Just as the title says - how'd you first make your stake as a CMM programmer?
For me it was when a recruiter on LinkedIn randomly reached out to me asking if I was interested in being a Metrologist for an international company while I was working as a Quality Inspector at a job shop in 2020, just before the pandemic. I knew nothing about Metrology/CMM programming until I blew the technical portion of the interview process and got hired anyway haha! Ended up being mentored by a professional for 2 years before moving onto a specialized CMM programming gig at another company in 2022.
I figured - as it seems like a lot of us got on-the-job training for CMM programming, you guys/gals must have some interesting stories to share about how you got to where you are now, as CMM programmers.
The manual Numerex CMM was my first start in the CMM world in 1999. The CMM was placed in the corner inside the quality lab with a tarp over it. I asked what is that under the tarp? The QA manager stated that's a Manual CMM that no one here knows how to use. I said really! Then I asked can I give it a try after working hours to get it up and running and take home the instructions manual to learn how to use it. He said sure. Why not. And that's what I went out to do. I got that old CMM up and running enough to have it calibrated for production. After a year they wanted to upgrade that CMM to use QC5000. After a month of testing the QC5000 software they decided to purchase a different CMM instead. That was the start of the Measure Max CMM software and CadPath days for me. Well, he I am now posting this on a user forum that I didn't even know to exist back then.
The manual Numerex CMM was my first start in the CMM world in 1999. The CMM was placed in the corner inside the quality lab with a tarp over it. I asked what is that under the tarp? The QA manager stated that's a Manual CMM that no one here knows how to use. I said really! Then I asked can I give it a try after working hours to get it up and running and take home the instructions manual to learn how to use it. He said sure. Why not. And that's what I went out to do. I got that old CMM up and running enough to have it calibrated for production. After a year they wanted to upgrade that CMM to use QC5000. After a month of testing the QC5000 software they decided to purchase a different CMM instead. That was the start of the Measure Max CMM software and CadPath days for me. Well, he I am now posting this on a user forum that I didn't even know to exist back then.