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. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Journeyperson
$60,000
1st-year apprentice
$40,000
Programmer or lead hand
$80,000
Aerospace shops, tool rooms and people who program the CNC (computer numerical control) machines sit at the top. Small job shops in slow regions pay the least. Overtime is common when a shop is behind on orders.
$18 to $22 an hour
First-year apprentice
Apprentice pay climbs toward the journeyperson rate each year. Aerospace and defence plants in Montreal and Winnipeg tend to start higher than small job shops.
$28 to $40 an hour
About $56,000 to $80,000 a year full time
Lead hands, shop supervisors and people who program CNC (computer numerical control) machines can pass this. Owning a small shop can pay more, with more risk.
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 the cheaper block fees, a basic set of measuring tools built up slowly, and the Certificate of Qualification exam. 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 interest free and EI (Employment Insurance) is available while you are in class, so most apprentices finish debt free. 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, so check what is current on the Job Bank site. Most apprentices finish debt free 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 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, unlock higher union and aerospace rates, and let you move between provinces without re-testing. Alberta makes machinist a compulsory certification trade, where you must be a registered apprentice or certified journeyperson, so check your 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
NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology), SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) and BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology).
Things you don't need, but that help.
CNC (computer numerical control) programming
Writing and editing the programs, not just loading parts. The biggest pay jump in the trade.
CAD and CAM (computer-aided design and manufacturing) software
Shops pay 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 pay more and are short of people.
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, pay above job-shop rates and 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.
Machinists routinely work to 0.01 mm, several times thinner than a human hair. Aerospace and medical parts go tighter still.
Many CNC (computer numerical control) shops run 'lights out': the machinist sets up and programs during the day and the machine cuts parts all night with nobody there.
In aerospace shops each part is traceable: which bar of metal, which machine, which machinist, which inspection. A bad part can ground an aircraft, so the paperwork is as real as the cutting.
Apprentices still learn manual lathes and mills before the computer-controlled ones. If you cannot feel how metal cuts, you cannot tell when the computer is doing it wrong.
Last checked September 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.