How To Become A Machine Set-Up: What It Is and Career Path

What is a machine set-up and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a machine set-up. For example, did you know that they make an average of $16.62 an hour? That's $34,560 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 3,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreMachine Set-UpUS Average

Salary

2.7

Avg. Salary $34,560

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

5.8

Growth Rate 1%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.53%

Asian 6.82%

Black or African American 4.61%

Hispanic or Latino 12.59%

Unknown 3.75%

White 71.70%

Gender

female 7.44%

male 92.56%

Age - 49

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 49

Stress Level

5.8

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

6.3

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.7

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a machine set-up

Explore machine set-up education requirements

Most common machine set-up degrees

High School Diploma

42.0 %

Diploma

23.2 %

Associate

21.7 %

Start to develop specific machine set-up skills

Skills	Percentages
Quality Checks	20.71%
Calipers	12.90%
Hand Tools	11.31%
Production Runs	5.94%
CNC Machines	5.12%

Complete relevant machine set-up training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New machine set-ups learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a machine set-up based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real machine set-up resumes.

Research machine set-up duties and responsibilities

Manage daily scheduling of production workload to be setup and run on machinery.
Utilize distinctive tools, gauges and calipers to collect and input specification and quality data accurately.
Perform minor machine maintenance, such as oiling and cleaning machines, dies and workpieces and adding coolant to machine reservoir.

Prepare your machine set-up resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your machine set-up resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a machine set-up resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Machine Set-Up Resume templates

Build a professional Machine Set-Up resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Machine Set-Up resume.

Apply for machine set-up jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a machine set-up job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do machine set-ups rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Machine Set-Up reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2019

Pros

It challenging I love challenge to work as a operator it a very challenging job