A report on Forbes analyzes the state of job openings related to 3D printing and finds there’s been a massive increase.
In fact, the report indicates a 103% increase in the number of jobs requiring 3D printing skills from 2013 to 2014, with an astonishing 1,834% growth over the past four years. The report examined data from various 3D printing job sites, some of whom only recently launched.
While these numbers are truly impressive, we suspect they are perhaps slightly inflated. Many of the jobs relate to the industrial side of 3D printing, namely manufacturing. 3D printing in manufacturing is a variation of more common digital manufacturing processes, which involve transforming a 3D CAD model into a physical object. 3D printers are not the only category of machines that can do that, as CNC machines have used the same process for many years.
Thus the skills required to use 3D printers, including CAD design, are also used for non-3D printing work on CNC machines. A look at job offerings does often show this effect. In other words, if a company needs someone to drive their CNC machines, they can recruit from a 3D printing job board since the skills are often similar. Use of CNC machines is also growing and currently has a larger base than 3D printing.
Certainly 3D printing is growing at an incredible rate, but perhaps it’s not quite as dramatic as the statistics seem to show.
Via Forbes (Hat tip to Adam)
