NIMS Announces CAM Credentials

The National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) is now offering standardized CAM Milling and CAM Turning credentials.

“The CAM field continues to grow and is expected to create almost 100,000 new programmer, designer and engineer jobs by 2024,” says Executive Director Montez King. “It is imperative that people entering the field are properly trained and capable, and these credentials show a potential employer that applicants are ready to program CNC machine tools. Furthermore, employees already on the job may wish to secure an official, portable, industry-recognized certification.”

The new credentials are based on standards developed in partnership with and sponsored by Autodesk. Over 125 subject matter experts from CNC Software Inc., Barefoot CNC, Arkansas State University Mid-South, CamInstructor and Rosenburger contributed insight during the development and piloting process.

Throughout the development process, field experts identified the skills expected for entry-level CAM positions. These standards now define necessary competencies associated with job preparation, modeling, toolpath generation, documentation, written and oral communication, machining mathematics, decision making and problem solving, social skills and personal qualities, engineering drawings and sketches, computer operations, and technologies.

“CAM is the first set of NIMS credentials to use our new Performance Measure (PM) Development Requirements for the hands-on component of the credential,” says Mr. King. “The new model will allow schools and employers to customize their credentialing experience by using their own projects to validate performance for NIMS credentials as long as they meet the minimum NIMS requirements.”