Skilled trades · Building & Making
Machinist: what the job actually is
Cutting metal into precision parts to a drawing, where being off by a hair means the part goes in the scrap bin.
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The work
What this job actually is
- Cutting, shaping and finishing metal into precision parts for manufacturing, using lathes, mills, grinders and computer-controlled machines.
- Skilled Trades Ontario lists General Machinist as trade code 429A and as non-compulsory, and as a Red Seal trade under the title Machinist.
- The work runs from a drawing to a setup to a measured part. Programming and running computer-controlled machines is a large share of it, and so is checking that the part is right.
- Tolerances are small. The difference between a good part and scrap can be invisible without a measuring tool.
- Employers are mostly manufacturers and machine shops, where output is judged in parts per day and parts that pass inspection.
A Tuesday
What a normal day looks like
Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.
- 6:30 — Read the job packet: drawing, material, quantity, and the program from yesterday.
- 6:50 — Set up the machine: clamp the stock, load the tools, set the zero points.
- 7:30 — Run the first part slowly and measure it. The first part decides whether the next hundred are good.
- 8:15 — Adjust an offset by a few thousandths of a unit and run again.
- 9:30 — Production run. Load, start, inspect, unload, and repeat, listening for a change in sound.
- 10:00 — Break.
- 10:15 — Change a worn tool before it ruins a part.
- 12:00 — Lunch.
- 12:30 — A new job with a new drawing: plan the order of operations on paper before touching the machine.
- 14:30 — Inspect a batch, document the results, and log what went to scrap and why.
Honestly
Who loves this, and who should not do it
The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.
- You like exactness and being able to measure whether you got it right.
- You enjoy figuring out the order in which to make something so it comes out accurate.
- You like both hands-on setup and the logic of programming a machine.
- You can concentrate on small details for long stretches.
- You are comfortable in a shop with noise, coolant and chips.
- Repetition drains you. Production runs can mean the same part for a whole shift.
- Being wrong by a tiny amount and scrapping an expensive part makes you anxious.
- You want a secure sector. Job Bank rates the Ontario outlook for this group as Limited and notes expected employment decline, so look at it yourself before committing.
- You dislike standing for long stretches in one spot.
- Noise, oil and metal chips are a problem for you.
The route in
How you actually get there in Ontario
Find an employer who will register you
General Machinist is trade code 429A in Ontario and is non-compulsory, so you can work in the field without certification. Getting into an apprenticeship still depends on a shop or manufacturer willing to take you on.Work the hours
The apprenticeship is 8,000 hours, which Skilled Trades Ontario describes as approximately four years: 7,280 hours on the job and 720 hours in school.Certify
Skilled Trades Ontario lists the trade as part of the Interprovincial Red Seal Program, recognised nationally under the title Machinist.Use OYAP to start early
Ontario says OYAP lets students in Grade 11 or 12 earn co-op credits through a placement in a skilled trade. Ask your co-op teacher or board recruiter whether machine shops near you take students.
Where this comes from: Skilled Trades Ontario — General Machinist (429A) · Ontario — Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program
The money
What it pays in Ontario
Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.
- $21.00
- Low (hourly)
- $30.00
- Median (hourly)
- $40.85
- High (hourly)
Ontario, NOC 72100. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.
Where it is heading
The outlook for the next three years
Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.
Limited2 out of 5 stars
- Employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions.
- Several positions will become available due to retirements.
- There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.
What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.
What is changing in this work
- Job prospects will be constrained by weak business conditions in manufacturing as a whole due to economic uncertainty
- Need for fabricated metal goods to support investments in construction, and power generation, should lead to some employment openings
Who hires for it
- Manufacturers, particularly in machine shops, metalworking machinery, motor vehicle parts, and aerospace product and parts production
- 14,650
- people work in this job in Ontario
- less than 5%
- are women (48% across all jobs)
- 5%
- are self-employed (15% across all jobs)
Source: Job Bank — Machinists and machining and tooling inspectors job prospects in Ontario (NOC 72100). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.
Before you leave school
Things you can do now
- Take manufacturing, technology and drafting courses, and keep your maths up. Machining is trigonometry and decimals done with real metal.
- Ask about OYAP and co-op with a local manufacturer.
- Learn to read a basic engineering drawing and a micrometer or caliper. A school shop teacher can show you in minutes.
- Visit a college machining shop or a local shop on a tour, and watch someone set up a job.
Test it
Do this before you decide anything
Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.
Find out whether precision satisfies you or just frustrates you
About 60 minutes- Find a free engineering drawing of a simple part online and write down every dimension and tolerance on it.
- Learn how a caliper works, then watch a video of a machinist setting up and measuring a first part.
- Do a precision task at home with a ruler: draw a square with sides measured to the millimetre, and cut it out. Check it against a second ruler. How close were you, and did being off bother you?
- Phone one local machine shop and ask whether they take apprentices and what a good first-year looks like.
What it tells you. If being a millimetre out bothered you in a useful way and the setup video held your attention, precision work may suit you. If you shrugged at the error or felt dread at the idea of scrapped parts, believe it, because both happen weekly in the trade.
Better than any article
Questions for somebody who does this job
Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.
- “How much of your day is programming and how much is running the machine?”
- “What happens when you make a bad part?”
- “How do you see the next ten years for your shop?”
- “What is the difference between a machinist and a machine operator?”
- “What was the hardest thing to learn in the first two years?”
- “What would you tell a 16-year-old who likes this kind of work?”
Could you own one of these?
The part other career sites never mention
It is possible but capital-heavy. A machine shop needs expensive machines, tooling, measuring equipment and a flow of customers, so most machinists work for years in someone else's shop before considering it. Smaller jobs, such as repair and prototyping, are a more realistic starting point.
Not sure this is the right list to be reading
Start from yourself, not from the job.
Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.
Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.
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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.