If you think you like it , do it. Your young and have nothing to lose.

What i noticed when I was in school is people either like it or hate it. Some people are doing the class just so they could find a average job, and some people(like myself) came into welding knowing what I wanted, I now work on a pipeline.

The jobs vary. You can work in a fab shop making 15-18 dollars an hour making railings or trailers. You could also work in a fab shop making structural components which pays even more. You could also go into construction, and the pipeline route wich is one of the highest paying. The company I work for, the pipe welders make 35-40hr(canadian) with lots of overtime.

There is a high demand for trades people. Im proud to be a welder

Hey Im 30 and I just finished my C level. This is my 3rd career move and I can say that this is what Im doing until I retire. So after a few years you find you dont like it, your still young.

As for getting certified its easy and usually the employer pays for it. I recommend getting all the welding tickets you can. Opens up more doors and more pay. And yes you can do it all where you are

good luck and let us know when you register for welding

PS. half of our class found work befor they were even finished school. They were the ones that really wanted it. The instructors will help the top students find work

 

Thanks alot!

I went to the office during 3rd today and talked to a counsler about EVIT and i think im gonna do it.

Do the classes i take in highschool really help towards a getting a job? Is it smarter to take the same welding class again next year and maybe another math or should i goto EVIT for half the day ( all my electives )...?

 

Also, here a link to the EVIT site for welding.. not much but thats all they show

http://www.evit.com/HTML/courses/WD10.htm

 

oops , whent to edit and something happened

 

Thanks alot!


Do the classes i take in highschool really help towards a getting a job?
you wont get a good welding job. Highschool is very basic compared to an institution. But its still a headstart


Is it smarter to take the same welding class again next year and maybe another math or should i goto EVIT for half the day ( all my electives )...?Dont wory about the math, its basic stuff for welding. Go to EVIT for sure. Just make sure its a good school thats offers you everything you need to become a certified entry level welder
.

How long is the course? After finishing the course will you be ready to do your stick, and fluxcore tests. ( Im not sure how it works in the USA)

 

its a 2 year program... 2 and a half hours a day, 5 days a week, for my junior and senior year...

 

That's kinda the same thing I did when I was in high school...2 years, 2 class periods a day. In GA you got to take the basic cert tests at a local votech college, and if you wanted, you got to use thier job placement office to find work. We could only do the structrual certification tests in highschool...pipe was not allowed without more coursework after highschool. I think that was mainly due to lack of local facilties, though. Unfortunately, that program is now gone in GA.

Dirt,
Just a bit of advice to go along with that decision...Keep taking the acedemic math and english courses also. Those are two more skills that will be just as important for you...and, unlike welding, you will find it harder learn these two skills once you are out of school.

 

I tend to agree with Smithboy. There's a lot in terms of academics that can be learned in high school. I'm not sure that it would be prudent to devote that much of your academic development towards a vocational activity. Certainly, you can and should learn how to weld, if it's something that you enjoy doing. However, it's also something that can be learned after high school, in your spare time, or in a vocational school or community college. You could potentially learn more hands-on skill by getting a part-time job in a fab shop as a welder's helper, it's all a matter of what's available in your area.

 

I was told by an old fellow that there are two trades that can always get a job. One was a machinist and the other was a welder. He said that you wouldn't get paid worth a hoot, but you would always be able to eat.

smitty

 

There are fewer machinists these days and also fewer machinists jobs. Everyone can use a welder for something, but most machine work gets done in a CNC shop which requires very little manual machining. I know a dude that runs a local shop that does manual machining and I know he wishes that he could eat more often. It's sad, really.

 

Thanks for all your help guys!

 

If you want a job that is always in demand, become a lawyer or a doctor or both. You could make a good living sueing yourself. President Lincoln, a famous welding pioneer and trial lawyer, once said (at least I think he said it...well, I bet he thought it, anyway) one lawyer in a town will starve...with two they will both prosper.

Undertakers also have a pretty good amount of business.

Disclaimer: Wages and historical references are subject to change without notice....

 

i coulodnt be a lawyer.. im not the best at talking things over.. i tend to loose patience and start yelling really fast.. and i dont trust myself operating on someone, if they were to die, i couldnt live with that..

Welding is for me.. Im not a real good people person so i would get my work and goto town..

 

The Welding Journal last month mentioned that the average age of welders is the USA is 54 years. There is a critical demand now for trades qualified people and it will only get worse as more retire.

 

makes sense to me

 

Lotechman,
There are a couple of alternative ways of interpreting that information.

A rising age in a profession can mean that there is an upcomming shortage of labor in that profession. One well documented problem we are facing in the US is a current and accute shortage in power linemen. However, a rising age can also mean that a profession is declining in importance or is going through a technological transition. Draftsmen are in this position...25 years ago, they were still drawing all by hand...now, cad has changed the entire field. Draftsmen, in some fields, are now different folks than cad opperators. Just a different spin to consider....I personally hope that your (and the welding journal's) interpretation of the numbers is the right one.

 

The demand for skilled welders is becoming critical in my area of Canada. Most younger welders with any initiative have already left for the Tar Sands. When they first started extracting the prediction was it would last a thousand years. Even now the heavy oil deposits will last hundreds with the planned increases in production. The demand for ore trucks and associated equipment will not diminish which will keep heavy equipment manufacture around the world busy. There is a proposal for one of the largest refineries in North America to be built outside Edmonton.
You can bring in all kinds of automatic welding processes but you will still need people with the know-how to run them.
The Baby Boomers like myself see the end of our working careers. All kinds of effort has been expended in training for suit and tie jobs at the expense of trades training. Last time this happened they just imported skilled people from Europe. This time we will have to train our own and do it quickly.
Most people below the 49th don't realize that we supply the most petroleum to the USA. That is natural gas as well crude and refined product.
My point is that as welders are drawn to these big projects over the next ten years there will be a shortage in all areas of the welding and steel fabrication trades.

 

I didnt realize that canada supplied that much crude to us. I am glad that demand is rising in the trade. That's a really good sign for Dirt and other younger weldors just getting into it. I thought venezuela supplied most of our crude...and that was the reason we cared so much about chavez. All I really know for certian is that WE don't supply most of our crude or any energy products, for that matter. I had read that the oil sands probably was on the order of a Saudi Arabia in deposits, but just harder to extract. Is the oil a nationalized industry in canada? Do all canadians share the wealth or is it primarily a private endevor? In other words, how is oil exploration carried on and who owns the rights to the oil reserves in the ground?

 

The natives knew about the Athabaska tar sands before the white man arrived. The problems was how to extract the oil. Attempts were made as far back as the 1930's. In the late seventies the government backed the oil development but now it is international and primarily American money and oil companies. Most oil interests in Canada are driven by large American oil companies.
Do a google search on Alberta tar sands.
The first attempts in the seventies were with bucket wheel excavators feeding miles of conveyors. At 40 below the tar is rock hard which made excavation in the winter difficult. The present operations are open pit mines. with drag lines removing the overburden then 300 ton ore trucks hauling the tar sand. It is steamed and washed. I was told by a guy who worked up there that after washing the sand comes out like beach sand and then it is put back in place.
A couch and access to a bathroom in someone's basement will go for 500 a month. If you want a house... get in line. Buy now and wait six months. It is a modern gold rush and has been going on since the eighties. There is money to be made but you have to like Winter and the bugs in the Summer.

 

There is a demand for anyone with trades qualifications in Fort McMurray.
People don't realize that the North Slope oil deposits in Alaska reach all across the top of the North American Continent. Once the Land Use treaties are settled in the Yukon and what was once call the North West Territoires the natives may open that area up to development. I see that happening twenty years from now.
Those potential deposits are far north of the Tar Sands.

 

Wow. Looks like i could stay pretty busy..

thanks again guys!