1) What do you like and dislike the most about working in this field?
2) Would you HONESTLY advise someone to start a career as a CMM Operator/Programmer?
I was on the fence about responding to this one. But I'm not seeing a lot of takers, so here you go.
1) What I like most about this field is that I mostly work independently and have a lot of freedom to do things my own way. I’m told what to do and given deadlines, but I’m free to be creative about how I do it.
What I like least is that I have little influence to fix/improve the problems that come up in my job. It can be easy to get bitter about that, but I suspect that is pretty common in many roles within any organization. So, it is what it is.
2) I would suggest that someone seriously consider a career as a CMM Operator/Programmer. Whether or not it is a good fit for someone depends on a number of factors. The big one is a willingness to live close to where the jobs are prevalent and pay competitively like the manufacturing district of a large city. Being willing to move or do traveling work really helps too.
It also helps if it is something you enjoy doing and want to do long term. I don’t get the impression that it is a great steppingstone on the way to upper management or to move to different roles within an organization. The only roles I have seen as possible advancement from a CMM programmer is Quality Engineer, Quality Supervisor, Quality Manager, or some other obscure job title with the word ‘Quality’ in front of it.
My general feeling is: It’s a living. It's not very exciting but I get paid much better than the median wage in my country. I work in a climate-controlled environment. I don’t need to attend many meetings, make many phone calls, or spend tons of time with e-mails. Really it is a pretty sweet gig, even it doesn’t always feel that way.
"What I like least is that I have little influence to fix/improve the problems that come up in my job. It can be easy to get bitter about that, but I suspect that is pretty common in many roles within any organization. So, it is what it is." Completely agree. You make a good point about CMM programmer being able to grow into QE,QS or QM especially in a small shop. I'm just happy to be on a machine again and I guess working in a climate controlled environment isn't so bad
"What I like least is that I have little influence to fix/improve the problems that come up in my job. It can be easy to get bitter about that, but I suspect that is pretty common in many roles within any organization. So, it is what it is." Completely agree. You make a good point about CMM programmer being able to grow into QE,QS or QM especially in a small shop. I'm just happy to be on a machine again and I guess working in a climate controlled environment isn't so bad
