important question

[rocko2527]

Hi I am 17 and have been welding in my garage for the last three years and really like doing it. I mainly just do mig. Well my question I really do love welding and want to know if it would be a good career? I hear things like there is going to be a huge demand is that true?, because I have heard people complaining about it also. We are going to be moving to florida in about 6 months and was looking at the tulsa welding school in Jacksonville, is this a good school? Thanks for reading my post and please let me know what you think, I like all types of welding, what would be the best to get into? Thanks

[jonem72]

I went to TWS here in Tulsa and for learning the basics it is a good school. they are mainly a pipe welding centered school but they do teach the basics of tig and mig/flux.

[deucedj22]

I've heard the average age of a welder in the US is 54-56. You figure anonther10-15 years, most of those, will be retired. I can only see the demand rise. I went to a 1 year that covered SMAW, GMAW, GTAW, FCAW AND SAW. After I graduated, I've been making almost twice what I made before formal schooling. You can never have too much schooling.

[rocko2527]

I've heard the average age of a welder in the US is 54-56. You figure anonther10-15 years, most of those, will be retired. I can only see the demand rise. I went to a 1 year that covered SMAW, GMAW, GTAW, FCAW AND SAW. After I graduated, I've been making almost twice what I made before formal schooling. You can never have too much schooling.

Yeah my mom and dad tell me that all the time.

[deucedj22]

I'll tell you, my mom and dad always tried to pushed school down my throat, but you know, what the hell do they know. I wasted 10 years of my life working dead end, bull**** jobs, before I went back to school. I was 28 and It was the best thing I ever did. I'm actually thinking about going back for some metallurgy and AutoCAD courses.

[obewan]

I live in Jacksonville and work as a welding engineer. Florida Community College Jacksonville also has good welding training for a lot less money than Tusla. If you want to be a pipe weldor Tusla might get you there faster though. Pipe weldors make the best money but usually travel a lot and work in the field. There is alot of upward mobility in the welding industry. The average Tusla grad might earn something like $40K, but then you can move up to being a CWI (inspector) or go on to be a welding technician, supervisor, or engineer. The credits from the community college would be easiest to transfer to a degree program if you ever decide to go that route.