What do you for a living. And what do you earn.

JeremyK
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510
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12/19/2019
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North Tonawanda, NY US
JeremyK 4/10/2020 7:06am
4/10/2020 7:06am
JWalkowiak951 wrote:
Journeyman Tool & Die Maker by trade. I Now work at a refinery in the rotating equipment department as a “Machinist Specialist”. I made $131k last...
Journeyman Tool & Die Maker by trade. I Now work at a refinery in the rotating equipment department as a “Machinist Specialist”. I made $131k last year with around 550 hours of O.T. Also a Volunteer Firefighter which pays $7.50/hour for the first hour on an incident scene and then $5.00/hour after that
SEEMEFIRST wrote:
Respect.
SEEMEFIRST wrote:
Respect because few know what a tooler does. We used to joke about toolmakers being the laziest men on the planet. All we do is find...
Respect because few know what a tooler does.
We used to joke about toolmakers being the laziest men on the planet. All we do is find the easiest way to do something.

That's why we say "Tell my Mom I'm a piano player at a whorehouse ".
A good tool maker always finds the easiest way to do something or be lazy if you will .
hubbardmx50
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2490
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11/17/2016
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Rancho Cucamonga, CA US
hubbardmx50 4/10/2020 11:20am
4/10/2020 11:20am
dirtnasty wrote:
Data and business analyst for a pharma company in Denmark. Just a tick over 100k USD last year. Would probably make more money living in the...
Data and business analyst for a pharma company in Denmark. Just a tick over 100k USD last year.

Would probably make more money living in the states with my resume but I like it here and every time I head home to visit the family in So Cal I really can't picture myself livin that life. Although I do miss having a garage with a KTM in it.
hubbardmx50 wrote:
Why can't you picture yourself living here? What don't you like about Socal compared to Denmark?
agn5009 wrote:
I dont know much about Denmark but I do know some things about California. I live in PA and i absolutely despise cold weather. We've been...
I dont know much about Denmark but I do know some things about California. I live in PA and i absolutely despise cold weather. We've been getting hammered with snow the past 24 hours and I'm pretty dang ticked off about it. With that being said, I would never live in Socal. It's a very interesting place with a bunch of people who have a different way of living but think everyone acts and thinks just like them. I guess I dont know a better way to describe it. Beautiful location, beautiful weather, beautiful women but not so beautiful way of thinking.

Edit: I went down the rabbit hole of researching Denmark. Simplicity, politeness and equality are what the Danish live by. Right theres probably your answer as to why he couldn't live in socal. It's literally the opposite of Denmark.
I agree 100%. I am from here but I've done enough traveling to notice California and especially SoCal is nothing like the rest of the United States. We live in our own bubble for sure and most people here don't realize that.
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Oldschool
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821
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8/29/2006
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IL US
Oldschool 4/17/2020 10:50am
4/17/2020 10:50am Edited Date/Time 4/17/2020 10:51am
CNC Programmer / Mold Maker 63,000 to 75,000 depending on O.T.
I started in 84 so as long as you keep up with the times / software etc.
it's easy from all the experience .
I work in a country club now, there is better $$ but I can sleep at night lol
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JAFO92
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4256
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3/21/2016
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BFE, TX US
JAFO92 4/17/2020 10:57am
4/17/2020 10:57am
JWalkowiak951 wrote:
Lol you’re right on finding the easiest way to do something. There’s days I miss the die shop. Usually the days where it’s 95°F outside and...
Lol you’re right on finding the easiest way to do something. There’s days I miss the die shop. Usually the days where it’s 95°F outside and I’m working on a governor for a 650°F steam turbine. But the stuff I work on now is a completely different ball game.

Conrod out of a 6 cylinder 6,000hp recip compressor.

Operations reported a “slight” noise after the compressor shut itself down. They tried restarting it not once but three times.
One word: Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn !
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newmann
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24444
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4/1/2008
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US
newmann 4/17/2020 11:26am
4/17/2020 11:26am
JWalkowiak951 wrote:
Lol you’re right on finding the easiest way to do something. There’s days I miss the die shop. Usually the days where it’s 95°F outside and...
Lol you’re right on finding the easiest way to do something. There’s days I miss the die shop. Usually the days where it’s 95°F outside and I’m working on a governor for a 650°F steam turbine. But the stuff I work on now is a completely different ball game.

Conrod out of a 6 cylinder 6,000hp recip compressor.

Operations reported a “slight” noise after the compressor shut itself down. They tried restarting it not once but three times.
JAFO92 wrote:
One word: Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn !
I laughed when I saw that pic. The one local machine shop who would usually humor me by boring my cylinders, pressing my cranks or machining a special steering stem nut that would fit in the palm of a closed hand usually had stuff like that moving from one machine to another by way of an overhead crane. I always felt odd walking in with the smalls.Laughing
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JWalkowiak951 4/17/2020 11:37am
4/17/2020 11:37am
JAFO92 wrote:
One word: Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn !
Lol. Yea. Crankshaft was 24ft long, pistons were 13” and 9” in diameter. We had to have a special company come in and turn the crank journal in place because the journal was scored beyond imagination and we don’t have the machinery to do that. 40 days of around the clock work to get that machine back up and running.
1
Markee
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3544
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4/15/2013
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Suffolk, VA US
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1890th
Markee 4/17/2020 11:11pm
4/17/2020 11:11pm
Industrial maintenance mechanic. Work on heavy operation equipment for continuous steel casting for Nucor Steel. 120k.

Work days/nights, weekends, holidays, scheduled and unscheduled over time. My day when I leave my home to when I get back is 14 hours.

Hope to have my home paid off in a few years, 18 years early. Then I want to move on to a better ratio of work vs living.
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sandtrack315
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2550
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7/19/2013
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Philadelphia, PA US
sandtrack315 4/18/2020 6:06am
4/18/2020 6:06am Edited Date/Time 4/18/2020 6:09am
Post Doctoral Neuroscientist. I make 60k a year plus great benefits 3 years post PhD, during which I made 32k a year. In a year or two I’ll be a professor and run my own lab and start at around 100k. Depending on how I perform as a scientist I can top out around 200k and have tenure. It’s a good mix of pay, security, making my own hours more or less, and deciding I research whatever I want, as long as the NIH decides to fund it. Of course, for every tenured scientist, there are 50 people who didn’t make it in academics, but are probably making decent money in the private sector.
1
GeorgiePorgie 4/18/2020 8:34am
4/18/2020 8:34am Edited Date/Time 4/18/2020 8:38am
As I get older I understand I’m really just leasing my time for a paycheck.

Consideration of Time is becoming more valuable to me as of lately. I’m just beginning to realize this more and more as of late.

Transitioning from cashing the money to chasing time. Just will have to get innovative in Balancing both. But the balance is important. I don’t need to spend as much. This quarantine is/has opening/opened my eyes.
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powertrip456 4/18/2020 11:55am
4/18/2020 11:55am
Shawn142 wrote:
I'm a toolmaker with a specific focus on metrology, which is precision measurement via laser tracker. In the aerospace world a toolmaker is responsible for taking...
I'm a toolmaker with a specific focus on metrology, which is precision measurement via laser tracker. In the aerospace world a toolmaker is responsible for taking all the other parts (frame from the weld shop, milled parts from the machine shop, and all the nuts/bolts/hardware) to make a jig or fixture look like the engineering drawing. The tracker comes in handy for this because our tolerance windows are so small. All the points of contact with the actual aircraft being built have to be within .005 of their 3D model engineering versions. The laser trackers these days have accuracy down to the 10 thousandths (.0001). Our tolerances are extremely tight so that production can have the most room possible when actually building the plane. This is absolutely necessary because often planes are built in pieces all across the country by sub-contractors and shipped to one place for final assembly. So it's important everyone plays by the same rules and works off the same systems.

This is also how ship building operates these days, as well as complicated structural assembly. I've been pretty lucky because there aren't many people who do this job anymore. The old guard who grew up doing my job with transits,bucking boards, and levels are all aging out. Now you need to not only be good with your hands, you also have to have computer skills. The ability to understand complicated measurement software and hardware skills to keep the tracker itself alive and operating.

This gig has been a sweet one for me. It pays very well (last year I made 130k) and because the skill is so hard to find it's very in demand. I have worked for Vought Aircraft on a huge variety of projects from Boeing commercial lines to military aircraft like the C-17 and V-22. I fulfilled a childhood dream of working in the space industry for SpaceX and NASA contracting on their new SLS mega rocket. And I got to come back home and get a job with the largest defense contractor in the world Lockheed Martin, building the F-35 and supporting legacy jets like the F-22 and F-16. All before the age of 40.
Hey! I’m a CNC programmer with years of experience machining as well, and I had my hands all over the SLS project myself. I’m actually currently between jobs because as I was going to transition to a new company hiring was put on freeze there due to a virus, so... if you know anywhere looking for a programmer/machinist!
Looby321
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540
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12/23/2018
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NY US
Looby321 4/18/2020 1:35pm
4/18/2020 1:35pm
I recently won big on the lottery, so I’m not doing shit except traveling the world.....when the pandemic dies down haha.
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Markee
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3544
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Suffolk, VA US
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1890th
Markee 4/18/2020 11:40pm
4/18/2020 11:40pm
GeorgiePorgie wrote:
As I get older I understand I’m really just leasing my time for a paycheck. Consideration of Time is becoming more valuable to me as of...
As I get older I understand I’m really just leasing my time for a paycheck.

Consideration of Time is becoming more valuable to me as of lately. I’m just beginning to realize this more and more as of late.

Transitioning from cashing the money to chasing time. Just will have to get innovative in Balancing both. But the balance is important. I don’t need to spend as much. This quarantine is/has opening/opened my eyes.
Same here man. I don't want the overtime, I don't need it, I want my time with my wife, dog, family and home shop. I consider my debt a form of work slavery. My biggest slave master is my mortgage. When I'm free from that, my income requirements drastically change.
Hamish F
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70
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4/22/2014
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NZ
Hamish F 4/20/2020 7:11pm
4/20/2020 7:11pm Edited Date/Time 4/20/2020 7:12pm
I’m a toolmaker by trade, but I am the general manager of a sawmill. I make $100,000 at 24 Years old, working 40 hours a week. I hate every minute of it, had a much more fun life making bugger all and spending all my time with my mates at the track.

Money ain’t everything.
1
Sunhouse
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3590
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3/2/2009
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NO
Sunhouse 4/21/2020 1:36am
4/21/2020 1:36am
dirtnasty wrote:
Taxes on motor vehicles are absurd out here. so the car + bike is just something i dont prioritise at this point, especially considering the riding...
Taxes on motor vehicles are absurd out here. so the car + bike is just something i dont prioritise at this point, especially considering the riding out here would suck and the weather isnt really conducive to riding year round. Sweden would have some good enduro/off road though id bet.

i live in an apartment in the city, no houses for a solid distance from here = no garages around here either.

i do enjoy throwing my dads Husky dual-sport around Milestone when i get the chance though!

Where in CPH do you live? I used to travel there all the time in my former job. Such a lovely city, absolutely love it.
As for riding, maybe you could find a way to store it across the bridge?

Pit Row

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