Any CNC Machinists On Here??

sare^baw's

sare^baw's

sare^baw's

Associate
Joined
25 Mar 2006
Posts
1,169
Location
Thornbury
Hi Guys

I am a cnc milling machinist and i live in Scotland, there is no jobs in this line of work here, Im 30 miles from Glasgow and even the big city has no jobs for me, its the same all over Scotland, Aberdeen used to be rife with jobs but not now. I have been unemployed for 1 year, i have sold my house, i move out at the end of April, i intend to move to England as there appears to be a lot more jobs for cnc machinists. I am applying for jobs in England just now but im not having much luck, i reckon they are not interested because im in Scotland at the moment.

So it looks like i may be moving to some random town or city with the hope of finding a job once i relocate. If this is the case, does anyone know of any hot sports in England that has a lot of engineering companies that do cnc machining? If not does anyone have any suggestions on where i should move to based on career prospects.

Any advice on this kind of move would be appreciated. ;)

Robert
 
Are there CNC machining companies near you but they are just fully staffed or is there no CNC machining capability at all?
 
Mark A said:
Ever thought of trying to start your own business? Theres always people wanting cnc work done.
Click to expand...

Im not the type to do this, also what the point if there is a shortage of work in this area. Its not the kind of thing you can easily do, the set up costs would be crazy. Its worth setting up if things were booming.

amigafan2003 said:
Are there CNC machining companies near you but they are just fully staffed or is there no CNC machining capability at all?
Click to expand...

I live in Ayrshire, there is maybe 15 companies within a 15 mile radius, i sent them all cv's by post. There are loads more in Glasgow, i recently rented there for 2 year, assuming i would have better job prospects, it did not work out that way, again i sent out about 45 cv's by post in Glasgow, so i had to move back to my house in Ayrshire. I think a lot of companies are getting by as far as work goes, just not enough work for there to be any vacancies. Also a lot of job losses mean even more job seekers. The likes of Rolls Royce Glasgow paid off quite a few workers recently.
 
Possibly a few in York/North Yorkshire. You could ask Aztech (in / around York) if they have any jobs going.
These dudes: http://www.aztechlimited.com/

They formed from / by the people we had in-house at my old company, after said company decided to outsource its mechanical engineering and close the workshop.
These guys took their redundancy money, bought the equipment for a pittance and set up on their own. Then charged our company more than it used to cost when it was in-house. :D

I don't know exactly what they do, but until late 2014 we still used them (From 2006) and the things we wanted were really high quality/silly tolerances.
 
Last edited:
I am not entirely sure but i would imagine this kind of work is found more in the Midlands/North of England rather than the south. Well that is the impression i have gotten from dealing with our product suppliers/manufacturers although i dont really deal with them directly as it isn't my job role. Also your money would go a lot further than if you were to move to SE/central south England, giving you more to fall back on just in case things dont click into place straight away.
 
Jono said:
Possibly a few in York/North Yorkshire. You could ask Aztech (in / around York) if they have any jobs going.
These dudes: http://www.aztechlimited.com/

They formed from / by the people we had in-house at my old company, after said company decided to outsource its mechanical engineering and close the workshop.
These guys took their redundancy money, bought the equipment for a pittance and set up on their own. Then charged our company more than it used to cost when it was in-house. :D

I don't know exactly what they do, but until late 2014 we still used them (From 2006) and the things we wanted were really high quality/silly tolerances.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up, no harm sending them my cv and see if anything comes of it. Its better getting my cv to agencies at the moment, that way they might have other suitable roles on their books.

Avenged7Fold said:
I am not entirely sure but i would imagine this kind of work is found more in the Midlands/North of England rather than the south. Well that is the impression i have gotten from dealing with our product suppliers/manufacturers although i dont really deal with them directly as it isn't my job role. Also your money would go a lot further than if you were to move to SE/central south England, giving you more to fall back on just in case things dont click into place straight away.
Click to expand...

There seems to be plenty of jobs in different areas but i dont know if one place has more machine shops that other areas. I cant go crazy but i can afford temp accommodation for a couple of months, so if i move somewhere and then i find a job a bit far away, im in a position to move until i find somewhere to settle. I will put my furniture in storage until i need it. My friend lives in the south east, he usually does contracting work and gets very well paid, so im hoping i can earn decent money which might be necessary if i moved somewhere pricey. I would not ask my friend to put my up either.
 
Midlands is your best bet.

Start from Derby and work your way down. More or less a direct path south till you get to Banbury.

G40 and good luck.
 
Good few around the Midlands,coventry,Birmingham,rugby them sort of areas.Was looking myself few months back.What field you in?fanuc,heidenhain?Might have to have a good look around as pay isn't always great this neck of the woods,night shift however is always better.

Good luck
 
When you say CNC work, are you talking programming, operating, both?

We recently took on a CNC machinist at our place but before he came to us he used to work at the Mazak plant in Worcester. I could ask him what kind of job availability there is in the area as I assume he applied for a few jobs other than us.
 
sare^baw's said:
Thanks for the heads up, no harm sending them my cv and see if anything comes of it. Its better getting my cv to agencies at the moment, that way they might have other suitable roles on their books.
Click to expand...

Just spoke to a mutual friend of someone that works there. They're not currently recruiting per se but are always on the lookout for experienced/good people :) Are you more milling or lathing?
 
West Midlands is a good shout I'd look around Birmingham. I know my mate has worked for multiple fabricators around West mids
 
I'm in, Portsmouth and the wages are low for CNC work, even in the surrounding areas, and they are asking for highly skilled people too for between £7/8. I did CNC programming, setting and operating for 3 years and I have a portfolio of my work, but I left work all together for 5 years and going back in couldn't even get a CNC job doing any of it. I even offered myself for minimum wage if they were worried my knowledge had diminished or starting as an operator.

There is an engineering agency I like called, Matchtech you could try. Albeit risky to uproot and rely on agency work.
 
I was a pressbrake, plasma, punch and laser operator for 8 years but now I just program them upstairs in the office using Radan. Plenty of CNC places around my way in Norfolk if that was a destination you'd go for. Wages won't be as much as a city but as always skill depending :)

BTW I was quite near you at the weekend. I have a lot of family in Kilwinning. Small world.
 
Last edited:
I know plenty of businesses that struggle to find experienced CNC machinists and programmers. It's a role we actually find quite difficult to fill. I tend to see them cropping up around Manchester and Huddersfield, as well as around the Deeside area. Good few manufacturing firms around in those areas. Some are doing better than others as I have had a few say they arent getting the work and as such aren't looking to recruit. Might be worth keeping a finger on the pulse to see which sectors are going to be thriving and looking to take on new staff.
 
I'm a CNC Programmer/machinist

I live in the West Midlands and there was loads of agencies contacting me when I was looking for a new job last year, seems to be loads of jobs around. £10-15ph
 
Argh, how do you reply to so many replies, i appreciate everyone's input.

I applied for many jobs yesterday, some jobs im not best suited to but i think the more agencies i get my cv to, the better. I got a call today from an agency that i applied to, cnc miller, croydon area, £18 an hour, doing motorsport and aerospace work, he was very enthusiastic, he said there is not many people with my experience, having worked for Rolls Royce and another aerospace company that overhauls big jet engines. He told me to research living within 45 minutes of croydon, then see if i want him to go ahead and send off my cv. I looked at Redhill, just outside the m25, its pricey too but i can afford it if the wages are decent.

rhyswt, I have done programming, setting and operating. The problem there are different controls, if you dont have recent experience on a certain control, they are not interested. My last place was Hurco and there is not many places use Hurco.

jono, Its milling that is my forte, i have worked on many different machines, manual and cnc, my lathe work is not strong though. Thanks for letting my know they want to hear from me, ill contact them and send my cv. A lot depends on what they are paying.

esoteric, thats not good what you say, i had simlar problems after long periods of unemployment, i did not have recent strong cnc experience so it was hard to find a job, places that are prepared to take you and and give you some training are hard to find.

hardkore, Norfolk would be fine, i have no set place in mind, finding a job before i move is the most important thing. I dont think i could accept less that £12 an hour at the moment. It is a small world, im 1.5 mile away in Stevenston.

Devrij, what you say is makes a lot of sense, its hard to predict what industries have a better future, oil and gas is definitely not good for the foreseeable future. From what my friend said there is a lot of motorsport and aerospace work down south in the Oxford and Cambridge area. I think i should train to be a nurse as there is a big shortage ha ha.

Squark, there has been a few suggestions for the midlands, agencies can be a pain at times, all they want is the fee;s. Sometimes they can be very helpful too. Those rates are a bit like this area, some very poor and some well pain about £15 an hour.
 
When you said 30 miles outside Glasgow mate I was thinking you might be closer to Livingston. I've seen quite a few CNC posts advertised for the area. I believe Houston industrial estate has a few places currently recruiting.

Would be worth looking at Colleges and Uni's too. They might be hiring workshop technicians or machine operators. If you got in there you'd be sorted :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom