Hi,

I've been working as a product designer for 8 years, using Solidworks/plus starting with Autocad. However I've had enough of the world of plastics and would like to get back into metalworking and CNC - preferably high grade tight tolerance machining. I have a background with manual machining, welding, use of CMM's etc but no programming. I have a genuine passion for metals, metalworking and high end machining. I've been looking at a few jobs online, but obviously don't have the required experience. So I'm considering learning a bit of programming myself and trying to get into a company at an apprentice level.

Anyway my question is.. could anyone give me some advice on the direction the world of CNC is moving, preferably in the UK or Scandinavia. I.e. common CAM software or machines. I see the name Fanuc popping up a lot. Is there anything in particular that I could learn that could be integrated with Solidworks? I know of a company that might give me chance - they use OneCNC.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks,

Will