[Jewelry making - Article 00822] - Re: [Orchid] CAD/CAM Milling Machines

[David L. Huffman]

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>         The one thing going for CAD designers with good bench skills
>     is they can get paid a substantial premium over just the bench job
>     because of the CAD. In the NW bench folks are very, very lucky if
>     they break $20/hr, whereas  CAD designers can bring in more than
>     twice that. 

Hi James;

    Well, I don't understand what's the problem in the NW.  Maybe the
    jewelers are getting that "you shouldn't expect so much money
    because people want to live here for the quality of life. . ." Bull
    S**t.  A top shelf bench guy can get $60,000 a year in a lot of areas
    just for a starting wage.  Here in central NY, where the economy is
    really limping, there are 50K jobs if you are a wizard, and I've
    heard of jewelers in places like Scottsdale AZ getting 80 grand.  $20
    an hour was a decent wage to start when I was back in Michigan back
    in the early 90's.  Why not?  I'm pretty sure I could bring in a
    margin of $120,000 a year on my labor in a retail situation if they
    had the customer base.  I'm getting close to my goal of wholesaling
    my labor at around $100,000 a year now, after a couple years of
    stuggle. 

    But finally, I can't see there being a lot of jobs, at least in
    retail, where a jeweler would have that much bargaining power just
    because they could run CAD. They'd have to have the rest of the skill
    set and do it pretty good.  The retailers aren't convinced that CAD
    would add that much to their income, and from what I know about
    retail, I think they're right. CAD skills are great, but they aren't
    essential.  The average retailer is lucky if they can afford a good
    torch jockey/prong bender.  If they are a high end store, they want
    wax carving, casting and setting skills and ability to fabricate,
    especially in 18K and Platinum, and they're darned lucky these days
    if they can find someone. My opinion, if it came to a choice between
    someone with CAD experience and someone with good people/sales skills
    and both of them had the requisite skill set of a good custom
    jeweler, anybody would be a fool not to pick the latter for a retail
    situation.  Start training them in CAD afterwards, and after you buy
    your laser. 

David L. Huffman

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