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Why Are the New Guys in Their 50s?
The FNG showed up. He’s 54. And the comments section has questions.
David Beauchamp posted a simple question in the MACHINIST group:
“Why are the FNG’S IN THEIR 50’S?”
33,600 reach. 270 comments. And roughly three replies before it became old guys vs. young guys.
There were career changes. Plant closures. Arguments about wages. An entire side battle about phones.
But buried between the insults were some pretty good answers.
New to the shop. Not necessarily new to machining.
Keith Feeman:
“25 years in and tomorrow morning I’m at a new shop, so technically I’m the FNG.”
Fair point. Somebody has to show him where the bathroom is. Probably doesn’t need to show him how to use a mic.
Jerry Cockrell said he’s 60, with more than 30 years in the trade, and starting a new job for a better package.
Scott Trend had a different reason:
“58 and I will be the fng with 40 yrs experience lol. Plant shut down and moved to china.”
That’s a pretty good reminder that being the new guy doesn’t tell you much about how you got there.
Sometimes you wanted a better job. Sometimes your old job disappeared.
And some really are starting over.
David clarified in the comments that the people he meant had manufacturing experience, but no machining experience.
Which brought out a few people living exactly that situation.
Cedric Girouard:
“Funny how I'll be the FNG at 51 next year after my course... Going into a trade after 25 years in IT... And happy to make the switch...”
Brian Fritz shared a longer story. He’s 54, with a background in motorcycle, powersports and golf cart repair. He moved into machining, learned setups and basic G-code, spent time in operator roles, went back to wrenching, then got laid off.
Now he’s four months into another machine shop.
“So, that’s why I’m a 54 year old FNG. 😂”
There’s your answer. A whole working life doesn’t always fit neatly into one trade.
And Brian Arkins probably had the best title for it:
“I went back to my original job crank grinding at 64
So I was the Brand New Old Used Grinder”
Put that on the name tag.
Then came the wage argument.
A bunch of comments went straight to the familiar explanation: young people don’t want to work, get dirty, or put their phones down.
Others said young people are willing to work. They’re just comparing machining with everything else they could do.
James Carr wrote:
“I’m 5 years into the trade and I make less than a a high school kid at McDonald’s.”
He went on to question why five years counts as meaningful experience in other trades, but can still leave you treated like you’ve barely started in machining.
That’s a discussion worth having.
Five years won’t teach you everything. Neither will 30. But what can that person set up, troubleshoot, program and produce? What responsibility are they carrying?
That should count for something.
The replies weren’t all bad news, either. Shawn Bazinet said he’d gone from $20 to $40 an hour over 12 years in Maine. He also described a four-day week, flexibility, and a ten-minute commute that lets him see his dogs at lunch.
Those details matter too.
The thread had people happy with their careers and people actively questioning why they’d stay. Both were pretty vocal.
The young machinists are in the comments, too.
Liam Cyr:
“I'm 23 and have been doing this for 5 years.
We exist…”
His point was that plenty of young people don’t even know machining is an option. He said he had to leave high school and pursue dual enrollment at a community college to find a decent machining program.
Then Ralph Bougher, retired after 49 years in shops, offered this:
“Best advice I could give a younger machinist is to learn everything you can about the trade, and do not fear taking responsibility.”
A young machinist explaining how he found the trade. An older machinist wishing him well.
Somehow they managed it without challenging each other to a production contest.
What happens when the new guy asks for help?
Jason Holley had one of the strongest comments in the thread:
“Because the young guys get tired of being talked to like an idiot by guys that forgot they had to learn too.”
That applies to the 19-year-old apprentice and the 51-year-old career changer.
They still have to listen, ask questions and put in the work. But being new shouldn’t make them fair game for every frustrated person in the building.
Bryan Ford questioned training a new hire in his 60s who might retire in five or six years.
Kendall Reed replied:
“probably will get 6 years of good work. Alot of guys dont retire anymore or the do and there board so they go back to work.
Give him a chance”
Six years of good work sounds pretty useful.
A few more worth keeping
Aaron DeMarco:
“Because we're the dying breed”
Derry Donoghue:
“no just dying”
Steve Senjan:
“They saw how glamorous we all make being a machinist!”
And when somebody asked what FNG meant, Tony Mann offered the obvious reference:
“look it up in Machinerys Handbook”
Good luck finding that page.
So, why is the FNG in his 50s?
Maybe he’s changing careers. Maybe the plant closed. Maybe another shop finally offered him a better deal.
Maybe he just wants to make something after 25 years behind a desk.
Show him around. Find out what he knows. Help him learn what he doesn’t.
You can still call him the FNG.
How old was the oldest new guy you’ve worked with—and how did he turn out?
