Hey everyone, I am 21 from the UK and have been a cnc Miller since the age of 17. I was trained on a 3 axis prototrak, conversational Miller (XYZ) and would like to further my skill set, however it has become increasingly clear that conversational milling is a dying breed and that alot of potential employers value 5 axis software such as Fanuc or Siemens. I was wondering if you had any advice as to how I could go about teaching myself G code M code milling so that I might further my career? Thanks a bunch
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Although learning G and M codes is a very good idea, for 5 axis work it will be the CAM software doing all the work and spitting out the code.
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If you know the standard G and M codes then they don’t change a lot for 5axis and it would be way too time consuming to even consider programming a 5axis programme. Take a programme like Fusion download the hobbyist license and look into the 3+2 positioning programming. Most companies who want 5 axis programmers (if you dig a little deeper) are usually only doing 3+2 positional.
Fusion has a lot of learning out there so if you have used a CNC machine you are half way there with learning a CAM package and Fusion has a very easy learning curve and is very forgiving.
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Thank you for your replies guys 
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Best of luck though @ScottLeese keep it going and push hard. Don’t let anyone tell you, you cannot do it either. A lot of progressing is state of mind, If you want it you can get it. Also in the UK i had to move around quite a lot to get to where i am today so don’t be surprised if you need to look a little further a field than you are use to.