Welding Tips and Tricks

Welding Teacher From Hell here, master of the classroom of the damned. I have been teaching welding to high school juniors and seniors for going on 30 years. I know, I know " oh boy a teacher who can't get a welding job" I assure you a did and I can still weld. I learned to weld at Hobart in the late 70's, worked in heavy fabrication and welded TIG on jet engines for a gov. contractor prior to becoming a teacher. Once teaching I sub contracted welding (from .060 TIG to 1/8" sub arc @ 600 amps) and NDT work for a little over 15 years. Along the way I have had numerous certifications and welded many a foot of x-ray and UT quality welds. So can I teach? My students typically do very well in our vocational club (Skills USA) regional and state competitions and are highly recruited by the local unions and welding shops.

If I sound like I am cocky or bragging please forgive me I am not that way at all. I know the stigma attached to welding teachers and teachers in general by some people of being those who can't do it for real and felt it necessary to state the I wasn't one of them. Believe me I know plenty of them. And while I surely haven't done it all I have done and have seen a lot.

Why am I here? Hopefully I will learn something and maybe have something to offer as well.

John

Welcome, John!

Anyone who teaches because they can (as opposed to "because they can't do anything else") is a hero, in my opinion. That's the principle behind this forum. Folk who can teach; Who can share useful information when and where it's needed.

Steve S

Thanks Steve!
I got into teaching almost by accident. When getting laid off for the best TIG job ever welding jet engines for the Navy's Harpoon anti-ship missile and cruse missiles I was told we were hired to play catch up and would probably never be called back, I was bummed. I got a job in a fab shop and when the head welder on days saw I could weld he told me his brother was getting hired in a week and could I teach him to weld. As it turned out he was a welding student just finishing up his Jr. year. One night I said "hey kid come here and help the old man move this beam" (i was thirty, old man...). he said I have just the job for you. He told me about the vacancy at his school and as they say the rest is history, we are still friends to this day.

John

thanks for joining!

Welcome to the forum John.

Welcome. I am glad to have someone with your experience here. I'm sure some of us (me) will have need of your knowledge down the road. The collective knowledge pool here is rather vast so even a seasoned pro will find the site beneficial. Cheers.

Welcome aboard John!!

(Another) ~John

Hi John. I am a welding instructor myself. I teach at a college in Indiana, which is very different from what you have to go through at the high school level. I got into this in 2009. I had some on the job injuries, and knew it would be a few years before I could return to the field. So, I started applying to schools, and finally got hired on! Welcome to the forum!

welcome
we need good teachers in every field
thanks for teaching!

John,
Welcome to the forum (although, you have been here for a while already)
I will be picking your brain shortly, have several questions for a welding instructor and since you are from the great state of Ohio we can compare notes.
-Jonathan

Sounds good, ask away.

Boomer63 wrote:Hi John. I am a welding instructor myself. I teach at a college in Indiana, which is very different from what you have to go through at the high school level. I got into this in 2009. I had some on the job injuries, and knew it would be a few years before I could return to the field. So, I started applying to schools, and finally got hired on! Welcome to the forum!

Thanks, I would be interested in knowing how the curriculum is taught there I.e. do you teach all or just one type of welding , class length etc.
Yeah, the high school level, stories I could tell. On any given day I might be a babysitter, mom, dad, counselor, drug counselor, and maybe a welding teacher. One of my favorites is I had a kid who is always trying to push my buttons and I told the kid "quit being so damn obstinate" and he said what are you talking about I am not gay..... He was a handful.
John