When Alex Galindo emerged from the Machinist Apprentice Program at Los Alamos National Laboratory, he couldn't have known the unique opportunities that lie ahead.
Galindo graduated from the program in mid-2022. The program trains new machinists in basic and advanced technology through hands-on apprenticeship instruction with veteran machinists and is a model for other organizations interested in growing a skilled employee base.
"The apprentice program really prepared me for the work I'm doing now," said Galindo, who works for the prototype fabrication division at the lab. "I rotated among different machine shops during the training, and that allowed me to learn a variety of techniques from many different skilled machinists. There are different approaches to cutting metal, so the apprentice training really teaches you new ways of doing things."
Program graduates fill critical machining positions across the lab, creating a steady pipeline of skilled machinists to maintain and grow the lab's technical workforce.
Training like nowhere else in the state
The apprentice program has been around for decades, but was recently revamped and reinvigorated to attract, train and retain more machinists like Galindo as the lab broadens its mission and workload.
The program allows students who already have a certificate or degree in machining, or who have at least three years of on-the-job experience in a commercial machine shop, to significantly expand their knowledge and technical skills to become a "journeyperson" machinist. That's an industry-recognized title (previously called "journeyman") that reflects a much higher level of training in different vocational trades.
The New Mexico Apprenticeship Council has endorsed the program. It’s also registered with the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions' State Apprenticeship Agency, making it the only certified journeyperson machinist program in New Mexico.
The program uses a competency-based curriculum that focuses on what an apprentice already knows, not the number of hours logged in training. That expands program eligibility, increasing the pool of potential applicants, said Program Manager John Lamar. Previously, the lab required a certificate or associate degree from a vocational school to enter the program, but today they can also qualify with three years of relevant experience.
"Students with verifiable experience can now become apprentices," Lamar said. "We provide them with the training they need to fill in the blanks in their knowledge and skills to get them to journeyperson qualification."
A career pathway for stability and success
Since making that change in the apprenticeship requirements, about 40 students have graduated from the program, and another 15 to 20 are now in various stages of training, Lamar said.
During the apprentice program, students rotate among different machine shops across the lab to diversify their experience. Students say the basic training combined with shop rotation offers a wide range of learning opportunities, substantially boosting their skills and knowledge.
"I've learned an incredible amount," said Emma Womack, who joined the program in 2022 after earning an associate degree in welding and a machining certificate at Amarillo College in Texas. "Even with basic certification, there's so much I didn't know, and even now I'm still learning so much."
Graduates say the program set them up for long-term careers, while offering a major boost in their earning capacity and quality of life.
For Española native Andres Maestas, it’s been a game-changer. Maestas earned a certificate in machining at Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) and worked for a year at a shop in Bernalillo before joining the apprentice program in 2019. He’s now a full-time employee supporting programs in the lab’s plutonium facility and says the apprentice program allowed him to return to his roots.
"I bought a house with my fiancée and we're raising a daughter," Maestas said. "Without the lab, I don't know where I'd be. This allowed me to stay in my own community in northern New Mexico, purchase a home and provide for my family."
Galindo too has found the program transformational in his career path and financial stability. He already had an associate degree from CNM and worked at two machine shops in Albuquerque before becoming an apprentice in 2020. But he barely earned above minimum wage.
"I started at just $15 an hour in those jobs," Galindo said. "The lab put me way ahead, money-wise and skill-wise. I bought a house in Los Alamos with my wife, and I plan on staying for the long haul."
Continuous learning, long-term commitment
After graduating from the program, Galindo continued building his skills through direct experience. Today, he’s one of a handful of machinists in the lab’s shell academy, a formal on-the-job training program that prepares machinists to build parts called “shells” for the lab’s nuclear deterrence programs. That requires incredibly tight tolerances and precision manufacturing.
The academy allows newer machinists like Galindo to learn specialized shell-making from seasoned colleagues.
"The art of making a shell is next level when it comes to manufacturing techniques," said Martin Herrera, deputy division leader. "Creating this formalized process to pass on those techniques to early career machinists is a huge benefit for both our division and our national security programs at large."