welding career

[micro368]

i want go into welding when i graduate from high school. I am wonder what is a good way to go into welding? I live about 15-20miles south of tulsa, oklahoma...there is a tulsa welding school i thought about going there or should i got to a welding engineering school? what do you thing would be the best path...i would like to do pipeline welding then maybe later on start my own little business.

[JeffB]

Keep in mind, this is only my opinion. Welding school first. Or if you can cover the costs, both. If you just go to welding school and learn the processes, then go to work with the intention of going back for engineering in the future, it may never happen. Too much life will happen in between, you may get married and have kids in the meantime, then you may not be able to go without a paycheck long enough to go back to school.

[Migster]

Do the school 1st, it will only help you in the long run. Im only a sophmore right now but for my Junior and Senior year im going to the Career Center for metal fab so I can get certified then im doing a 2 year school for welding after. Then I hope to get a good job after.

[Jolly Roger]

Tulsa is considered to be one of the best, and unlike a lot of others you come out ready to go to work.

[tortis]

i went to tulsa welding school. i think it is a top notch school. when i went, 1983, most of the instructors were retired pipe liners out of the 798 union. i had a job pipe welding, about two months after finishing. spent one month visiting the grandparents. i would probably still be a pipe welder, but life happened, and married a local girl. around here, welding does not pay much, at least it didn't when i chose a different carrier. good luck on your decision.

[Jolly Roger]

I used to work with several guys that went to Tulsa, ones father was a pipe hand and sent him there after high school. He was a really good welder, just not much of a hand, lol. I didn't see anything that paid very well when I was in Shreveport.

[William McCormick Jr]

Apprentice in a welding shop. You get the best education there is possible.


Sincerely,


William McCormick

[tortis]

I used to work with several guys that went to Tulsa, ones father was a pipe hand and sent him there after high school. He was a really good welder, just not much of a hand, lol. I didn't see anything that paid very well when I was in Shreveport.

nothing in shreveport pays well. there is an add on the radio right now for welders, paying a whopping 15.60 a hour. i make that in about 20 minutes repairing sheetrock. when i got married i kinda kissed my welding career goodbye because nobody pays well in shreveport.

[obewan]

Tulsa Welding School would be the fastest route to a hands on welding job, but it would be a bit costly. A better route if you want to consider higher education would be a local community college. You could get hands on welding to prepare for a job to start; you could also get college credit to prepare for a weld engineering degree. You could get an AS in Welding Technology, and then move up to a BS, or just stop at the AS level. Sometimes Welding Engineers have no degree but have a lot of hands on experience. Once they start writing welding procedures, they get enough hands on metallurgy experience to become non-degreed welding engineers. It is rare, but it happens. I knew a nuclear TIG welder who became a Sr. Welding Engineer in the naval nuclear program with no degree. Granted, he only focused on TIG welding zirconium and Inconel, but he was very good and had a very comfortable salary. When the factory closed, he had nothing to fall back on and became a card dealer at a casino. It is best to get the degree since it will open a lot of doors. I have a BS in Welding Engineering Technology. The vast majority of employers will hire me as a welding engineer. It would be best to have a Welding Engineering degree if you want to go to graduate school or get a government job. Still, with a BSWT I made Senior Welding Engineer at GE, so I have no regrets.

[Jolly Roger]

Your smartest move is a Bachelors in any technical field, with a minor in business or accounting if you want to own your own business. The degree opens the doors and the minor keeps you from costing yourself a lot of money learning business and accounting the hard way. You wouldn't believe how many college professors I had who paid for their education as welders, and none of them taught welding. I got through an associates in computer science and a bachelors in art doing it. I still pay the bills welding though. I got bored with computers, but I have never been bored by welding. The majority of the work I do I am the engineer, and have had engineers defer to me many times in the past based on my experience and reputation for designing and building things that don't fail and repairing or redesigning things that did fail. Some of the best engineers I have worked with paid for their education working in the construction trades. No substitute for hands on experience. If you know you want to be a welder then the tulsa school is the fastest route to being one.

[elmo]

i went to tulsa welding school. i think it is a top notch school. when i went, 1983, most of the instructors were retired pipe liners out of the 798 union. i had a job pipe welding, about two months after finishing. spent one month visiting the grandparents. i would probably still be a pipe welder, but life happened, and married a local girl. around here, welding does not pay much, at least it didn't when i chose a different carrier. good luck on your decision.

hey tortis just left shreveport,,34.00 an hour with ohmstede at the calumet plant,,was easy money job,,they are goin back in for 18months in july,,,,here is my take on school and will prob be beat to death for it,at 17 i spent over a year in a credited weld class,,i dont even know where those papers are anymore,unless you plan to teach later on,,i would just take a non credited welding course,,meaning you go in and learn to weld then your out,,get your experieence after that on jobs,,since you want to weld out in field for a living just stick and tig is all you need,,i wouldnt touch a wire machine nowadays for nothing,its slave welding,high production work,,you'll never make in a shop what can on a pipeline or in the plants,hell we had a crap table in the insulator shack a couple jobs ago,lol...i would go to school,get a local job(prob shop)get alittle experience there,,then get out there as soon as possible,,,just get into pipe,i dont miss structural welding at all,,plus the money and work is in pipe,,,get to welding,get out there making some money,and go from there(education and career wise)

[MatthewF]

Apprentice in a welding shop. You get the best education there is possible.


Sincerely,


William McCormick

yes but you learn the most when you move around a little bit from shop to shop.