Hi I'm Mark from... well under the radar

Introductions
#1

I started life a machinist programming CNC machines using punched mylar tape. Now you can guess my age. I retired a long while ago and was ask to build a website. Word of mouth turned into a nice little business of website development and maintenance using open source CMSs for non-profits in the area.

A couple of friends (all with day jobs) and I got together to develop a SaaS web app to help nonprofits raise money via fundraising events. We found the code next to impossible to scale up and started looking for a PHP framework to help and found Laravel. We have recently started rewriting the code from scratch

Anyway one of the reasons for joining the site was to look for a company that could develop another SaaS project I have in mind. What with website to maintain and coding on the fundraising app i’m strapped for time.

Thanks for the discussion board. I’ll be looking through the Intros and hopefully stumble onto one.

#2

Hi Mark. Welcome the forums.

I ran a CNC machine for a while in my 20s as well - it cut pieces out of various metals for home-building parts. I can’t say it was fun; lots of waiting actually. Bootstrapping a software company is much more exciting, and there’s no-one to yell at you for damaging the diamond-tip drill bit.

#3

Hi Mark,

Welcome aboard. I also got my start as a CNC machinist. Right out of high school I thought being a machinist would be a cool job. After working for three companies I realized I wanted to be the one writing the code instead of just an operator. All the local machine shops are very weird here.

I remember we had to learn about the tape machines but never got to see one. I still remember G00 though :smile_cat:

Good luck with the SAAS endeavor and be sure and post any questions.

#4

What the heck is a CNC machinist and how have all of you been it?!

2 Likes
#5

Well. I guess if the software thing doesn’t work out we can all get together and start a machine shop. When I was in my late teens I worked as a TIG welder building stuff out of aluminum. Funny how we came from such backgrounds and end up writing code for the web.

#6

Ha Ha Ian I was thinking the same thing. Computerized Numerically Controlled machine. And it was an easy entry level job working in doors and no smell of hamburgers frying.

Yea it didn’t take long for me to move from operating ( little experience needed ) to setup and operating ( somewhat more skill needed ) to programming and setup. Writing G code all day, setting up a machine and walking back to the nice office chair.

This was before Archie and Veronica. Mozilla hadn’t been thought of yet.