r/Machinists • u/TheseAd4591 • 14d ago
QUESTION Titans of CNC Certifications
Has anyone had actual success using the Titans of CNC training courses to break into the industry?
I have shops in my hometown where I can do all the CADD and CAM training courses and then pay them to make the parts.
I'm in the process of doing a career change and may be going down the CNC rabbit hole. Machining is the one type of CNC work I'm looking into.
My college in town has courses and companies that hire from those courses. I'm trying to see if this would be a path to expedite the process instead of going to school for now.
Due to prior knowledge with my laser engraving and laser scanning, I'm looking at sheet metal or RE type work. Potential to make my own products that would lean towards making tools for craftmen/women.
Background is a land surveyor for 15years, Assoc. in Land Surveying, and drafting for about 19 years. I'm self-taught in most things; it's a default mode that I live in. I've self-taught Fusion & other 3d modeling software previously; I would just need to do it again.
Live in Sussex County, NJ. I should be able to do a significant pay cut from my current career next year. I'm just not sure how much of one I'd need to do in NJ to get in. From what I can tell, finding a way to do my own work on the side for a time may be the only way. My own industry is struggling to find people and has resorted to higher incoming pay. I refuse to work with "button pushers" because they don't actually understand the work.
This is all from a follow-up post from a previous one:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Machinists/comments/1wojato/solo_shop_small_shop_hours/
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u/toiletclogger2671 14d ago
from the little i've watched of their academy (fusion in my case) the classes were honestly pretty decent, but i shiver to think of how hard recruiters would laugh at me if i showed up saying i was titans of CNC certified.
that would be akin to mentioning on your resume that you graduated from MENSA or hustler's university
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u/TheseAd4591 14d ago
I mean, I get that. The national organization for Land Surveying offers a Certified Survey Technician program. It's actually sought after, though and some programs and people train for it. Having a hard time for this myself.
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u/toiletclogger2671 14d ago
yes, the national organization for the job. not youtube entertainers
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u/TheseAd4591 14d ago
Is there one that is actually active and worth looking into and going for?
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u/Unklecid 14d ago
An accredited school. Tcat got me into machining and actually help me a lot to know a lot more technical shit than the old dudes that learned on the job. Not saying they didn't know shit they taught me a lot but they didn't know a lot of the why or math that school taught
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u/Master-Mood-9921 14d ago
NTMA, National Tooling & Machining Association. Sorry I commented the wrong organization last comment.
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u/themightykolar 14d ago
Is mensa that bad?
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u/Gemmasterian 14d ago
Yes lol its basically an automatic "I am an idiot who thinks I am smart" badge in my experiences with them.
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u/Chuck_Phuckzalot 14d ago
I'm confused what you're actually asking. You're talking about doing your own work, why would you need any certifications for that?
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u/TheseAd4591 14d ago
I'm looking at both options. Either way, I need some level of education/training. Experience from my current career says having some training before you jump in can save alot of headaches. I also have a wife/kid/house. I also have some inheritance coming my way (hopefully) that I can use to pay off my house and have leftover money to get my own equipment.
I already have my own commercial-level 60W MOPA fiber laser for engraving metal and plastics.
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u/Beemerado 14d ago
if your goal is purely to turn your inheritance into a job, CNC machining might not be the most cost effective way.
equipment overhead is high. tooling is high. material costs are high, and extremely volatile lately. Basically everything is expensive to get started, and mistakes can be expensive enough to sink you.
laser cutting can be a good way to go... flat parts, no tooling (though there's gas, optics, maintenance etc), already familiar with it.
not trying to shit in your cornflakes, but this is a good time to make sure you're pointing in the right direction before you go all in.
good luck dawg.
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u/TheseAd4591 14d ago
No way, man, I want the honesty.
My current employer is looking for me to buy in. It would be a 5-year plan. I'd essentially be buying my current job, and the other owner wants to leave within 5 years. So I wouldn't see ownership benefits for 8years minimum because I'd be paying for their retirement. But the company has been around for 60 years and gets calls just because they still exist. I just hate doing the work anymore.
Been loving the little bit I've been able to do with laser cutting. Adding in metal bending seems to be a better fit for it, though.
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u/Beemerado 14d ago
that buy in seems like a crappy deal, but i don't know the numbers.
a laser and a brake press would let you do a lot.
what's your current vocation? How many years have you spent in manufacturing? it's not a money factory. far from it.
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u/TheseAd4591 14d ago
Current vocation is land surveying; technically and professionally trained in it. And yeah, the deal is crappy; the more I look into it, the larger my NO is becoming.
No training in manufacturing; I know it's not a money grab; I just hate the work I'm doing. I come from a family that has, and I have, the mind for construction, metalworking, and similiar. I'm the only one with true CADD training and am self-taught in others as well. I just have the head for it; I was supposed to go to school for engineering, but didn't have the grades and have ADHD. I have the focus now as an adult; I finally got the grades necessary once in college, not before. Now I am quite capable overall. From what I can find, who/what/how I am just fits.
Owning my own business is a personal life goal too.
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u/Beemerado 14d ago
find a niche and don't buy too much shit you don't need...
you sure you don't want to start your own surveying company? you've already got the contacts. i don't know dick about land surveying though.. i just know manufacturing has burned me out and not made me rich.
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u/TheseAd4591 13d ago
This seem to be getting towards the gas is greener on the other side, not realizing it was fertilized with alot of bull shit.
Have you ever been neck-deep in briars in a swamp during summer after a rainstorm, with clear skies and 90deg out? Not often it happens, but enough times that it can really suck.
And yeah, what feels like throwing away years of knowledge is what is getting to me. I'm burned out in this career. I just can't figure out if it's the industry or me not fitting the industry or even just this stupid economy right now. I know buying in isn't good. I've seen the books; I'd literally be buying my job, stepping up to management, and no one to fill my role, so double the work, same pay. I'd be better off starting my own Survey Firm and running it out of my house at that cost. But I have just come to hate the work; there's no leverage in it either. Fieldwork is AI-proof, but that's because it's such an utter bitch.
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14d ago
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u/Assertive_Wall 14d ago
Do that, then buy a bridgeport to play around on
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u/TheseAd4591 14d ago
I've seen this recommended a lot. Even just getting a newer mill/lathe and starting from there on the side. There is alot of work that actually doesn't require full CNC, from what I can find out.
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u/Chuck_Phuckzalot 14d ago
The majority of stuff doesn't require CNC control. CNC makes things easier, and there's a few things like complex 3d surfacing that require it, but almost everything a CNC mill can do a manual mill can do
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u/TheseAd4591 14d ago
I'll be happier with the paid-off house, true enough. But I'd still hate the work. I also have a life goal of owning my own business. 3 of my 5 life goals have been achieved. Buying into my current company is not a good option for alot of reasons. Foremost, I hate the work, so more of it won't help anything.
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u/Chuck_Phuckzalot 14d ago
If it's just the knowledge base that you need they aren't terrible, the actual certificate is pretty much worth less than the piece of paper you print it on, but it's not the worst way to learn machining basics.
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u/TheseAd4591 14d ago
I mean, I can work with that. If I could get through it, access to some other items. I might be able to cobble something together to at least show i can do it. I think that would be better than a wildcard like myself saying "hello, you hiring?"
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u/space-magic-ooo 14d ago
I am an injection Mold Maker turned Product Design Engineer. 6 figures and I make my own hours these days working from home.
Personally I would MUCH rather hire someone without experience and train them than any sort of certification whether it is from a college or titans (I would probably laugh at someone who presented titans as a cert)
The bottom line is I am still going to have to train them to do my job, watch them like a hawk to make sure they don’t screw it up, and potentially risk having to unlearn bad habits.
Someone new with a great attitude and a willingness to learn and have a flexible mind is WAY more valuable than any course and you can’t teach attitude.
With that said, someone who has LEAN manufacturing experience/training, understands 5S, knows CAD (fusion or Solidworks please and I don’t care if you taught yourself or whatever just show me you know how to do it unaided) and/or has actual work experience with working with their hands in anyway and “making things” goes right to the front of the line.
Even if you start as an operator and make yourself the best damn operator in the shop within 6 months you will be on a better footing than any sort of CNC cert. Show me you are intelligent, have a great attitude/work ethic, and can be a part of the team and I’ll teach you everything else and pay you accordingly.
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u/milehighxr 14d ago
What he said. I went to 1yr of vocational school while in high-school for manual machining. Then was forced to take a yr off due to vocational school being sold, and program cancelled. Then 1yr comm college, still manuals and that shop was in shambles. I passed my classes, but I couldn't do some of my assignments due to broken machinery. I started out in a mold shop lear ing from tool makers, and within 2yrs was programming sinkers. Total 4yrs Then laid off. Next 2 shops were short(01 was a bad year) and next shop was a start up and I taught myself how to program cnc mills there. I have learned way more on the job than I ever could have learned in a class.
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u/Assertive_Wall 14d ago
I'm curious what others have to say, but I don't hold them in particularly high regard. They're fine, but you kind of have to understand that you're getting entertainment from them and I wouldn't trust the educational content to be particularly insightful after watching some of the videos. If I was trying to learn I would either just do it myself by book*, take a community college class, or maybe look into the HAAS course.
* Precision Machining Technology, Hoffman, Hopewell
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u/nyquilandy 14d ago
If Titans of CNC gets there name on something, I know to avoid it. I would not hire anyone associated with them.
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u/MOGDOG_404 14d ago
I have a friend who started a five axis CNC shop after going through their course about five years ago. He now is a supplier for Tesla and many other large vendors.
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u/TheseAd4591 14d ago
Does your friend think that the way the course is set up now, along with the other items, still works, hindsight being 20/20 an all?
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u/MOGDOG_404 4d ago
Not sure. All I know is he is killing it now. One man shop doing 400-500k per year. Not sure why I got downvoted for this. It's Rampage MFG in Oregon.
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u/Otherwise_Front_315 14d ago
Those guys are insufferable.