Post job

Machine shop instructor education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read

There are several educational requirements to become a machine shop instructor. Machine shop instructors usually study business, mechanical engineering, or industrial technology. 45% of machine shop instructors hold a bachelor's degree, and 29% hold an associate degree. We analyzed 125 real machine shop instructor resumes to see exactly what machine shop instructor education sections show.

The most common colleges for machine shop instructors are the Pennsylvania State University and the Pennsylvania State University.

There are also many online machine shop instructor courses to help get the education required to be a machine shop instructor.

What education do you need to become a machine shop instructor?

What degree do you need to be a machine shop instructor?

The most common degree for machine shop instructors is bachelor's degree, with 45% of machine shop instructors earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are associate degree degree at 29% and associate degree degree at 11%.
  • Bachelor's, 45%
  • Associate, 29%
  • High School Diploma, 11%
  • Master's, 7%
  • Other Degrees, 8%

What should I major in to become a machine shop instructor?

You should major in business to become a machine shop instructor. 16% of machine shop instructors major in business. Other common majors for a machine shop instructor include mechanical engineering and industrial technology.

Most common colleges for machine shop instructors

Machine shop instructors often get their degrees at Pennsylvania State University, University of Phoenix, and University of Wisconsin - Stout. Here are the most common colleges for machine shop instructors in the US based on their resumes.
Machine shop instructor common collegePercentages
Pennsylvania State University16.00%
University of Phoenix8.00%
University of Wisconsin - Stout8.00%
Alfred University4.00%
Colorado Technical University4.00%

Best majors for machine shop instructors

RankMajorPercentages
1Business15.9%
2Mechanical Engineering13.4%
3Industrial Technology9.8%
4Fine Arts6.1%
5Education4.9%

Best colleges for machine shop instructors

The best colleges for machine shop instructors are Northwestern University, University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University.

A machine shop instructor with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for machine shop instructors. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become machine shop instructors.

1. California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo

San Luis Obispo, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$9,816

Enrollment

21,047

2. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

3. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$51,354

Enrollment

7,083

4. Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$18,454

Enrollment

40,108

5. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-state tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

6. University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Lincoln, NE • Private

In-state tuition

$9,242

Enrollment

20,592

7. Boston University

Boston, MA • Private

In-state tuition

$53,948

Enrollment

17,238

8. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, MI • Private

In-state tuition

$15,262

Enrollment

30,079

9. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

10. Cornell University

Ithaca, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$55,188

Enrollment

15,105

20 best online courses for machine shop instructors

Advertising disclosure

1. Machine Learning with PySpark: Customer Churn Analysis

coursera

This 90-minute guided-project, "Pyspark for Data Science: Customer Churn Prediction," is a comprehensive guided-project that teaches you how to use PySpark to build a machine learning model for predicting customer churn in a Telecommunications company. This guided-project covers a range of essential tasks, including data loading, exploratory data analysis, data preprocessing, feature preparation, model training, evaluation, and deployment, all using Pyspark. We are going to use our machine...

2. Machine Learning Models in Science

coursera

This course is aimed at anyone interested in applying machine learning techniques to scientific problems. In this course, we'll learn about the complete machine learning pipeline, from reading in, cleaning, and transforming data to running basic and advanced machine learning algorithms. We'll start with data preprocessing techniques, such as PCA and LDA. Then, we'll dive into the fundamental AI algorithms: SVMs and K-means clustering. Along the way, we'll build our mathematical and programming...

3. CNC Milling machine programming using G-Code

udemy
4.7
(331)

Learning to read and write CNC programs with FANUC G Code has never been so easy...

4. Machine Learning: A Beginner's Basic Introduction

udemy
4
(338)

Learn Machine Learning Basics with a Practical Example...

5. Azure Machine Learning using Cognitive Services

udemy
4.8
(433)

Learn the Azure Machine Learning Studio, Azure Bot Service, Video Indexing service, Computer Vision for OCR and more!...

6. Data Science and Machine Learning Basic to Advanced

udemy
4.3
(334)

Complete Introduction to Data Science and Machine Learning from Basic to Advanced...

7. Masterclass: Start your Coffee Shop Business!

udemy
4.4
(297)

This is a complete course on how to put up and run a coffee shop business...

8. Machine Learning- From Basics to Advanced

udemy
4.3
(2,163)

A beginners guide to learn Machine Learning (including Hands-on projects - From Basic to Advance Level)...

9. The Complete Machine Learning Course with Python

udemy
4.5
(6,881)

Build a Portfolio of 12 Machine Learning Projects with Python, SVM, Regression, Unsupervised Machine Learning & More!...

10. How to Start a Coffee Shop Successfully (Beginner Course )

udemy
4.6
(468)

Plan & Start Your Coffee Shop + 34 Lessons + Includes Checklists, Worksheets + FREE Coffee Shop Business Plan Template...

11. Customer Service Basics: Improve your Service now

udemy
4.5
(889)

The basic golden rules to kickstart your service...

12. DP-100: A-Z Machine Learning using Azure Machine Learning

udemy
4.4
(6,728)

Microsoft Azure DP-100: Designing and Implementing a Data Science Solution Exam Covered. Learn Azure Machine Learning...

13. Machine Learning Basics in Hindi हिंदी - Regression Analysis

udemy
4.1
(331)

हिंदी में सीखें Basics of Machine Learning - covers Simple Linear Regression & Multiple Linear regression in Python...

14. Machine Learning No-Code Approach: Using Azure ML Studio

udemy
4.9
(542)

A hands-on approach to Machine Learning using the easy drag-n-drop environment of Azure Machine Learning Studio...

15. Introduction to CNC Programming

udemy
4.5
(1,678)

Learn to program CNC Routers and CNC Milling machines that use the GCODE language...

16. Data Science: Master Machine Learning Without Coding

udemy
4.7
(911)

Learn Fundamentals Of Data Science & Machine Learning With Rapidminer (No Coding). Dataset & Solutions Included...

17. Machine Learning for Data Analysis: Classification Modeling

udemy
4.7
(439)

Machine Learning made simple with Excel! Classification for advanced data analysis & business intelligence (no coding!)...

18. Executive Briefing: Machine Learning

udemy
4.1
(5,211)

Machine Learning for Executives and Top-Level Managers: understand Machine Learning in under 90 Minutes...

19. Machine Learning with Javascript

udemy
4.7
(3,132)

Master Machine Learning from scratch using Javascript and Tensorflow JS with hands-on projects...

20. Google Cloud Machine Learning Engineer Certification Prep

udemy
4.5
(434)

Building, Deploying, and Managing Machine Learning Services at Scale...

Top 10 most affordable universities for machine shop instructors

The most affordable schools for machine shop instructors are University of Florida, california state university - los angeles, and california state university - long beach.

If the best universities for machine shop instructors are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for machine shop instructors.

1. University of Florida

Gainesville, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,381

Cost of attendance

21,034

2. California State University - Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,749

Cost of attendance

14,823

3. California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,798

Cost of attendance

18,306

4. California State University - Bakersfield

Bakersfield, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$7,309

Cost of attendance

16,714

5. University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez

Mayaguez, PR • Private

In-state tuition

$4,094

Cost of attendance

14,302

6. Brigham Young University

Provo, UT • Private

In-state tuition

$5,620

Cost of attendance

18,136

7. Brooklyn College of the City University of New York

Brooklyn, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,240

Cost of attendance

13,991

8. SUNY Farmingdale

Farmingdale, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$8,306

Cost of attendance

16,091

9. California State University - Fresno

Fresno, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,587

Cost of attendance

16,915

10. Florida International University

Miami, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,556

Cost of attendance

19,434

Top 10 hardest universities to get into for machine shop instructors

The hardest universities for machine shop instructors to get into are Northwestern University, University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University.

Some great schools for machine shop instructors are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for machine shop instructors based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.

1. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

Admissions rate

8%

SAT average

1,508

2. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

Admissions rate

8%

SAT average

1,492

3. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

Admissions rate

4%

SAT average

1,497

4. Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD • Private

Admissions rate

11%

SAT average

1,513

5. Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

Admissions rate

17%

SAT average

1,507

6. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

6%

SAT average

1,512

7. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

Admissions rate

13%

SAT average

1,445

8. Boston University

Boston, MA • Private

Admissions rate

22%

SAT average

1,420

9. New York University

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

20%

SAT average

1,419

10. Cornell University

Ithaca, NY • Private

Admissions rate

11%

SAT average

1,471

Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for machine shop instructors

The easiest schools for machine shop instructors to get into are The University of Texas Permian Basin, texas a&m; university - kingsville, and wayland baptist university.

Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a machine shop instructor without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for machine shop instructors.

1. The University of Texas Permian Basin

Odessa, TX • Private

Admissions rate

91%

SAT average

1,046

2. Texas A&M University - Kingsville

Kingsville, TX • Private

Admissions rate

89%

SAT average

1,035

3. Wayland Baptist University

Plainview, TX • Private

Admissions rate

98%

SAT average

1,003

4. Gwynedd Mercy University

Gwynedd Valley, PA • Private

Admissions rate

92%

SAT average

1,031

5. Holy Names University

Oakland, CA • Private

Admissions rate

70%

SAT average

849

6. Holy Family University

Philadelphia, PA • Private

Admissions rate

72%

SAT average

1,017

7. Notre Dame College

Cleveland, OH • Private

Admissions rate

90%

SAT average

994

8. Thomas More University

Crestview Hills, KY • Private

Admissions rate

90%

SAT average

1,099

9. Kean University

Union, NJ • Private

Admissions rate

86%

SAT average

991

10. Midwestern State University

Wichita Falls, TX • Private

Admissions rate

71%

SAT average

1,033

Average machine shop instructor salary by education level

According to our data, machine shop instructors with a Doctorate degree earn the highest average salary, at $37,082 annually. Machine shop instructors with a Master's degree earn an average annual salary of $31,980.
Machine shop instructor education levelMachine shop instructor salary
Master's Degree$31,980
Doctorate Degree$37,082

Machine shop instructor education FAQs

Search for machine shop instructor jobs

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Browse education, training, and library jobs