OT: career in welding?

[crrichey]

This goes out to all of the welders in the forum. I have been trying to come up with a career that would interest me. My uncle is a welder however I'm not really sure what exactly he does (maybe one day I should ask him ). GCC offers welding classes so I am hoping to get into one of their Spring 07 classes. Any other information or experience you have would be great

[chinobling]

The courses are held at Paradise Valley High School (or were), I took beginner and advanced a few years ago. I enjoyed them, good info and gave you hands on experience. Machines were alittle beat up but were still able to do their jobs. I think you'll like the course, register asap, the classes fill up quick though.

[azmorpheus]

I was thinking of taking a welding class next semester at MCC, I was going to do the Welding 1 class that is on saturday mornings, I am hoping that with this class I can get some experince so It seems like I know what I am talking about when Im at work and so I can build a nice stand.

[corivus]

I'll second along with az, my brother taqkes the art welding I class and the reg. welding class and enjoys both quit a bit. not sure of the costs but I know its pretty fun and the teachers there are pretty cool

[cindyolson]

What kind of welding do you want to do? just as a hobby like mig (wire feed) welding where you could build metal frame tank stands or pool fencing or electric arc (building structures) or TIG stainless steel. If you dive you could become an underwater welder. That pay's really well... Or there's gas welding that they use more for art (copper, gold, silver)... Lots of choices.

[sir_dudeguy]

dude...thats crazy I'm lookin into the same exact thing lol. My welding teacher went over some stuff earlier this year on welding careers. I found out that you can do apprenticeship things right outta high school, nothing else really required (other than you can speak english ) Its like 3-5 years and they do 1 night a week night school with gateway. He said that you normally start at about half of what you would make once you're done with training and fully qualified or whatever, with benefits and pay raises the whole time.

or you could do what cindy said...underwater welding lol. I still dont really know how that works...but i plan to find out

[crrichey]

Originally posted by cindyolson
What kind of welding do you want to do? just as a hobby like mig (wire feed) welding where you could build metal frame tank stands or pool fencing or electric arc (building structures) or TIG stainless steel. If you dive you could become an underwater welder. That pay's really well... Or there's gas welding that they use more for art (copper, gold, silver)... Lots of choices.

I'm not really sure to be totally honest

[Salamander]

I have two friends that are underwater welders in NY. They make BIG bucks and are only allowed to work limited hours due to OSHA standards. I think they only work like 15 hours a week and need no other job to supplement their income.

[sg1.025]

This is a cool topic, as my son and I want to get into welding. Me for just building stuff around the house, and tank stands, but him for building stuff for his truck, sandrail, etc.

I'm in Queen Creek, so, I would like to find something fairly close.

[Senn]

Now first off you want to be a welder. I will tell you straight up you will not make bank doing this unless you specialize ( which means doing underwater/salvage). I personally am a certified aircraft welder, certified in Titanium, Cobalt, Inconel, 4130, 347S/s, 410S/s, and Aluminum. Does this guarnetee me job on the outside world, NO. I really on my skills as a journeyman machinist to make that money. Your money as a welder lies in doing ironwork(highrise building), 6G pipe welder, or doing specialized welding, i.e. underwater/salvage, thats where the money is. Be forewarned tho the specialized fields take a long time to master and only once you master them then will you be recoginized. As for me I'm just another welder/machinist who works for the GOV. Also as far as learning for doing things around the house I can teach anyone in a matter of hours how to MIG weld. Its as easy as frying bacon.

[crrichey]

Originally posted by Salamander
I have two friends that are underwater welders in NY. They make BIG bucks and are only allowed to work limited hours due to OSHA standards. I think they only work like 15 hours a week and need no other job to supplement their income.

I kind of like Arizona so I'm not sure where I could find underwater work Maybe once global warming runs its course the ocean will be close enough

[frontosa_man80]

welding can pay out alot. i did the schooling when i was living in cali and when i moved here i took the certification test. i took the test at Phoenix National Laboratories. after that it was all down hill. my current job bumped me $3.00 more per hour for passing, and i dont even weld that much!!! senn can tell you how much welder make that can do the high end stuff(TIG, silver, rare metals....). good luck and go for it, you will like it.

-jesse

[sir_dudeguy]

senn...what exactly is 6g pipe welding?

[sir_dudeguy]

oh, and how dangerous is underwater welding? I'm sure that if you do everything the right way and dont do something wrong you're not in any harm...but electicity and water and you submerged in it...sounds like fun to me

[frontosa_man80]

Originally posted by Senn
Now first off you want to be a welder. I will tell you straight up you will not make bank doing this unless you specialize ( which means doing underwater/salvage).......Your money as a welder lies in doing ironwork(highrise building), 6G pipe welder, or doing specialized welding, i.e. underwater/salvage, thats where the money is. Be forewarned tho the specialized fields take a long time to master and only once you master them then will you be recoginized.

i agree, as for me most of the welding i do is harden steel(frames on 18 wheelers) and cobalt, and carbide on AR500 steel plate mostly for the crushing and mining side of the company. most of that is specialized work. i do some cast but not that much. one of my top welders makes $22.00 per hour and works 40-45 hrs per week.

-jesse

[crrichey]

Thats decent pay right there!

[sg1.025]

frontosa_man80 - $22/hour? that's not bad...but, i gues ya gotta love what you do. $22/hour and in the summer??? wow.. that COULD get uncomfortable!!

Senn - Teach me/us in a few hours!!! WOW, you must be good!!! I'll be right over!!!

But seriously, are there good schools in the area here? I live in Queen Creek and don't mind driving to Mesa, but, I would rather NOT have to drive to Phoenix.

Anyone consider IT, some are making $46/hour

[dmorel]

Cody,
I hate to tell you this but $22.00 an hour is about 45K a year. When you're in high school $45,000 a year sounds like a TON of money. When you've got some kids, a family, saving for retirement and want to be in the reef keeping hobby, 44K is not going to get you very far, particularly once you factor in taxes. These guys are telling you up front that you're not going to make a bazillion dollars if you go with welding as a career. You will however, still make more than my wife who has a masters degree to teach high school English and works 60+ hours a week, so take all this with a grain of salt.

You are at a time in your life where you have a lot of choices as to how to direct the rest of your life. While I personally think it's silly that we expect a kid in his first year of college to pick a major and "figure out what he wants to do with his life" I hope that you will recognize that the all the doors are open. If you draw a hard line in the sand now it will be much harder to re-open the doors later.

[majestic sea life]

my dad got one of his friends a job in Ajo and is getting paid 60$ an hour now.

[sir_dudeguy]

your dad is getting paid 60 or the guy he got the job is getting 60?

[majestic sea life]

idk how much my father makes. But the job he got for this guy (josh) i belive thats his name. Is not making more than $60 an hour working in Ajo.

[etech]

welding is also not the healthiest profession to get into .with most welding you are exposed to toxic gases that i would suspect are not very good for you ....

[crrichey]

I realize that $22 an hour isn't much for people with families however for a single guy it's decent.

[Senn]

6G Is basically Pipe welding. The deal with pipe welding is that first you must be good at Stick welding, be able to get good penetration, and also be able to weld in the most uncomfortable positions. Not to mention the weather. If you can weld pipes together without having an inspector to tell you to re-weld it you will make some bank. When you start welding exotic materials is when you start making money. The downside to being a welder is yes you can breathe in alot of nasty stuff, your eyesight will go first and not to mention the numerous burns you will acquire.

[sir_dudeguy]

I've seen some video's and stuff in class that go over all that health stuff, and it seemed like for the most part as long as you take the correct safety procedures you're "usually" not in harms way...would that be right? Obviously there will be the occasional mishap that cant be prevented i guess...but stuff like breathing in the gas and stuff....they showed some stuff that a guy was welding where he was required to have a gas mask or something with fresh air being pumped in from either an outdoor or safe area so that he wouldnt be breathing in all the bad fumes and stuff.

And anyone who's welded for like a week has been burned lol. I did that the first week cuz someone left a hot piece of metal on a table...and retard me, i pick it up...not cool (no pun intended lol). And of course the sparks get to ya