have a better quality of life than you do in America. It's pretty much the last bastion left available. And after that dries up. The sh** is gonna hit the fan and fast (next 50-100 years).
I don't like to think someone "can't" do math. They just have to work on it. That might mean sitting in the library from dawn to dusk like many of the engineering and compi sci students did when I was in college.
It's all about how bad you want something. If you're not willing to put in the work, the long hours of hard study, then maybe a low wage existence will be the future.
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