Also called: Wire EDM Operator
Cuts super-hard metals using electric sparks (electrical discharge machining) instead of a blade.
You thread a wire thinner than a human hair through a block of hardened steel sitting underwater. Sparks slowly eat a precise shape out of it overnight. In the morning you pull out a gear-shaped cutout so perfect it slides in with no gap.
Estimate.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Certificate, about 1 year after high school. Machining training plus on-the-job EDM training.
Ways in: On-the-job training, Trade school. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Majors to look at: Machine Tool Technology (trade school).
Growing slowly. Niche but steady.
Medium risk for 10 years. EDM machines run long jobs on their own; setup, programming and fixing tricky cuts keep a smaller crew employed.
Classes: Machining CTE class, Physics, Blueprint reading.
Official data: O*NET occupation 51-4041.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.