Becoming a welder career input

[Kozworth]

Hello r3v,

Here is some background info about me:
23 years old, living on my own, working full time as a chrysler flatrate tech, associates in automotive technology with 1 year dealership experience, 4 years personal experience on automotive repairs, single, no strings holding me down from relocating, currently residing in central nj.

I am very unhappy with what I pictured to be my career choice. I went to school for automotive technology, despite all the first hand and reviews read on this career of becoming a technician, and graduated one of the best in my class. I currently am a technician at a chrysler dealer bringing in about 40-45 hours a week.

I could go on and on about the experience, but that would not help me get out. I am currently looking for a new career, but I am not sure If i can totally support myself with going back to school and working (along with living arrangements). I am also not 100% but tinkering between a few different ideas to go back to school for.

To help eliminate/promote this, I wanted to see if welding was a career that might be an option. I took the only two classes that my college offered for welding. I have experience but I am rusty at tig and stick welding, but weld mig regular enough.

I am looking for something that is steadily paid (to get out of flaterate) with some benefits. I acknowledge the issues with relocating, long hours, or shitty conditions. I enjoy welding, and the idea of switching to and from jobs, I just do not want it to be irregular enough where I have to file for unemployment the majority of the year due to a lack of work.

Thanks a bunch, if anyone has any input on the actual work/logistics of this please post below.

[blusylver]

I started welding when I was 14 and had a job welding at 16. I was certified at 18 and have welded for the past 14 years. I have a degree with welding engineering and consider myself to be a very capable in all forms. However there is no future in it at all. The one exception is sanitary work (stainless and aluminum tig). But still it's kinda shitty. The work conditions are shitty, it's hard labor intensive work and you get very little respect. However i loved it for about 10 years, but as i got older i realized that it's not the career I wanted.

I just got out of the welding scene and am now a engineer for a CNC manufacturer. Every aspect of this career is better than welding. There are several big time dealers and repair companies in your area.

[Northern]

I'm more or less your age, but if I were on my own and able/willing to relocate, I would look at the military. Specifically Airforce mechanic/structure/avionics techs. You'll get to do your welding, machining, sheetmetal, hydraulic lines/fittings, painting training and work and all that, plus above average pay, nice pension and great benefits (At least north of the border, but I'd assume the states is similar)

Its a decent job, much more relaxed than the civil side of things, and if you end up getting out early for any kind of medical reason, some R&O subcontractor will pick you up and pay you pretty well.

[mrsleeve]

Ok I am not a welder, I keep welders honest. I be a xray hand.

IME/ GMAW (mig) is going to be largely automated welding now, from fab shops to in the filed. Its something you literally can teach a monkey to do, while some of the more complex Dual bug auto set ups still do require a welder to control some of the settings and watch over the system while it does its thing those are going to be a job for someone that has more experience. While you might run across manual Mig in some fab shops thats not where the money is even for a good welder, and I think I have seen some boilermakers working a water tower job somewhere a long time ago using it.

SMAW Stick rod manual welding is where your going to be able to make a pile of money with the most job availability. Learn to weld up hill and be a Jamb up outstanding Fitter and you will have a job in the power houses, and most of the chemical plants almost anytime you want it, there is a shut down going on someplace all the time.

Learn to Down Hill and be a Jamb Up outstanding small bore fitter and you will have a job in the oil and gas business for life. Not many guys want to do the small bore shit even fewer are REALLY REALLY good at it. Those are the kinda guys that dont get laid off that often and are turning work away to either get some time off or are already working. Right now you can go to North Dakota basically write your contract as a independent contractor upwards of a 155 bucks an hour total package 1099'ed so your on your own for H/C 401k paying your helper and so on. In PA/WV/Oh you have all that gas work going on right now, you ought to be able to find a job helping for a small service outfit, only going to pay ya 12-15 bucks an hour to start more than likely but you will prolly work at least 6-10's a week

Like the other guy said TIG and stainless or other exotics in general industry is going be a way to make a lot of money too but your going to have to get some serious experience with it all 1st. There is always junk iron welders, IE structural, bridge and building welders, decent pay and good benefits, but OT may or may not be there depending on the job.

Most welders I work with are making 50+ an hour straight time, 15 an hour for their trucks and 125 a day in perdiem + benefits and working a minimum of 60 hours a week..... Normally way more than that. The down side to this like mentioned is that its dirty, hard and somewhat physically demanding work even sometimes down right very dangerous like welding a saddle onto a live line with 1200psi of Natural gas in it flowing at 800ft a min..............

The other down side is TRAVEL if you become a good welder with a in demand reputation you might be working in PA one week and traveled out to AZ the next, and 3 months after that be in WY in January. You will never be home, You dont get to go home on the weekends or most holidays (SOMETIMES you get a few days a Christmas SOMETIMES) your there till the job is done or your services are no longer needed. I have spent 13 months away from home in one shot before. Last year I had basically Jan and dec off with about 13 days at the end of june-8th of July off. That was A LOT of time at home for how busy we have been the last few years and I had to beg for that time. You will get sick of hotels or living out of an RV, but right now its a hell of a way to make a great living.

Oh one last note, in the USA there has been a shortage of good qualified NUKE welders for the couple of decades, might be something to look into where you can really just about name your price.....

[pantelones]

Welding as a career is NOT for someone who plans on having a family... Keep that in mind.

I was taking classes for TIG cert. at my community college, and then decided to go to Ferris State to get an Associates in Welding Technology. My plans at Ferris fell though, and now I am about to get a chance to work at a local custom fab shop doing stainless and aluminum TIG. Basically unless you want to be a pipe fitter, learn how to TIG really good. hahaha

[James]

Basically what sleeve said. If you want to work hard and be away from home there is a pile of work, if you want to be a 8-5 MIG welder on a line or in a shop, I wouldn't even bother there is no future there.

[4x4_e30]

Yup. I MIG weld 65-70 hours a week, $10.50/hr on a production line and freakin hate it. It's dirty, loud, hot and sweaty. Any piece of skin that isn't covered will get a 2nd degree UV burn within a couple minutes on the thicker metal/ higher voltage. Even wearing my respirator religiously, I always blow out a bunch of black snot every night.

On the plus side, it turned me into one badass welder after 5 months :D

Underwater welding. That's where the money is at.

[jaywood]

I would never want to be a welder full time. I'm burnt out after 6 hours of welding at work. It's a good thing to know how to do (and know how to do well) but I'd never make a career out of it. Do side jobs for locals. Post ads on craigslist. I've welded for many locals and have charged $50/hour or traded for food when it's for restaurants.

[flyboyx]

Yup. I MIG weld 65-70 hours a week, $10.50/hr on a production line and freakin hate it. It's dirty, loud, hot and sweaty. Any piece of skin that isn't covered will get a 2nd degree UV burn within a couple minutes on the thicker metal/ higher voltage. Even wearing my respirator religiously, I always blow out a bunch of black snot every night.

On the plus side, it turned me into one badass welder after 5 months :D

Underwater welding. That's where the money is at.

jesus fuck!!!! 10.50/hr?????? thats just barely over minimum wage for a skilled labor position? goddam! what the hell is the world coming to? that is absolutely terrible. i guess with your overtime, we are taking about 30k a year?

if i were in your shoes, i would look for a better job.

in between flying jobs about 15 years ago, i worked in a custom metal fab shop doing all sorts of various jobs from cutting out parts, sweeping floors, gtaw, mtaw, and occasionally i needed to arc weld something. i am not welding certified in any shape or form, but they liked my work ethic. back then, i was making 14 bucks an hour in depressed southern michigan!

i only worked there for a few months here and there but i have to say i really liked the job. everything there was small quantity. as a result, i was working on something different every day.

the people that owned the company were really really nice and i never did anything to get on their bad side. when i put in my two weeks notice the last time, the owner approached me and said that if i was willing to forgo my flying career and stay, that he would groom me to run the shop one day. needless to say, i didn't choose that path. some of the guys i worked with were about a step or two away from being incarcerated. i guess when you do blue collar jobs, this is the sort of thing you have to expect. i never took any shit from those fuckwads. when ever they gave me a hard time about something, i would always find a way to give it back. usually, i would find a way to make them look gay in front of the others that worked there.


i guess my question to all of you (that are thinking about any blue collar skilled labor job that pays this shitty), is are you setting your sights too low? not everyone is cut out to be a doctor or a lawyer-god knows i am not. however, if you are interested in some sort of higher learning profession, there are ways to pay for your education without sucking dicks on the back porch.

i didn't come from an affluent family by any means, but i figured out a way(with lots of effort and perseverance) to pay for flying lessons that got me to the position i am in now. i am really happy with my job and also very happy with the money i make to do it. i didn't get here by screwing off, smoking weed, or staying in dead end jobs any longer than i had to. oh, and it would probably help if you don't get some stupid slutty barfly knocked up. my son was born when i was about 22, so even with that obstacle, you can still find a way make something out of yourself that will make your parents proud.

[mrsleeve]

Yup. I MIG weld 65-70 hours a week, $10.50/hr on a production line and freakin hate it. It's dirty, loud, hot and sweaty. Any piece of skin that isn't covered will get a 2nd degree UV burn within a couple minutes on the thicker metal/ higher voltage. Even wearing my respirator religiously, I always blow out a bunch of black snot every night.

On the plus side, it turned me into one badass welder after 5 months :D

Underwater welding. That's where the money is at.

you dont have much 3rd party do you and you dont have much NDE coming behind you do you?? I know there are a lot of fab shop guys making 12-15 but its not that stuff requiring NDE generally.... your making Xray welds for that kinda pay are you ............ if you are you need to seriously start welding like a 10.50 an hour hand......... or renegotiate your wages.

[Quadrajet]

If you do any welding I suggest getting the best lightest hood you possibly can. I worked as a Ship fitter/welder at a shipyard and fitter/welder at a Fab shop. Using SMAW and MIG. Many times I had to use a shaded lens taped to a bulkhead to weld, because I couldn't stick my head in there. And I could never get the lens on a "sock" hood where I wanted to look. I'd work 40-60hrs a week.

I developed back problems and tunnel carpal syndrome, the back problems plague me to this day on an almost daily basis. The tunnel carpal comes and goes, but I still have trouble writing long reports. Having the hood on with the weight in front of my head eventually game me severe headaches and my neck started to get stiff. An x-ray of my neck revealed bone spurs, and an abnormal spinal contour. So if I do any welding I'll have a raging headache for at least another day. So I keep that kind of work to a minimum.

[4x4_e30]

Hahaha. Let me put it this way: I am the ONLY non spanish speaker in the shop. My name is wedo.

[flyboyx]

not sure, but i think its "whetto"

anyway, i guess it beats "whetta" or shitbrain, or ass chugger.