Welding Tips and Tricks

(ok, Im cross-posting this and see responses I get)

This is my first internet post about welding
Im 34 years old already, done some concrete construction work and warehouse work
Going to a college now, study welding, first year

this far, at school, we've done stick welding practice with Lincoln Electric 270sx

I want some advice on general real-life knowledge about metal-welding.

Main careers in welding - which are most popular ??
Possible welding career prospects - pipe-welding, auto-repair ...
out of all welding types - stick (SMAW)(MMA), mig, tig, (maybe gas-cutting, plasma-cutting),
what are the best-paid welding jobs
what is most common/most sold welding equipment - Lincoln Electric, Miller, ESAB

which is better - work for a company, or buy own welding equipment and work out of home garage (or, in my case, cellar at our house here)

for me preferred work, maybe - in open air and outside field work, pipe-welding, construction welding ... etc

I know, nowadays, lots of industrial welding is done by industrial robots, like, places like - Stuttgart Mercedes automotive factory, Japan Suzuka Honda factory .. etc
although,I think, car production is a subject of automated robot welding, industrial robotics, cnc automation, advanced engineering etc etc

Hopefully I edited out common spelling mistakes

Thanks,
Martin

Hi there,

I think the best thing for you to do, as you are just starting out, is to work hard at school. Practice, practice practice. Suck up all the info you can from all sources available. Once you have finished your initial course, then you can decide what field to follow with more certainty. However, I don't think you should bother about trying to start working for yourself first. Get a few years of REAL WORLD experience and go from there. By all means, buy some gear for home but don't rely on it to make money.

Also, I think you will find that there is a tremendous amount of shop work that is done manually. Most welders will probably never see a robot in there careers. And besides there are somethings that a robot will NEVER EVER be able to do. Such as crawl in to a manhole and run a weld bent over with your shield touching ya knees.

Kindest Regards
Mick