Moving to: m/AskMbin!

I have been a machinist/model maker for 10 years now.

No, I can't just take your .prt/.iges/.stl/.stp file and "load it into the machine and press the green button".

I use that quote because it was said to me by a particularly arrogant engineering intern. Machining is a complex trade that is made to seem simple because of software and modern automation. While that is fantastic for my profession, it brings with it this idea that I'm not really doing all that much work. Reality is that I'm constantly applying my knowledge of the trade and the things I do might be subtle to the onlookers, but there was a lesson learned before now that took me hours or days to overcome. I train a lot of our machining interns now who are mostly folks in the 20-25 years old range and every single on of them so far as had that humbling moment of "Oh I learned about this in the classroom and did it on the simulator, I know exactly what I'm doing" only to fail. Its a great line of work that is very satisfying for a lot of reasons but it does grind my gears when its portrayed as being unskilled or easy.