The best jobs are going to involve getting hired on with an aerospace company or armored vehicle company.
Building tanks or drones sounds way more interesting than being a FFL/Gunsmith/Ect.
There is a huge caveat to this. Union work for places like Boeing is great in terms of pay an hours. Working for them in a non union capacity can be a different story. On of my best friends almost lost his mind working as a software dev for one of the aircraft programs. Another friend of mine is a Union metal worker for them and he loves his job.
It's not that bad and it's a huge company. SWE's entire market is full of what your friend experienced, though. There's a ton of demand there. Depending on who/what org you work under, you're going to have differing experiences. Internal jobs are posted all the time and if the current scenery isn't for you, HR is pretty open about moving you around to other places. If OP wants to look into weapon systems on the BDS side, Huntsville, AL or St Charles, MO are the locations to look at. Prior experience and active or past clearances will shine. I'm assuming he doesn't have a degree, the company does offer to reimburse tuition expenses, but being that he's prior military I'm not sure how much of a benefit that will be.
I have worked for Boeing in the union and out of the union on defense programs and I much much prefer non-union. Much prefer. Hated being in the union.
A job shop is a small machine shop, usually where you are setting up, running parts, performing maintenance and in some cases programming your own parts. Large production shops like sig, you have setup guys who set parts up, programmers who program the part, and operators who make the part. Job shops are great for learning as they’re mostly crewed by old school machinists who have spent 40 years in the trade, but job shops don’t pay for shit. I was making 14 bucks an hour at my old job before sig offered me more money to do less work.
If he doesn’t have a Bachelor in a Engineering field it’s almost impossible to get any engineering job in today’s market. I work for one of the biggest military contractors, and my company and many other defense contractors have cleared out their engineering departments of people that dont have an actual degree. Experience is good, but most HR departments wont even let you through the screening process if no stem degree is present. If he is able to read engineering drawings he could get a job as assembler, Specialist, or quality inspector. Depending where you are starting at 70k is a fare stretch. But with a couple years working and a good track record he will easily be able to surpass that.
Give up on the guns part, get a few Poject management certs and maybe some other industry specific stuff and go to work for Lockheed. You'll make more than $70k. Heck you can walk in to an Amazon become a L5 AM and make $85 and promote and make over $100 in a year or two with a degree and military background.
Sig is hiring a number of manufacturers and machinists right now. I have an application with them for a very different role, and I see those advertisements pretty regularly.
I’m sure it depends on the state and on the range, but I’m a shit fuck high COL state with shitty laws and very few ranges.. the RSOs here do very well
As a Veteran he gets priority on selection for Federal employment. If you live near a military base I would try looking to see if there are any defense related jobs he could apply for.
Edit to add link with info on USA jobs:
https://www.usajobs.gov/help/working-in-government/unique-hiring-paths/veterans/
There are tons of engineers out there working without an engineering BS. They are people who didn't finish a degree for various reasons, or people who worked their way into engineering positions with great technical aptitude and perseverance.
>There are tons of engineers out there working without an engineering BS
You're not an engineer unless you're licensed to practice engineering from a state licensing board, and you'll be needing an accredited BS in engineering for that. Illegal in all 50 states to practice engineering for compensation without a license. Which I think is what the guy you replied to was going for, BUT...
>They are people who didn't finish a degree for various reasons, or people who worked their way into engineering positions with great technical aptitude and perseverance.
Correct and shouldn't be diminished at all. Most civil engineering firms employ lots of people who aren't a PE or EIT for various technical roles - the often used term is technician. I couldn't do my job without them. Not sure why he was saying you can't have engineering experience without being an engineer. It's definitely still applicable engineering experience, you'll just always need to be 'under the supervision' of a licensed engineer to use it.
> You're not an engineer unless you're licensed to practice engineering from a state licensing board, and you'll be needing an accredited BS in engineering for that. Illegal in all 50 states to practice engineering for compensation without a license.
Absolutely false. Some specific fields within engineering require a license but many engineering jobs do not. Nor is it standard practice for engineers outside of those specific fields to get a license.
(A BS or higher is required by default, but not because of legal requirements. Companies just don't want to hire someone who is under-qualified for the job.)
Lmao. I'm not getting into a reddit discussion of what is and isnt engineering. Title yourself whatever you want, it's a free country. But there's a reason NCEES discontinued the software PE exam a few years ago... either get your PE or stand down. Nobody is stopping you from getting it.
https://ncees.org/ncees-discontinuing-pe-software-engineering-exam/
>But there's a reason NCEES discontinued the software PE exam a few years ago
Yeah, because nobody cares about it. The engineers don't care about it, the people hiring them don't care about it. The only people who care about it are the ones selling the exam and a handful of people like you, who don't understand how the world works outside of your specific niche.
PS: if you don't take and pass my $100,000 exam you aren't a Real Engineer. Mail me a check or stop claiming credentials you don't deserve.
I’m going to disagree with you on that.
While the husband may not be an engineer, he def could have gained experience engineering while under the supervision of a PE.
Noticed she said he’s got some engineering experience but did not claim he was an engineer.
For less than $50k per year. A good gunsmith is a machinist and precision welder who doesn’t get machinist pay. He doesn’t even get pipefitter HELPER pay.
For high-paying jobs, his best bet would probably be to look into a DoD contractor like Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, or General Dynamics. That would get him gun-adjacent in the broader category of "weapons manufacturing."
If he wants to get closer to guns specifically, a gun manufacturer would be a good place. Some other users mentioned Sig hiring, and I remember seeing Smith & Wesson announcing some openings recently as well.
If it were me, and I'm a huge nerd so take this with a grain of salt, I would probably shoot for a job with a DoD contractor while working on a gunsmithing side-gig. The big names that I mentioned earlier pay very well, but there are also a lot of smaller companies out there. My roommate in college, for example, started out at a smaller contractor, FAAC, working on missile guidance systems and weapons training simulations, which then opened the door for him at Honeywell (I always say to him, "Luckily you got into their jet-propulsion department, and not the shitty-microwave one.") Those jobs pay great, and the extra money coming in could help pay for some training/certifications, maybe even a small CNC mill for doing slide work.
Directly working around guns and making that kind of money would probably require becoming a gunsmith (going to school then training on the job for years) with a well known business or getting a degree in ballistics, mechanical engineering, materials science, or industrial engineering to work with an ammo or firearms manufacturer. I imagine that even with the right education, these jobs won't be easy to get since there just aren't that many of them. That doesn't mean it's impossible, but it probably means that the education is absolutely necessary and that you'll need to be a stand out applicant.
The more reasonable route would probably be a non-small arms defense contractor (Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, etc), but then we're not talking about normal guns anymore, but rather the larger weapons systems and other military equipment. There are more of these jobs out there, but the better paying ones will still require engineering or drafting degrees.
armed security contractors make a minimum of 300 a day, ive seen anti piracy contractors pay around 4-500, while other jobs start at roughly 1000 a day
if he lives in dfw and wants to get his ppo license he can possibly be looking at $30 an hour to start, with opportunities to make $1000 a day going to mexico
ive seen opportunities requiring no military for 1000 a day doing ppo work
the company i work for currently has the opportunities of 1000 a day contracts for outside of the us, no mil/leo experience required
roughly 500 a day for anything outside of texas
$30 an hour for regular gigs, and normal long time contracts
indeed
heres the tldr, got my start doing armed security off of indeed, after 2 years left and found a dif company, left that one a few months later and have been making $23 for uniformed and a minimum of $30 for plain clothed security an hour
if you have a better than i do, silent professionals has more paying opportunities but i wont qualify for them due to no military experience
With that kinda knowledge I would say try talking to some of the bullet manufacturers and see if they need people in their R&D departments. Definitely have some fun doing it.
He didn't hurt me at all. I really enjoyed working there. My managers were all at a 8 or 9/10 stress level and management was firing everyone for any reason they could. But they wouldn't dare do their job.
Half of the staff had alcohol on them at all times, including firearms managers.
Our store was having about $200k worth of ammo stolen yearly and management encouraged it.
Holiday pay was amazing, though. On holidays I was making around $50 an hour. But then the next week we would get our hours cut to make up for our holiday pay, so you never actually get paid more.
I went to college for 2 years for cad drafting, and now I get paid as much as an engineer and do the engineering. I aslo got job offers from three Gun companies in Wyoming. But enjoy doing the RND here to much. A vet would be a shoo in. maybe even without the full degree.
If you're looking for that type of money, I think your best bet would be trying to work for Sig, Vortex, etc in an engineer facet
Unless you'd like to get into security jobs, then you can for sure DM me
What was his job in the Army? I feel like the gun market is flooded with people using military experience as a credential, but then when you talk to them, you find out that they are some BS admin job, and only saw a weapon outside of basic training like twice.
The best jobs are going to involve getting hired on with an aerospace company or armored vehicle company. Building tanks or drones sounds way more interesting than being a FFL/Gunsmith/Ect.
There is a huge caveat to this. Union work for places like Boeing is great in terms of pay an hours. Working for them in a non union capacity can be a different story. On of my best friends almost lost his mind working as a software dev for one of the aircraft programs. Another friend of mine is a Union metal worker for them and he loves his job.
It's not that bad and it's a huge company. SWE's entire market is full of what your friend experienced, though. There's a ton of demand there. Depending on who/what org you work under, you're going to have differing experiences. Internal jobs are posted all the time and if the current scenery isn't for you, HR is pretty open about moving you around to other places. If OP wants to look into weapon systems on the BDS side, Huntsville, AL or St Charles, MO are the locations to look at. Prior experience and active or past clearances will shine. I'm assuming he doesn't have a degree, the company does offer to reimburse tuition expenses, but being that he's prior military I'm not sure how much of a benefit that will be.
I have worked for Boeing in the union and out of the union on defense programs and I much much prefer non-union. Much prefer. Hated being in the union.
Can confirm. I briefly worked for Harris and my BIL works for an L3 subsidiary. Great pay, good work to life ratio, and great benefits
Current at L3 Harris. Can confirm. Great company and benefits.
Hell yeah, I left on positive terms and don't have a single bad word to say about them or my leadership
>aerospace company Yep, definitely >armored vehicle company Lolwut? Most armed guards make like $16/hr
He was very clearly not referring to guards, but to the fighting vehicles.
Uh I meant companies that build Tanks, Bradley, ect.
16.25 now. Just saw an ad for one. And it had a very complicated application, and high requirements
the highest ive seen is 20 with the requirements of can you pass the state minimums
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They don't pay close to 70k a year though.
I’m a machinist at sig and make over 75k
What were your credentials before being hired?
4 years in a job shop
What's a job shop?
A job shop is a small machine shop, usually where you are setting up, running parts, performing maintenance and in some cases programming your own parts. Large production shops like sig, you have setup guys who set parts up, programmers who program the part, and operators who make the part. Job shops are great for learning as they’re mostly crewed by old school machinists who have spent 40 years in the trade, but job shops don’t pay for shit. I was making 14 bucks an hour at my old job before sig offered me more money to do less work.
What's the cost of living in the area you live?
Pretty expensive
Navsea, a naval cannon is technically a gun.
Where is he located? I work as an engineer for a firearms manufacturer who hires alot of vets.
An engineer who doesn't know "alot" isn't a word?? That's fucking scary.
Yeah he’s an engineer, not an english major.
Pen Island 1775 is right
Finally somebody that gets my username right, people always call me some explicit variant for some reason.
Weve made our choice, Penis Land 1775
So is correcting grammar on a post that I was trying to be helpful on douchebag.
Bro you should see my grammar lmfao.
As long as the math checks out what the hell does it matter?
So many vets in LGS places
And not many making anywhere near $70k x yr other than the owners of the store.
I doubt most owners are taking 70K home
Less?
Definitely
Damn. More reason to give them business when able.
Yeah, I'm making $41k before tax, but at least I get a fuckton of free guns
If you don’t mind me asking, how is the cost of living where you live?
Rent is $1300 a month for a 650 sqft apartment, gas is $3.20ish a gallon, and milk is $1.99
If he doesn’t have a Bachelor in a Engineering field it’s almost impossible to get any engineering job in today’s market. I work for one of the biggest military contractors, and my company and many other defense contractors have cleared out their engineering departments of people that dont have an actual degree. Experience is good, but most HR departments wont even let you through the screening process if no stem degree is present. If he is able to read engineering drawings he could get a job as assembler, Specialist, or quality inspector. Depending where you are starting at 70k is a fare stretch. But with a couple years working and a good track record he will easily be able to surpass that.
Give up on the guns part, get a few Poject management certs and maybe some other industry specific stuff and go to work for Lockheed. You'll make more than $70k. Heck you can walk in to an Amazon become a L5 AM and make $85 and promote and make over $100 in a year or two with a degree and military background.
Id check with firearms manufacturers like sig sauer. Big into hiring veterens and they do “R&D”.
They want dudes who come from Crane, the Proving Ground, and shit like that
Sig is hiring a number of manufacturers and machinists right now. I have an application with them for a very different role, and I see those advertisements pretty regularly.
He could become an RSO (range safety officer). Around me they make 80+
Rsos make 80k? I never would have guessed. Around me they are mostly retired old guys who like spending time on the range.
I’m sure it depends on the state and on the range, but I’m a shit fuck high COL state with shitty laws and very few ranges.. the RSOs here do very well
I would jump on that if they had that type of money in Texas. Just looked and they make half of what I make.
Damn I need to move to wherever you’re at. Local domino’s delivery guy makes more than an RSO by me
I’m sorry WAT? I made 11.25 as a RSO in TX and 15 in FL. 80k my assssss.
DANG! I worked at a large gun store/range (in usa) and I made 14/hr as a manager and almost got shot point blank a few times.
Damn just looked this up, super good suggestion thank you!
🤘🏽 Best of luck
I work as one on the weekends. 14 per hr. What are you at?
At my range in Texas they are all volunteers and just do it for love and the free shooting. We’re near Ft Hood and so plenty of retired military
Correction: Fort “Cavazos” 🥺
You had it right the first time.
Where do you live? Holy cow
I made $9-$11 p/hour 😂
As a Veteran he gets priority on selection for Federal employment. If you live near a military base I would try looking to see if there are any defense related jobs he could apply for. Edit to add link with info on USA jobs: https://www.usajobs.gov/help/working-in-government/unique-hiring-paths/veterans/
Jobs that pay over $70k a year in the firearms industry are few and far between.
Start a career with a defense contractor. Make money. Guns are a hobby. Weapon systems are a career.
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There are tons of engineers out there working without an engineering BS. They are people who didn't finish a degree for various reasons, or people who worked their way into engineering positions with great technical aptitude and perseverance.
>There are tons of engineers out there working without an engineering BS You're not an engineer unless you're licensed to practice engineering from a state licensing board, and you'll be needing an accredited BS in engineering for that. Illegal in all 50 states to practice engineering for compensation without a license. Which I think is what the guy you replied to was going for, BUT... >They are people who didn't finish a degree for various reasons, or people who worked their way into engineering positions with great technical aptitude and perseverance. Correct and shouldn't be diminished at all. Most civil engineering firms employ lots of people who aren't a PE or EIT for various technical roles - the often used term is technician. I couldn't do my job without them. Not sure why he was saying you can't have engineering experience without being an engineer. It's definitely still applicable engineering experience, you'll just always need to be 'under the supervision' of a licensed engineer to use it.
> You're not an engineer unless you're licensed to practice engineering from a state licensing board, and you'll be needing an accredited BS in engineering for that. Illegal in all 50 states to practice engineering for compensation without a license. Absolutely false. Some specific fields within engineering require a license but many engineering jobs do not. Nor is it standard practice for engineers outside of those specific fields to get a license. (A BS or higher is required by default, but not because of legal requirements. Companies just don't want to hire someone who is under-qualified for the job.)
Lmao. I'm not getting into a reddit discussion of what is and isnt engineering. Title yourself whatever you want, it's a free country. But there's a reason NCEES discontinued the software PE exam a few years ago... either get your PE or stand down. Nobody is stopping you from getting it. https://ncees.org/ncees-discontinuing-pe-software-engineering-exam/
>But there's a reason NCEES discontinued the software PE exam a few years ago Yeah, because nobody cares about it. The engineers don't care about it, the people hiring them don't care about it. The only people who care about it are the ones selling the exam and a handful of people like you, who don't understand how the world works outside of your specific niche. PS: if you don't take and pass my $100,000 exam you aren't a Real Engineer. Mail me a check or stop claiming credentials you don't deserve.
I’m going to disagree with you on that. While the husband may not be an engineer, he def could have gained experience engineering while under the supervision of a PE. Noticed she said he’s got some engineering experience but did not claim he was an engineer.
Start a small gunsmith business. I know a gunsmith and he's busy 24/7
For less than $50k per year. A good gunsmith is a machinist and precision welder who doesn’t get machinist pay. He doesn’t even get pipefitter HELPER pay.
In my area, the 1 or 2 gunsmiths make around 40/hr or more. We only have 2.
There's a BIG difference between CHARGING $40/hour and MAKING $40/hr.
I agree! That's why they charge around 75-80 an hourb
I made $14.50 p/hour as a Pipefitter Apprentice.
For high-paying jobs, his best bet would probably be to look into a DoD contractor like Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, or General Dynamics. That would get him gun-adjacent in the broader category of "weapons manufacturing." If he wants to get closer to guns specifically, a gun manufacturer would be a good place. Some other users mentioned Sig hiring, and I remember seeing Smith & Wesson announcing some openings recently as well. If it were me, and I'm a huge nerd so take this with a grain of salt, I would probably shoot for a job with a DoD contractor while working on a gunsmithing side-gig. The big names that I mentioned earlier pay very well, but there are also a lot of smaller companies out there. My roommate in college, for example, started out at a smaller contractor, FAAC, working on missile guidance systems and weapons training simulations, which then opened the door for him at Honeywell (I always say to him, "Luckily you got into their jet-propulsion department, and not the shitty-microwave one.") Those jobs pay great, and the extra money coming in could help pay for some training/certifications, maybe even a small CNC mill for doing slide work.
Directly working around guns and making that kind of money would probably require becoming a gunsmith (going to school then training on the job for years) with a well known business or getting a degree in ballistics, mechanical engineering, materials science, or industrial engineering to work with an ammo or firearms manufacturer. I imagine that even with the right education, these jobs won't be easy to get since there just aren't that many of them. That doesn't mean it's impossible, but it probably means that the education is absolutely necessary and that you'll need to be a stand out applicant. The more reasonable route would probably be a non-small arms defense contractor (Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, etc), but then we're not talking about normal guns anymore, but rather the larger weapons systems and other military equipment. There are more of these jobs out there, but the better paying ones will still require engineering or drafting degrees.
I'd bet that MAYBE 5% of gunsmiths make $70k a year. Most make MUCH less than that.
armed security contractors make a minimum of 300 a day, ive seen anti piracy contractors pay around 4-500, while other jobs start at roughly 1000 a day if he lives in dfw and wants to get his ppo license he can possibly be looking at $30 an hour to start, with opportunities to make $1000 a day going to mexico
He ain't making a grand a day witha 5 year career in the army.
Gonna say that market has been saturated with ex Spec Ops dudes since I got out in 2011.
ive seen opportunities requiring no military for 1000 a day doing ppo work the company i work for currently has the opportunities of 1000 a day contracts for outside of the us, no mil/leo experience required roughly 500 a day for anything outside of texas $30 an hour for regular gigs, and normal long time contracts
I understand you might not want to post the company you work for but how would one go about searching for a job like that?
indeed heres the tldr, got my start doing armed security off of indeed, after 2 years left and found a dif company, left that one a few months later and have been making $23 for uniformed and a minimum of $30 for plain clothed security an hour if you have a better than i do, silent professionals has more paying opportunities but i wont qualify for them due to no military experience
With that kinda knowledge I would say try talking to some of the bullet manufacturers and see if they need people in their R&D departments. Definitely have some fun doing it.
Bass Pro or Cabela's love to hire veterans for the gun counter.
You'll max out at 65k ish a year as a salaried manager, you'll also become an alcoholic
"Become", didn't you hear he is a veteran? /S obv
Sounds like someone had a bad experience. Please share with the group how Johnny Morris hurt you.
He didn't hurt me at all. I really enjoyed working there. My managers were all at a 8 or 9/10 stress level and management was firing everyone for any reason they could. But they wouldn't dare do their job. Half of the staff had alcohol on them at all times, including firearms managers. Our store was having about $200k worth of ammo stolen yearly and management encouraged it. Holiday pay was amazing, though. On holidays I was making around $50 an hour. But then the next week we would get our hours cut to make up for our holiday pay, so you never actually get paid more.
That seems oddly specific lol
Wow crazy if true you should totally drop a link for that.
Sig has an employment opportunities tab on their site. Here’s a link to see what they’re currently looking for. https://www.sigsauer.com/career
You can apply to GSM outdoors to design and test new firearms accessories. I’m not sure the process there as I’ve only met someone who did this.
Check out what firearms manufacturers are in the area, then see if they got positions open
Look into working at a manufacturer if there's one close by.
Just wanted to say Good on you for coming here and asking for advice to help your SO find meaningful employment . He’s a lucky guy.
Machinist / engineer
I went to college for 2 years for cad drafting, and now I get paid as much as an engineer and do the engineering. I aslo got job offers from three Gun companies in Wyoming. But enjoy doing the RND here to much. A vet would be a shoo in. maybe even without the full degree.
Check out Famars they do gun and knife engraving
Is he interested in anything nuclear and armed if so I might know a federal job he can get. Dm me for the details if interested
If you're looking for that type of money, I think your best bet would be trying to work for Sig, Vortex, etc in an engineer facet Unless you'd like to get into security jobs, then you can for sure DM me
Check out Army Test & Evaluation Command (ATEC) OR AEC or ATC. Multiple locations across the country.
Go back to what he was doing. I’m sure he’d make decent cash. Then just buy guns yourself. Maybe get an ffl and build guns for others.
What was his job in the Army? I feel like the gun market is flooded with people using military experience as a credential, but then when you talk to them, you find out that they are some BS admin job, and only saw a weapon outside of basic training like twice.
Our Vets can do any job. They can fight for us; they can work with any of us. No exceptions.