Cut metal into exact parts on lathes, mills and computer-controlled machines. Indoors, precise, and steady.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
An apprenticeship: you are hired by a sponsor, paid while you learn on the job, and go to class for a few weeks at a time. Every fact here is from Skilled Trades Ontario (STO) and the Ontario government. See every Ontario trade side by side
You are paid from your first day. Over the 7,280 hours on the job, even at the minimum wage you would earn at least $130,676 before tax while you train, and most sponsors pay more as your skills grow.
The trade on Skilled Trades Ontario's site(opens in a new tab)
Still in high school? In Grade 11 or 12, with at least 14 credits and age 15 or older, you can start an apprenticeship through co-op placements and earn credits at the same time. Ask your school's OYAP recruiter, guidance counsellor or co-op teacher. Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP)(opens in a new tab)
Not ready to find a sponsor? Free pre-apprenticeship programs (up to a year at a college or community agency, tools and books covered, with a work placement) get you ready and in front of employers. Employment Ontario helps you apply. Pre-apprenticeship training(opens in a new tab)
Ontario sets no percentage of full pay for apprentices. Your sponsor agrees your wage with you, and it can never be below the minimum wage: $17.95 an hour from 1 October 2026. Source (opens in a new tab)
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $62,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $44,000 at the lower end to about $86,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
4 to 5 years, on the usual route, and you are paid while you train from the first day.
$1,800 to $5,050 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no licence to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$62,000
Lower end
$44,000
Upper end
$86,000
Job Bank's figures for machinists across Canada (2023 to 2024) are $21.00 an hour at the low end, $30.00 median and $41.50 at the high end, about $44,000, $62,000 and $86,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The low and high are the bottom and top of the range for everyone in the trade. Overtime is common when a shop is behind on orders.
55% of a journeyperson's rate
The least a first-year machinist apprentice can be paid in Alberta
It rises to at least 65%, 75% and 85% in the next three years. In Ontario no share is set in law: your sponsor agrees your rate, often in a union or company agreement, and it can never be below the minimum wage.
$38.00 an hour
The median in British Columbia, about $79,000 a year
Alberta is next at $36.50, and Quebec has the lowest median, $27.50. Senior roles include lead hand, shop supervisor and programmer of CNC (computer numerical control) machines. Some machinists go on to own a small shop.
Roughly, all in
$1,800 to $5,050
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
This is a paid apprenticeship, so there is no tuition year to fund, only three in school blocks spread over about four years. The low end is Ontario, where Level 1 class is free for classes from January 2026 and the first Certificate of Qualification exam try is free once your apprenticeship is complete, so you pay the cheaper fees for the other two blocks and build a basic set of measuring tools slowly. The high end is higher block fees and buying good micrometers, calipers and indicators sooner. The Canada Apprentice Loan covers up to $4,000 a block with no interest and EI (Employment Insurance) is available while you are in class, so most apprentices finish with no debt. The federal Apprenticeship Incentive Grant and Apprenticeship Completion Grant both closed on March 31, 2025.
The federal Apprenticeship Incentive Grant and Apprenticeship Completion Grant closed on March 31, 2025. The new federal Red Seal Completion Bonus pays $5,000 if you finish your apprenticeship and get certified in a Red Seal trade on or after April 1, 2025. Applications open November 16, 2026. Most apprentices finish with no debt either way.
Steady, indoor, year-round work
No seasons, no weather, no layoffs between jobs like construction.
Health and dental
Standard at mid-size and large shops.
Pension or matched savings
Common at aerospace, auto parts and unionized plants.
Overtime at time and a half
Shops with rush orders lean on it.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A 4-year apprenticeship: on the job most of the time, with short college blocks.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Grade 12 math is the one that matters. Shop and drafting classes help. OYAP (Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program) lets Ontario students start hours in high school.
Find an employer to sponsor you
Weeks to months
Machine shops, aerospace and auto parts plants, mould shops. A 1-year college machining program makes you a much easier hire.
Register as an apprentice
Days
Ontario calls the trade General Machinist and registers it with Skilled Trades Ontario. Alberta and BC (British Columbia) register through their own trades authorities.
Work and study
4 years
8,000 hours in Ontario: 7,280 on the job plus 720 in school, taken as three college blocks of about 8 weeks. You go from manual lathes and mills to CNC (computer numerical control) setup and programming.
Certificate of Qualification and Red Seal
After your hours
Pass the provincial exam. The Red Seal endorsement lets you work in any province.
Math
Trigonometry and fractions, every single day. Feeds, speeds and angles are all math.
Drafting or technological design
Work arrives as CAD (computer-aided design) drawings. You must read them perfectly.
Shop classes
Any metalwork or machining course is a direct head start.
Physics
Forces, heat and tool wear.
In Ontario nobody needs a licence to work as a machinist, so shops hire on skill and hours, not paperwork. The Certificate of Qualification and Red Seal still matter: they prove your level and let you move between provinces without re-testing. Alberta also leaves certification optional, with a 4 year apprenticeship of 1,560 work hours and 8 weeks of class each year. Check your own province's trades authority.
Ontario
Conestoga, Mohawk, Fanshawe and Centennial run machining programs and the apprenticeship blocks.
Quebec
Vocational centres across Montreal feed the aerospace plants.
Manitoba
Red River College Polytechnic feeds Winnipeg's aerospace and bus plants.
Alberta and BC (British Columbia)
NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology), SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) and BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology).
In Quebec you take a vocational diploma first, and the apprenticeship after it is a voluntary workplace program run by the Quebec government.
Secondary IV courses
From age 16
The DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies) in Machining needs a high school diploma, or age 16 with Secondary IV language, second language and math. From 18, the general development test is another way in.
DEP in Machining (5371, or 5871 in English)
About 16 to 19 months
1,800 hours of blueprints, shop math, lathes, mills and CNC (computer numerical control) machines. Offered in French across Quebec and in English at five centres.
Get hired in a shop
Weeks to months
Machine shops, aerospace plants and factories hire graduates. Quebec's vocational training portal lists an average of $23.00 an hour for machine operators and $29.20 for CNC specialists.
Workplace apprenticeship, if you want it
About 3 years with the DEP
Your employer can enrol you in Quebec's workplace apprenticeship for conventional machine tool machinist. You must be 16 and employed. An experienced machinist mentors you and signs off your skills.
Qualification certificate
End of apprenticeship
Master the skills and the Quebec government issues a certificate of professional qualification. It is voluntary: you can work as a machinist in Quebec without it.
Red Seal, if you want it
Any time after
With the Quebec certificate you can apply for the interprovincial exam: 100 to 150 multiple choice questions in 4 hours, 70% to pass. Quebec calls the trade Machinist, Conventional Machine.
Rosemount Technology Centre, Montreal
English Montreal School Board.
École des métiers de l'aérospatiale de Montréal
The Montreal aerospace trades school, which also runs the English program.
Brome-Missisquoi Campus, Cowansville
Eastern Townships School Board, in Estrie.
Pont-Viau centre, Laval
Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board.
Centre de formation professionnelle des Moulins, Lanaudière
A vocational centre of the Centre de services scolaire des Affluents (the local school service centre).
Things you don't need, but that help.
CNC (computer numerical control) programming
Writing and editing the programs, not just loading parts.
CAD and CAM (computer-aided design and manufacturing) software
Shops look for people who can go from a drawing to a finished program.
5-axis and multi-tasking machines
Aerospace and medical parts. Fewer people can run them.
Tool and die maker as a second ticket
Mould and die shops in southern Ontario hire for it.
Patience and a calm temperament
One rushed cut scraps a $2,000 block of titanium.
Basic computer comfort
Modern shops run on software.
A 1-year college machining program
Makes an employer far more willing to sponsor you.
Forklift and WHMIS (workplace hazardous materials) certificates
Cheap, and every shop wants them.
Montreal is one of the biggest aerospace hubs in the world, with engine, landing gear and airframe plants and hundreds of supplier shops. Winnipeg has engine overhaul and composite plants. These employers hire machinists in volume and often offer pensions. They also demand tighter tolerances and more paperwork, because every part is traceable to the aircraft it goes on.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
7am on the shop floor. Read the drawing, pick the material, set up the machine: clamp the stock, load the tools, set the zero point. Run the first part, measure it to a hundredth of a millimetre, adjust, run the batch. Manual lathes and mills for one-offs and repairs, CNC (computer numerical control) machines for anything in quantity. Steady concentration, safety glasses on all day, and a lot of standing on concrete.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Machinist has been on the national Red Seal list since 1965, one of its oldest trades. All 13 provinces and territories take part, though Ontario calls it General Machinist.
Job Bank counted about 43,400 machinists in Canada in 2023, and 44% of them were 50 or older.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Metal and machining first, then the rest of the field. See every career in skilled trades.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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