How do I train a young programmer to take over my machine shop’s quoting?

Quoting in a machine shop is part arithmetic and part memory. You know which customers haggle, which materials surprise you, which part shapes eat a day of setup. A programmer who is good at the software may not yet hold any of that, so the handover is mostly about passing on judgment.

Begin by letting them watch you quote three or four jobs of different kinds and explain your thinking out loud. Then reverse it: they quote, you check, and you talk through every difference. Keep a simple notebook or shared file of rules of thumb, such as how you treat first-time customers, rush work and awkward materials, so the knowledge exists outside your head.

Close the loop after the work ships. Pull the finished job’s real hours and scrap and set them against the quote. That comparison teaches faster than any lecture. Over time, move them to sole control of the smaller jobs while you keep sign-off on the big ones. Tell your key customers who is now their contact, so the change does not feel sudden. Expect early quotes to run high or low, and treat that as part of learning. A programmer who feels safe to ask questions will improve far faster than one afraid of being corrected.

Key takeaways

• Move from watching, to quoting with review, to quoting alone on smaller jobs.
• Write down your rules of thumb so they outlive you.
• Compare every finished job’s real hours with its quote.