Heya! Thanks for clicking the post.

From 2016-2019 I worked as a CNC machinist at a scenic company in Florida. It was my first job and I was making decent money until I met a girl and moved 3 hours away.

I've worked kind of dead end jobs since then because I don't feel like I'm good enough to do the job. We used programs that helped us program the machine. It would toolpath for us and I'd basically just setup a big book of all the settings that cut best. (Mill depth for the mill, movement speed for the waterjet, and so on.) as well as managing the material.

The issue I have is we had a mechanic. I couldn't really work on the machine outside of very basic maintenance/tool changes. I feel like I"ll get judged heavily over my lack of mechanic knowledge with my 3 years of experience.

It was my first job and I was young so honestly I didn't apply myself a ton. I learned how to run the machines well and that's about it. I didn't research how to program raw G-code, or look into how the machines worked internally so I could work on them. I guess I'm just afraid of being judged/laughed at if I walk interview with a machine shop.

I have a fair amount of knowledge and I do understand how stepper motors work and whatnot, but yeah I keep getting this doubt in my head. The shop I worked at had our waterjet operator quit out of nowhere and walk out one day and I spent a week learning the machine with no help at my managers request, and got a big raise for it, so I have some reason not to doubt myself.

I was hoping you guys could give me some assurance so that I can get the courage to apply to a machine shop and pick a career back up in CNC.