My current job is to program (with CAM) and operate 3- and 4-axis mills and lathes with live tooling. It's a huge step up from the horrible button pushing I've had my share of. There's still some of it, but it's manageable. However, this job does not feel very challenging any more. Every now and then there comes a print with something extraordinarily complex, requiring out-of-the-box thinking, but it's getting more rare these days and I've begun to overuse macros and tweak the hell out of my post processors to keep myself interested.
I try to keep my eyes open for any opportunity to jump into the 5-axis world, but it is as if these machines do not even exist. Where are they? How do people find them and go into programming these expensive machines and how many decades of experience must one have under his belt to be taken seriously enough to do more than just push the button? It seems they only want those with an engineering degree for programming. Wish I had one, but had to drop out in the 3rd year, and going back to school isn't a choice right now.
I try to keep my eyes open for any opportunity to jump into the 5-axis world, but it is as if these machines do not even exist. Where are they? How do people find them and go into programming these expensive machines and how many decades of experience must one have under his belt to be taken seriously enough to do more than just push the button? It seems they only want those with an engineering degree for programming. Wish I had one, but had to drop out in the 3rd year, and going back to school isn't a choice right now.
