How To Become A Conventional Machinist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a conventional machinist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a conventional machinist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $22.9 an hour? That's $47,624 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 3,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreConventional MachinistUS Average

Salary

3.7

Avg. Salary $47,624

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.8

Growth rate 1%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.51%

Asian 6.34%

Black or African American 3.99%

Hispanic or Latino 14.85%

Unknown 3.73%

White 70.58%

Gender

female 1.41%

male 98.59%

Age - 49

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 49

Stress level

5.8

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.3

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.7

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a conventional machinist

Explore conventional machinist education requirements

Most common conventional machinist degrees

High School Diploma

45.0 %

Associate

22.5 %

Bachelor's

20.0 %

Start to develop specific conventional machinist skills

Skills	Percentages
CNC	13.47%
Grinders	10.47%
Hand Tools	8.47%
Calipers	7.07%
Drill Press	6.36%

Complete relevant conventional machinist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New conventional machinists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a conventional machinist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real conventional machinist resumes.

Research conventional machinist duties and responsibilities

Produce various parts according to blueprint specifications using conventional lathes, mills drills, grinders and horizontal and vertical mills.
Machine jigs and fixtures for small electronics assembly.
Attend Fullerton college for CNC machining, Mastercam programing, Solidworks, and Autocad.
Utilize various tools - calipers, micrometers, height gauges, bore gauges, and others gauges.

Prepare your conventional machinist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your conventional machinist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a conventional machinist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable conventional machinist resume templates

Build a professional conventional machinist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your conventional machinist resume.

Apply for conventional machinist jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a conventional machinist job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do conventional machinists rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

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1 star

Conventional machinist reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2020

Pros

Constant Challenge making each day unique and fun. Not hard physical labor but mentally challenging. Constantly evolving skillset in an industry that is always changing and growing.

Cons

Some places are straight production shops and there will be limited opportunities to grow in them. When you make a mistake it can be huge and cost 10s of thousands of dollars to fix so you are often on edge.

A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2019