Not so noob from southern PA

[abmiller95]

So I haven't got the chance to post in here until now. So I'm a 17 year old girl, iv been welding for 4 years now. Im in my schools tech, and I am currently the only girl in our shop. I can tig, mig, flux, and stick weld. I would have to say that my favorite is tig but I have been looking into underwater welding but thanks to some people on here I now know where to look for the information I need. I am kinda undecided on what I really want to do. I am currently employed at a machine shop where I was doing a lot of fab. Unfortionaly my boss hasn't called me back to work in about 3 weeks because it's slow. I would say I know a descent amount of welding and I think my teacher feels the same because he puts me on a lot of projects. But there is still a lot I need to learn! So if I ask some stupid questions please don't be too harsh lol. So hello everyone and thank you!

[DSW]

Hello. I didn't realize you were out by Pittsburgh when I replied to your other post. Here's a list of some dive schools I dug up a while ago for others here.

Divers Academy International Camden NJ http://diversacademy.com

Commercial Diving Academy http://www.comercialdivingacademy.com Jacksonville FL

great lakes diving academy http://www.greatlakesdivingacademy.org

Commercial diving degrees in Santa Barbara CA http://www.sbcc.net/academic/mdt

College of Oceaneering San Diego CA 1-800 432-dive

Divers Institute of Technology Seattle WA http://www.diversinstitute.com

The Ocean Corporation, Houston TX 1-800 321-0298

There's one in New Orleans or Louisiana but I can't find it right now.

Note that this won't be an easy occupation to break into as a woman, probably more so than welding in general. You had better be one "tough broad" to make it, no matter what the law says about sexual harassment. Most of the guys are going to make you prove you've got the $hit to do the job, and probably make you prove you are tougher than them, just on principal. Part of it will be the "good ol' boy's" mentality, but a big part of it will be the fact that their lives will be depending on you many times literally, and there really isn't room for people who can't do the job when the defecation hits the rotary oscillator. The best example I can think of would probably be Men of Honor. You can probably expect to be treated like Carl Breshir. ( BTW the scene in the movie where he has to make his "graduation" dive is pretty much exactly what normal commercial diving is like, except the visibility is usually much worse ( I'm guessing they made vis that good so you could at least see him in the movie) Him hunting around by feel for parts is pretty much normal.)

Also this isn't a job for someone who's "shy" no matter if you are a man or a woman. You'd better be willing to strip to at least your skivies in front of anyone and everyone. There's not a lot of room on most boats for "private" changing rooms. A phone booth has more space than most heads ( bathrooms) on the average boat. To get changed in one you'd better either be very tiny and petite or a contortionist. If you do saturation diving, expect to get locked in a travel trailer sized chamber for a week or more with 3 or more guys. There's no getting out and no room for niceties. Same applies to decompression chambers. If you do decompression diving, expect to get hauled to the surface, stripped out of your suit on deck and jammed in the camber ASAP and taken back down to do your decompression obligation. There won't be time to let you go below and get changed privately and if you are spending a few hours deco'ing in a chamber, there really aren't any "facilities". You'll probably get a porta pottie and a towel to wrap yourself with at best, while the guys outside watch thru the windows.


I know quite a few female divers who don't do commercial diving, but do recreational technical diving, that comes pretty close in many aspects. All of them can "slug" it out with the best of the guys and won't take $hit from any of them and can dish it out as fast as anyone else can.


Good luck.