Many of you may or may not know what I do for a living. I’m a machinist; I work with CNC machines mainly. I only know a little of the G-code our machines use so I can’t program much but I setup machines and work on them when things need to be fixed. And often just plain old run parts out when a job is setup. Among other things I do around the shop (manage, quality control, order materials etc...)

On Thursday I had a nice little chat with my Boss/Owner about my employment in his shop and where I want to be a few years down the line. He laid down a offer for me(after he made it clear he wants me to stay), He’ll pay for me to go through some sort of schooling to better learn to program the machines and such; Once I get done with the schooling I would get a raise. Right now I make ~31-32k a/year he said once I get out of school and start using my new knowledge around the shop I would be bumped up to 55-60k a year to begin with. Basically I would also have his position as he wants more time out of the shop to enjoy the money his business is making him; trust me business is good for us right now too. I was also offered a stake in the company and he would start retirement fund for me as part of the deal. All I have to do is commit a few years to him.

Currently I’m not attending school I was going to school for “Computer & Electronic Engineering Technology” for about 1 ½ years but I don’t think that’* the road I want to go down. I’m only 21, I like what I do (My dad, cousin work in the same shop too) and feel I have nothing to lose on this. He asked me to think about his offer and let him know before the end of the year and we can start talking about what we actually want from each other.



I want input from people here on BC. I want to hear what everyone thinks I should ask for since I’m seriously considering this deal.

Ed

I just have one question: What'* holding you back?

It seems like you have a win-win offer here! Education and a LOT better benifits? How can you go wrong? Understand that computers are everything these days, and you might as well think of them as replacing you in the future. Just do it. Seriously. I hated school too, but I decided to stop looking for a job (20-30k a year) and start going to school to separate myself from everybody else. Do it, man. He'* handing you your future.

I say do it. I wish someone would give me a choice like that. I am 31 and will probabally be making around 30k for the rest of my life! I would jump at the chance. You are young yet so go for it.

I couldn't have said it better.

Man, that'* an AWESOME deal, especially if you enjoy working in the shop and the business is doing well as you stated.

id hit it! as long as you like working there and doing what you do, thats a great offer!

Sounds like a really good deal! Especially the part about you being a stakeholder in the business. Suppose that means you would receive a percentage of the profits?

Let me ask a few questions:

1) How long is a "few years commitment"? I think that needs to be concrete
2) What sort of retirement fund? A pension? A 401(K)? How long until you are vested? What is the guarantee on it?
3) What type of schooling/degree would you pursue? Would it be transferable or it is very specific to this particular type of work?

The opportunity sounds great. There'* an opportunity cost in all things.

Yes that would mean I would get a certain bit of the profits.

1.) We didn’t cover the term as this was a brief discussion, that detail would be ironed out when I sit down with him and could always be extended if wanted.
2.) I’m not sure on what type of fund, I know I would have input as to what was better for me.
3.) The exact degree I’m not sure of but it would not be so specific to where it would only pertain activities in our shop. So I would be able to take it else where once my contract was up if I wanted to.


Ed

Sounds awesome. Congrats on the offer. Like everyone else said, if you like what you are doing, then go for it.
Congrats!!!

The only piece of advice I will give on this is to run any contract by a lawyer. I highly doubt that he'* gonna do anything shady, but it'* always a good idea when getting into a partnership to make sure that any contract is rock-solid. That way, you can avoid potential conflicts/misunderstandings that can affect your partnership negatively.

Once you've done that, go for it. It sounds like the start of a great career.