Welding school--questions

[Metsfan520]

Nothing to add - just kept reading this as WEDDING school and wondering why people needed to go to school for weddings. Sigh... old eyes. LOL

so good to know I'm not the only one who keeps reading it as 'wedding'!

 

[minkydog]

That's OK… My first thought on reading the title was to wonder why Minkydog was looking for a new career!

Yeah, cuz I really need one more job...

 

[3boymthr]

The trades can definitely pay well as career. DH is in trades and makes good money. Oldest DS was considering going to vo-tech when he started HS and one of the trades he was looking at was welding. My dad has a friend who has a son who is a welder and the son trained at the same vo-tech. I remember my dad commenting at the time that the friend was bragging about the son making a six figure income.

 

[EMAW_KSU]

We are always looking for welders. We do not have any training requirements new applicants just take a weld test when they interview. IF they get hired we place them in a area that matches their skills.

 

[NotUrsula]

Well, there's a new development...DH called an old friend of his from HS who has been a welder for about 40 years. This friend lives about 45 min away and we see them a few times a year. DH asked him his opinion about what DS27 should do about getting into welding. DFriend was very positive about it. In fact, he even offered to bring DS on-board as a welder's helper to give him a good taste of the work. He goes to the scrap metal yard several times a week and he needs some help with that, too. DFriend is an easy-going guy and a good teacher. He warned that welding is hot, dirty work; DS is of the mind that he's willing to be hot & dirty to make decent money.

I think DS will like welding. What's not to like? Big tools, lots of sparks. Almost like having super-powers.

Start scouting thrift stores now for work clothes. Welding burns hundreds of pinpoint holes in whatever you are wearing -- used to drive my Mom insane when Dad's work clothes came home like that. (Dad wasn't a full-time welder. When I was a kid he was doing custom aircraft coach work, which is a very skilled job that involves welding, cabinetmaking, upholstering.)

One of the cool things about welding is that you can also do art with it. My brother eventually went from being a welder to being a goldsmith.

Your DS doesn't have an interest in diving, does he? My brother worked for several years as a marine welder when he was young, and that is SERIOUSLY good money if you can do it, but not many people can sufficiently master both skills, both fine-welding and scuba diving. My brother liked the work because it meant that he could work for only about 5 months a year and then travel the rest of the time -- the pay is THAT good; about $12-15K/month these days.. Of course, it's also very dangerous, so the pay is justified. When my brother did it he was working mostly on offshore drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

[Colleen27]

Your DS doesn't have an interest in diving, does he? My brother worked for several years as a marine welder when he was young, and that is SERIOUSLY good money if you can do it, but not many people can sufficiently master both skills, both fine-welding and scuba diving. My brother liked the work because it meant that he could work for only about 5 months a year and then travel the rest of the time -- the pay is THAT good; about $12-15K/month these days.. Of course, it's also very dangerous, so the pay is justified. When my brother did it he was working mostly on offshore drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

How did he get into it, as far as training/education? That's something DS has talked about specifically, but it is such a specialized niche that neither of us nor his counselor really know what the training and educational path would be for it.

 

[NotUrsula]

How did he get into it, as far as training/education? That's something DS has talked about specifically, but it is such a specialized niche that neither of us nor his counselor really know what the training and educational path would be for it.

I was pretty young at the time, and I can't ask him now because he has passed away (totally unrelated cause). As I recall, he kind of fell into it because he took a job on a drilling platform and happened to already have a commercial diving certification. He had already done some amateur welding because Dad had the equipment in our shop at home, so it wasn't a stretch from there.

The American Welding Society has a page up on their website about it: http://www.aws.org/education/plunge.html I think that the most common way people do it is to get the dive certification first (often in the Navy), and then learn welding.