Welding Tips and Tricks

My son is a junior in high school and wants to become a welder/fabricator after graduation.
Thinking back over your first experiences, what advice would you give him?
He plans on going to a program offering 2 and 4 year degrees in welding.

I taught myself to weld when I was thirteen, and have been learning ever since, so I can't speak to the experience of formal training. The welding "bug" bit me early, and it kind of got into my blood. I've tried many different jobs, in very different career paths, and I've always come back to welding when I needed a job, or just a change. (I have four years of college and still came back to welding. The satisfaction of working with my hands and seeing an immediate result is hard to beat.)

The economics are worth considering. I've made six figures a couple of times (counting per diem), and I've made .25 over minimum wage a couple of times (when I started out), but the vast majority of welding jobs are in the middle. I'm currently working in a shop, enjoying my job in a relaxed-pace environment, for $18. This isn't bad money for a shop, but the relaxed pace is RARE. Most shop jobs want to squeeze every penny of your wage out of you.

The economy is waking up, however, and the good money jobs are coming back. I'm currently considering an offer for about $2100/wk, but it's seven twelve-hour days for up to eight weeks at a time. I sure could use the money. I sure like my couch on Sunday. I'm probably going to have to take the money. That's another thing about welding, and industrial work in general. If you make an impression, people remember you. I didn't apply for this one; I was asked by someone I worked for before.

My suggestion to your son (if he's sure about his plans) would be to take the two-year, work for one or two years, then pursue the four-year. What he will learn on a job or two will put the "advanced" stuff into context, and make it easy to understand. Also, he'll recognize bullshit when he hears it, and file it accordingly instead of simply absorbing it like so many young people seem to do in the trades today.

I wish you both the best.

Steve

Thanks Steve your advice seems very practical.. Appreciate you taking the time to answer!

First off,

I think that a 4 year degree program in welding, though not a bad thing at all, is much more then what is needed to become a "welder".

When I say welder, I mean a guy working in a shop, or a construction site, hanging steel, repairing engines, clocking in at the shipyard, or the aircraft maintence yard, or something like that.

So if thats what he wants to be, he's got his aim a bit off.

Again, not to say that either side of the line is bad, but a 4 year program is more likely to land a person a weld inspectors job, maybe quality control, maybe human resources for a welding department, ya'know white coller stuff. If thats what he is aiming for then cool beans.

If not, and he wants to be a proffesional welder, ya'know blue coller stuff, than i would say that if you live in any sort of metro area, your best bet to get a good quick start is to enroll in whatever welding or metalworking classes he can in high school, and then look for a local union apprentiship in the area.

If that bears no fruit, then your state should have maybe, a dapartment of apprentiship for adult training and testing, which may allow him to get a welding liscence for your particuler city or state.

These kinds of things are pretty damn important.

thats not the way I went, but if I was 17 or 18 and knew what I was going to end up being, this is the way i think I would have taken for a quick and easy shot, instead of years of hard work jumping from job to job and school to school trying to earn a good living as fast as possible to support a family. But my situation demanded as such.


Anyway life story blah blah blah, I dont know what stae you live in, but here are some common labour unions that employ lots of welder, and dont let the websites fool you, lot of fabricator/welders too. These are not all of the unions, but you can look in you local phone book for those.

http://www.boilermakers.org think Power plant work, oil refinery, papaer mills, down in the knitty gritty, ass and elbows.
http://www.ironworkers.org Think high rise buildings, metal handrails, stairs, window frames, elevator shafts, ect. there is a lot of fabrication here.
http://www.ua.org Think piping in large commercial building,power plants, oil refineries, ect. Alot of fab work is here as well.

http://www.smwia.org Think Very large style duct work......... besides that, I dont know much about in. But, i know that there is fab work here too.
http://www.iuec.org Elevator work. Thats all i know

One last peice of advice. I have found welding to be a very competative bussiness. So whatever type of welding he gets into, be the very best at it, and try to learn every thing about it, welding related or not. Thats how I managed to make it.


Best of luck,

-Rick from va

P.S. you must have really cool welding related stickers to put all over everything! This is a must!

i took a one year welding course and learned basically everything about welding, i can 6g pipe, tig aluminum, etc. its not about how long the course is, but your determination to be the best welder you can be, i started welding school at 17 and im 19 now, and people are amazed at my welding skills, id be offshore welding right now if i didnt have a family to support, so just try your hardest and dont give up...or goof off like most the other people in my old class, spend your time at welding school learning everything you can, it really pays off

denniscarithers wrote:i took a one year welding course and learned basically everything about welding...

Boy, are you in for a surprise.

Tell me that bullshit in twenty years, when you've finally realized just how much you don't know yet.

Steve

I'm sure that's what he meant to say .

He's also nineteen and gloating about his skills.

It was not my intention to belittle him. He just hasn't realized how much he doesn't know. This will come with time. I've been doing this for 29 years, I'm currently doing vacuum-jacketed piping for liquid hydrogen service, and am still amazed with what I don't know.

Every time I work with a new welder, I watch him work, whether he's a master craftsman or straight out of school, because I never know when I might learn something.

I hope this young man has the same attitude; It will serve him well.

I agree with alot of whats been said. I started welding on a farm at fourteen and spent four years learning by mistakes and mentors. At 18 I went to vocational school and learned alot of the fundamentals on set up, speeds and metalergy. The classes would have baflled me and I would not have "conected the dots" had I not had some experience under my belt. Spending some time welding lets you rub elbows with alot of welders and there is alot to be learned, it will also be a good trial time to see if its something you want to do full time. Lincoln welding school has one week courses for $400-$500 and are arounged in such a way that a guy could spend a month there and get basic training in most processes. It would be enough to get through the door in most shops.
I work for the Army Test and Evaluation Command and weld alot of different items, I am always in school and always will be. OJT is the best way to learn, and coupled with some formal schooling can be the best edjucation anywhere. I have met alot of talented welders that never whent to school, again alot can be learned on the job.
If there is a quy out there that learned it all in a year my hats off to him. I'm going on 14 and I'm scratching the surface! Good luck, our trade needs more dedicated people.

I am a self taught welder, that has worked globally in construction and would have liked to go to school full time for a year and learn everything there is to learn about welding. However I don't think there is such a school, that can realistically teach you all this welding technology in that period of time.
This knowledge takes a lifetime of practical experience gained from the school of hard knocks and many older welders passing on their knowledge to younger welders coming up through the ranks. All this can only take place after the basics have been learned and the rods have been burned.
I am sure the young welder in discussion is good and is probably a natural at technique, and I am not knocking his ability, but he will really understand how much he doesn't know when he gets to go to work.
I have been doing this type of work for decades and I'm still amazed at the new techniques and technologies there are to learn and knowledge still to learn from the young and older welders.
Maybe I'm a slow learner.

Kiwimike.

There are a lot of other jobs for welders besides just industrial work. I've been in show business for 30 years as a welder/fabricator and have worked on tv shows and commercials, movies, music videos, live shows and tours, product launches, rock concerts, museum exhibits and displays, parade floats....etc,etc and I've had a lot of fun. The nice thing about is that it's always something different every project. You need to have a solid foundation in aluminum welding, both TIG and MIG as most staging and truss work is aluminum. I do a lot of MIG steel work too, mostly with square tube for framing. You also need a solid foundation in basic metal work and carpentry. The money varies with the project, sometimes it's pretty good, other times you'd better get used to macaroni and cheese for a few weeks straight. Some of the larger shops are union, but there are many, many smaller non-union shops. Both the carpenters union and the stagehands union cover shop workers.

If your son is interested in a career as a welder/fabricator, show business might be a good choice. At least a different one.

Good Luck!
Steve

One of the things that got me -really- interested in welding was motorsports. They even have a seperate motorsports welding course at some of the big name colleges. I hope to one day be good enough to weld on some stock cars, if you look at those cars there is -alot- of tig/mig welding on em.

There are so many institution for welding courses and they are much popular. You can find out the best institute by searching on internet.

delraydella wrote:There are a lot of other jobs for welders besides just industrial work. The money varies with the project, sometimes it's pretty good, other times you'd better get used to macaroni and cheese for a few weeks straight.
If your son is interested in a career as a welder/fabricator, show business might be a good choice. At least a different one.
Good Luck!
Steve

Great point.
I have welded since 1995. Self taught. Never certified for anything. In my experience, the best paying jobs were not industrial. I have built machines for Pharmacutical companies, built machines for tire making companies and Goretex, candy manufactures, custom exhausts for high end cars and chicken feed producers. Currently I am Tig welding for a company that makes Pharmacutical equipment. Clean, clean, clean shop. Pace is very managable. Pay is $25 per hour with all the overtime I can stomach. Best place so far. Dont think you have to work at a shipyard or a filthy job shop to earn a living. Keep your eyes open.

Sandflea05,
I'm glad to hear that your Son is considering a career in welding! The demand in this field is soon to be huge! Many Boomers will retire and we need people to fill those jobs.
The best time to learn is while he is young. Steady hands, good eyes, and flexibility will serve him well.
The replies have been very good on this topic. A lot of seasoned Welders have given you some insite into what worked for them and even what they feel would have been a better route. Can't beat that!

I spoke to a young man a couple of weeks back that taken a welding course for 6 months and spent all that time in the booth learning to weld. He has been working for the past 5 years and is doing okay. The reason for his call, was that he was currently between jobs and was interested in writing our Government Red Seal exam to obtain his Certificate of Qualification (C of Q) in Welding. This certification is currently voluntary in this Province, but mandatory in others if wants to travel for work.

I asked him how much theory was taught in school, and he replied that "we never cracked a book"! Ok, so this is what he is trying to obtain now. He already has a decent hand at SMAW and probably a few other disciplines. We can teach him the theory he needs to pass a written exam.

I personally feel that a good education in Welding requires both (theory and practical training) in order to open doors and give a person choices later on.

I like the idea of a one to two year program to get the theory and metallurgy training and some good exposure to the different types of welding, then getting out there in an Apprenticeship in the field to learn from experienced Welders.

Best of luck to him in whatever he chooses!