How To Become A Turning Machine Operator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a turning machine operator 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 turning machine operator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.93 an hour? That's $37,298 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -5% and produce -45,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreTurning Machine OperatorUS Average

Salary

2.9

Avg. Salary $37,298

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.4

Growth rate -5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.18%

Asian 3.73%

Black or African American 3.73%

Hispanic or Latino 11.81%

Unknown 1.86%

White 77.69%

Gender

female 19.57%

male 80.43%

Age - 44

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 - 44

Stress level

5.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.1

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.7

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a turning machine operator

Explore turning machine operator education requirements

Most common turning machine operator degrees

High School Diploma

61.1 %

Associate

33.3 %

Diploma

5.6 %

Start to develop specific turning machine operator skills

Skills	Percentages
CNC	79.65%
Calipers	13.49%
Dial Indicators	4.49%
Hand Tools	1.20%
FANUC	1.16%

Research turning machine operator duties and responsibilities

Work with injection molding manufacturing hospital product parts -operate machines in departments of extrusion and injection molding -Experience with digital calipers.
Participate in technical support and assist validation and QA department during equipment validation.

Prepare your turning machine operator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your turning machine operator 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 turning machine operator resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable turning machine operator resume templates

Build a professional turning machine operator 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 turning machine operator resume.

Apply for turning machine operator jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a turning machine operator 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 turning machine operators rate their job?

-/5

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Turning machine operator reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on May 2019

Pros

There is something new all the time ,one day your doing parts for a water pump,and the next day you could be doing parts going to Mars I did on the land,rover

Cons

If your not careful what you are doing you can put a whole order in the trash or break a brooch