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Machinist resume

What the work involves, what it pays, and grounded tasks, skills, tools, and experience you can choose from.

Also called aircraft machinist, auto machinist, automotive machinist and cnc lathe machinist.

$58,750
Median pay a year
287,050
People do this work
6
Resume lines ready for you

Real figures for this work, and lines you can use in your own resume. Where they come from is at the foot of this page.

An example

A Machinist resume, filled in

Common skills that can help you remember what you used on the job.

  • Conducting test runs of equipment
  • Measuring product dimensions
  • Mounting attachments or tools
  • Operating metal or plastic forming equipment
  • Operating cutting equipment
  • Exchanging information with colleagues
  • Advising on various ways
  • Reviewing blueprints and instructions
  • Monitoring lubrication
  • Monitoring equipment operation
  • Testing samples
  • Measuring materials

Every line comes from the same public record as the rest of this page. The greyed parts are the ones only you can answer.

Machinist

Summary

Machinist setting up and operating machine tools to produce precision metal parts and instruments, while measuring dimensions, examining completed units for defects, and maintaining equipment for optimal performance

Experience

Machinist

Where you worked

Month Year to Month Year
  • Machined parts to specifications, using machine tools, such as lathes and milling machines
  • Calculated dimensions or tolerances, using instruments, such as micrometers and vernier calipers
  • Measured and examined completed units to check for defects, using precision instruments
  • Set up and operated specialized machine tools for precision machining operations
  • Studied blueprints and engineering information to determine methods for fabricating products
  • Maintained machine tools in proper operational condition to ensure efficiency
  • Conferred with engineering personnel to exchange technical information and ensure specifications

Skills

Checking & Planning
Conducting test runs of equipment, Measuring product dimensions
Hands-On Work
Mounting attachments or tools, Operating metal or plastic forming equipment, Operating cutting equipment
Core Skills
Reviewing blueprints and instructions, Monitoring lubrication, Monitoring equipment operation, Exchanging information with colleagues, Advising on various ways
Tools and software
G-code, Mastercam computer-aided design and manufacturing software, Dassault Systemes SolidWorks

Education

  • Certificate
    Your training program, Year

Yours will not say this. You choose what matches your experience, and every line remains yours to confirm or change.

Change it to anything you like. Rung will find the closest match with you.

Nothing to write from scratch

What to put on a Machinist resume

Real duties for this job, already written the way a resume reads. Inside Rung you choose the ones that were yours.

becomes

On your resume

  • Calculated dimensions using precision instruments to ensure accuracy in machining processes
  • Measured completed units for defects and conformance to specifications

These are written the way a resume line reads. Rung asks which ones are actually yours, keeps your own words, and never claims work you did not do.

Then it asks for one more thing

The line that could show more, and the fact that lands it.

Make it stronger

A few lines could show more. Each one is asked, and answered by choosing.

Add how often you calculated dimensions for projects

The line

Calculated dimensions using precision instruments for every project I worked on to ensure machining accuracy

Add how often you calculated dimensions for projects

Pick one that fits

Every project I worked onMost of the daily tasksSeveral times each shift

Adding it to the line…

Added to your resume
Show what improved once the measurements were done

The line

Measured completed units for defects and conformance to specifications

Show what improved once the measurements were done

Pick one that fits

Reduced rework and wasteIncreased product qualityEnsured customer satisfaction

Adding it to the line…

Added to your resume

Every ready answer is in plain words, never a figure. Nothing is invented to fill a gap.

The work itself

What a Machinist does

The public record of what this job is, in one paragraph.

Set up and operate a variety of machine tools to produce precision parts and instruments out of metal. Includes precision instrument makers who fabricate, modify, or repair mechanical instruments. May also fabricate and modify parts to make or repair machine tools or maintain industrial machines, applying knowledge of mechanics, mathematics, metal properties, layout, and machining procedures.

What it pays

How much does a Machinist make?

Annual pay across the United States. The middle figure is the median: half earn less than that, and half earn more.

25th percentile$47,570
Median$58,750
75th percentile$67,700

About 287,050 people do this work in the United States.

What it pays in each state
State25th percentileMedian75th percentile
AK$63,360$77,670$96,640
AL$46,340$55,560$66,190
AR$45,280$51,140$61,380
AZ$48,890$61,080$66,460
CA$46,360$57,190$74,210
CO$49,170$60,200$74,110
CT$49,900$62,130$76,040
DC$56,570$72,900$72,900
DE$48,310$62,650$75,500
FL$47,300$57,140$63,860
GA$43,480$52,610$64,180
HI$63,380$84,410$92,750
IA$49,190$57,540$61,530
ID$47,630$58,810$71,070
IL$46,380$58,520$65,620
IN$47,870$57,800$62,440
KS$45,050$51,220$61,450
KY$48,560$58,660$71,530
LA$49,030$61,110$75,170
MA$57,690$67,270$78,640
MD$47,530$59,810$74,290
ME$50,090$59,160$72,640
MI$46,260$52,360$62,300
MN$50,320$61,140$74,650
MO$48,880$58,710$72,540
MS$43,270$55,550$63,330
MT$48,030$60,920$68,760
NC$45,300$55,230$62,680
ND$49,300$61,820$74,670
NE$45,600$55,860$67,430
NH$49,840$61,500$71,980
NJ$51,110$63,190$79,330
NM$46,300$59,440$72,690
NV$46,090$53,050$62,830
NY$48,040$60,920$74,180
OH$46,460$57,940$64,050
OK$45,670$51,120$62,050
OR$52,930$63,820$76,070
PA$47,410$57,810$63,700
PR$23,600$29,280$38,040
RI$49,320$57,760$71,820
SC$46,970$57,970$65,290
SD$46,280$50,890$58,750
TN$43,200$49,600$61,220
TX$47,630$59,180$69,800
UT$49,920$61,280$74,390
VA$49,900$61,290$71,470
VT$47,650$62,680$78,260
WA$58,760$66,160$80,340
WI$48,430$59,110$63,350
WV$39,180$47,350$59,910
WY$47,090$63,070$78,990

Other names

Other names for this job

aircraft machinist, auto machinist, automotive machinist, cnc lathe machinist, cnc machinist, cnc mill machinist, cnc milling machinist, cnc swiss machinist, computer numeric control milling machinist, computer numeric controlled lathe machinist, computer numeric controlled machinist, computer numeric controlled mill machinist.

More names for this work

computer numeric controlled swiss machinist, computer numerical control machinist, computer numerically controlled lathe machinist, computer numerically controlled machinist, computer numerically controlled mill machinist, conventional machinist, electrical machinist, experimental machinist, gear machinist, geothermal heat pump machinist, hydroelectric component machinist, lab machinist, laboratory machinist, lathe machinist, maintenance machinist, manual lathe machinist, manual machinist, metal machinist, outside machinist, outside ship machinist, precision machinist, printing press machinist, production machinist, tool and die machinist, tool machinist, tool room machinist, toolroom machinist, turret lathe machinist, wind turbine machinist, carbide operator, development mechanic, electrical experimental mechanic, electrical instrument maker, experimental mechanic, fixture maker, fluid power mechanic, four slide operator, instrument maker, instrument maker and repairer, jobber, light fixture maker, machine fitter, machine repair person, mechanist, precision instrument maker, thermometer maker.

If you served

Military jobs this work counts as

From the crosswalk the US Department of Labor publishes itself. If one of these was your job, this page is about the civilian work it maps to.

and 1 more service codes map here

What you can already claim

Starting a Machinist resume with no experience

Below are the tasks a Machinist job is made of. Choose the ones you have really done. There is no wrong answer here, and you can change any of it later.

Which of these tasks have you actually done?

4 chosen. Rung never adds a task you did not choose.

  • Machinist

    Already yours: Conducting test runs of equipment, Measuring product dimensions, Mounting attachments or tools

    4 of the 12 tasks this job is made of

    Median pay$58,750 a year

    What you have not done yet. Operating cutting equipment, Exchanging information with colleagues, Advising on various ways

    Build a Machinist resume

Great news! Your skills can open up even more doors.

The tasks for Machinist also qualify you for the jobs below. Creating a resume for one of these could help you land even more interviews.

Choose a job below that you would like to target next:

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Machinist

  • Conducting test runs of equipment
  • Measuring product dimensions
  • Mounting attachments or tools
  • Operating metal or plastic forming equipment

Nothing here was invented. Every line is something you chose above, and it comes with you when you start.

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Your situation

Where are you starting from?

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Nearby work

Jobs similar to Machinist

Near this job. If one of these fits better, its page is the same as this one.

Where these numbers come from

This page is about the occupation Machinists. What this job involves and what it is made of come from O*NET 30.3, the US Department of Labor's occupation database, refreshed July 2026; Rung writes those records into the plain sentences you see. Pay comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS release for 2025. How Rung handles accuracy is on the accuracy page, and the full data credits are on the credits page.