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Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Programmers

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Develop programs to control machining or processing of materials by automatic machine tools, equipment, or systems. May also set up, operate, or maintain equipment.

Related: Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators Electromechanical Equipment Assemblers Machinists Model Makers, Metal & Plastic Robotics Technicians

Industries: Manufacturing

Summary
Details

Align and secure pattern film on reference tables of optical programmers, and observe enlarger scope views of printed circuit boards.
Determine the sequence of machine operations, and select the proper cutting tools needed to machine workpieces into the desired shapes.
Analyze job orders, drawings, blueprints, specifications, printed circuit board pattern films, and design data to calculate dimensions, tool selection, machine speeds, and feed rates.
Sort shop orders into groups to maximize materials utilization and minimize machine setup time.
Write instruction sheets and cutter lists for a machine's controller to guide setup and encode numerical control tapes.
Determine the sequence of machine operations, and select the proper cutting tools needed to machine workpieces into the desired shapes.
Determine reference points, machine cutting paths, or hole locations, and compute angular and linear dimensions, radii, and curvatures.
Modify existing programs to enhance efficiency.
Compare encoded tapes or computer printouts with original part specifications and blueprints to verify accuracy of instructions.
Prepare geometric layouts from graphic displays, using computer-assisted drafting software or drafting instruments and graph paper.
Enter coordinates of hole locations into program memories by depressing pedals or buttons of programmers.
Revise programs or tapes to eliminate errors, and retest programs to check that problems have been solved.
Align and secure pattern film on reference tables of optical programmers, and observe enlarger scope views of printed circuit boards.
Order tooling for jobs.
Perform preventative maintenance or minor repairs on machines.
Order tooling for jobs.
Observe machines on trial runs or conduct computer simulations to ensure that programs and machinery will function properly and produce items that meet specifications.
Write programs in the language of a machine's controller and store programs on media, such as punch tapes, magnetic tapes, or disks.
Determine reference points, machine cutting paths, or hole locations, and compute angular and linear dimensions, radii, and curvatures.
Enter computer commands to store or retrieve parts patterns, graphic displays, or programs that transfer data to other media.

Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.

Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.

Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.

Education

Postsecondary certificate

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

1 to 12 months on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

81970/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

39.41/hr

Currently Employed

660

Yearly Projected Openings

Conventional: People interested in this work like activities that include data, detail, and regular routines. They do well at jobs that need:

Attention to Detail
Dependability
Cautiousness
Intellectual Curiosity
Achievement Orientation
Perseverance

Angle gauge
Automatic lathe or chucking machine
Calipers
Comparators
Coordinate measuring machines CMM
Dial indicator or dial gauge
Drill press or radial drill
Height gauges
Hole gauge
Hydraulic press brake
Laser cutting machine
Metal cutters
Metallurgical microscopes
Micrometers
Pin gauge
Power grinders
Precision surface plate
Profile gauge
Protractors
Radius gauge
Sine bar
Squares
Thickness measuring devices
Thread pitch gauge
Traveling column milling machine
Turret lathe
Vertical turning center
Wire gauge

Analytical or scientific software
Computer aided design CAD software
Computer aided manufacturing CAM software
Electronic mail software
Enterprise application integration software
Enterprise resource planning ERP software
Object or component oriented development software
Office suite software
Presentation software
Project management software
Spreadsheet software
Video conferencing software
Word processing software

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Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Programmers

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