Hello all - I'm new to welding, having done some brazing and some stick and tig in a community education class.
I enjoyed it and would like to get certified and get an apprenticeship, preferably as a boilermaker. I have an interest in working in a shipyard. What's the best way to go about this?
There is a local school (in Vermont) that I can go to and get a few basic certs, but it's over 10 grand for a 600 hour program.
I'm tempted to take a 40 hour class, for about $1000, find a mentor,and then buy a welder and some metal and just practice.
Is this a viable route to getting certified and being eligible for an apprenticeship?
One other potential caveat: I'm 47. What effect will my age have on my getting into an apprenticeship or decent job?
Thanks for your help.
- AKweldshop
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Welcome to the Forum.
~John
~John
Just a couple welders and a couple of big hammers and torches.
Men in dirty jeans built this country, while men in clean suits have destroyed it.
Trump/Carson 2016-2024
Men in dirty jeans built this country, while men in clean suits have destroyed it.
Trump/Carson 2016-2024
- Otto Nobedder
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Hank,
We don't have a heavy union membership here, but there are a few folk who may be able to advise you on apprenticeships.
Also have a look at:
http://www.industrialprojectsreport.com/forum/forum.php
for the opinions of road professionals, both union and not.
Have a look also at:
https://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=w ... dersgroup/
an "invitation only" group, but you are free to read, and:
https://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=w ... NDWELDERS/
Both worth a read.
Steve S
We don't have a heavy union membership here, but there are a few folk who may be able to advise you on apprenticeships.
Also have a look at:
http://www.industrialprojectsreport.com/forum/forum.php
for the opinions of road professionals, both union and not.
Have a look also at:
https://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=w ... dersgroup/
an "invitation only" group, but you are free to read, and:
https://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=w ... NDWELDERS/
Both worth a read.
Steve S
Otto - thanks for the info and links.
Maybe I should be more general in my question, rather than focusing on an apprenticeship.
What's the best way to go about becoming a welder? Right now, I'm thinking that I'm going to by a tig/stick machine,
some steel and aluminum, and find a mentor. Then maybe think about investing in a class.
How do other guys get started? Seems like it's practice as much as anything, which I don't need to go to class to do, once
I get the basics down. Do I just need to get a couple of certs and go looking for a job?
Maybe I should be more general in my question, rather than focusing on an apprenticeship.
What's the best way to go about becoming a welder? Right now, I'm thinking that I'm going to by a tig/stick machine,
some steel and aluminum, and find a mentor. Then maybe think about investing in a class.
How do other guys get started? Seems like it's practice as much as anything, which I don't need to go to class to do, once
I get the basics down. Do I just need to get a couple of certs and go looking for a job?
That question pretty much immediately brings up the return question: what kind of welder you you want to becomehank wrote: What's the best way to go about becoming a welder?
With 'what kind' I mean what sort of industry/process are you most interested in and are you looking forward to growing into? Would you be willing to work in an industry that's not present in your local area so you'd need to move or do you want to remain where you are?
Although a lot of techniques and skills are similar it's probably quite different if you are aiming to be a structural welder in bridge building versus a welder in an aerospace environment handling weird-and-winderful alloys or perhaps in the nuclear area where weld quality and checks will be extreme.
Also, apart from the technical side it's also importat if you want to be a welder who 'gets told exactly what to do' or one who 'gets the general plan' and then has to think for himself about what to do and has some understanding of metallurgy to make the right decisions? (aka. more of an engineer/welder
)Both are fine and both need specific skills and training to become good at 'em..
Once you figure that out, then you can work on setting a path via apprenticeships or formal training/education to attain your goal.
Of course you'll always see that life throws you a curveball sometimes and even with the best laid plans you end up somehwere completely else than you ever expected
Bye, Arno.
Arno - good answer. Hadn't thought about the end result too much, I was more fixated on getting the skills.
But where I want to end up dictates what path I take to get there. Hmmm, I'll need to think about that.
Unfortunately the two things that interest me most right now seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum - structural work, like bridges or a shipyard, versus light fabrication, like motorcycle frames and tanks and sheet metal parts.
The structural stuff is probably going to be SMAW, while fabrication will be more GTAW. Is this correct?
But where I want to end up dictates what path I take to get there. Hmmm, I'll need to think about that.
Unfortunately the two things that interest me most right now seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum - structural work, like bridges or a shipyard, versus light fabrication, like motorcycle frames and tanks and sheet metal parts.
The structural stuff is probably going to be SMAW, while fabrication will be more GTAW. Is this correct?
Being aware of the options and what you want to do is the most important step and that's something you already seem to have done
It's easy to get enthousiastic about wanting to lean a skill, which is fine in itself as it shows motivation and drive, but without some general idea of "I'd like to work as an ...." you run the risk of only learning this and a few other skills and may end up in some dead-end job you get stuck in or after some years look back on and say "I wasted years of my life there"
In your situation of interests in very different areas, that's really no problem IMHO.
As long as you keep your eyes open and are always willing to learn skills 'outside the box' then I don't see any reason why you could not (as an example) train and work to become a structural welder and hopefully get a regular paycheck and in the meantime perhaps also explore other welding techniques to get skills and experience in fabrication and perhaps at some time branch out or move to a fab-shop.
Who knows.. You may even end up liking structural welding so much that you want to pursue the challenges in this area further so you can grow and specialise in that field to do the most complicated or safety critical parts. It doesn't matter, you'll be spending a huge part of your life at work, so better make sure you enjoy what you do!
I'm not in the welding industry myself (unless you count glass fusion-welding
), but am in a technical job ( I'm one of the old-timers buried deep inside this 'internet' thing now up to my ears in fiber optics ), and in my experience it's the people who want to learn new skills, hone their existing ones and are willing to branch out and grow who are the most happy in what they do and they stick around in the jobs they do.
As mentioned here on the forum with some job postings, it's also not always the biggest paying jobs that are the most fun/interesting/challenging. Good co-workers, good company policies and 'etiquette' and secondary job benefits can be a big plus too even if the pay is a little lower.
Of course there is the simple reality that you will need food on the table and somewhere to live, so this may require taking jobs that are not what you want. But if you have a goal/plan you can at least always use these 'not-so-fun' jobs as stepping-stones and experiences to get ahead.
Sorry for the long post...
Bye, Arno.
It's easy to get enthousiastic about wanting to lean a skill, which is fine in itself as it shows motivation and drive, but without some general idea of "I'd like to work as an ...." you run the risk of only learning this and a few other skills and may end up in some dead-end job you get stuck in or after some years look back on and say "I wasted years of my life there"
In your situation of interests in very different areas, that's really no problem IMHO.
As long as you keep your eyes open and are always willing to learn skills 'outside the box' then I don't see any reason why you could not (as an example) train and work to become a structural welder and hopefully get a regular paycheck and in the meantime perhaps also explore other welding techniques to get skills and experience in fabrication and perhaps at some time branch out or move to a fab-shop.
Who knows.. You may even end up liking structural welding so much that you want to pursue the challenges in this area further so you can grow and specialise in that field to do the most complicated or safety critical parts. It doesn't matter, you'll be spending a huge part of your life at work, so better make sure you enjoy what you do!
I'm not in the welding industry myself (unless you count glass fusion-welding
), but am in a technical job ( I'm one of the old-timers buried deep inside this 'internet' thing now up to my ears in fiber optics ), and in my experience it's the people who want to learn new skills, hone their existing ones and are willing to branch out and grow who are the most happy in what they do and they stick around in the jobs they do.As mentioned here on the forum with some job postings, it's also not always the biggest paying jobs that are the most fun/interesting/challenging. Good co-workers, good company policies and 'etiquette' and secondary job benefits can be a big plus too even if the pay is a little lower.
Of course there is the simple reality that you will need food on the table and somewhere to live, so this may require taking jobs that are not what you want. But if you have a goal/plan you can at least always use these 'not-so-fun' jobs as stepping-stones and experiences to get ahead.
Sorry for the long post...
Bye, Arno.
- Otto Nobedder
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BIG "plus one" on everything Arno said!
I took the hardest route you can imagine, because I never saw myself as a welder. I'm almost completely self-taught. I did a four-year BS gig in industrial electronics. I've worked 30 jobs in eight entirely different fields. Yet it was welding I always came back to as my "go to" for a money job when some other plan didn't work.
I now work a job so rare the Department of Labor does not classify it, and am considered one of the best in the nation by my peers. Welding is a big component of this, and while the certification itself is common, few weld "beer can" thicknesses to a code (which I'll be doing in the morning).
I never knew where I wanted to go, as I never saw welding as more than my "fall-back" position.
Having an objective will clarify your path for you.
Steve S
I took the hardest route you can imagine, because I never saw myself as a welder. I'm almost completely self-taught. I did a four-year BS gig in industrial electronics. I've worked 30 jobs in eight entirely different fields. Yet it was welding I always came back to as my "go to" for a money job when some other plan didn't work.
I now work a job so rare the Department of Labor does not classify it, and am considered one of the best in the nation by my peers. Welding is a big component of this, and while the certification itself is common, few weld "beer can" thicknesses to a code (which I'll be doing in the morning).
I never knew where I wanted to go, as I never saw welding as more than my "fall-back" position.
Having an objective will clarify your path for you.
Steve S
so now i'm curious about what you do...?Otto Nobedder wrote:BIG "plus one" on everything Arno said!
I took the hardest route you can imagine, because I never saw myself as a welder. I'm almost completely self-taught. I did a four-year BS gig in industrial electronics. I've worked 30 jobs in eight entirely different fields. Yet it was welding I always came back to as my "go to" for a money job when some other plan didn't work.
I now work a job so rare the Department of Labor does not classify it, and am considered one of the best in the nation by my peers. Welding is a big component of this, and while the certification itself is common, few weld "beer can" thicknesses to a code (which I'll be doing in the morning).
I never knew where I wanted to go, as I never saw welding as more than my "fall-back" position.
Having an objective will clarify your path for you.
Steve S
10 grand for 600 hours!? No NO NO NO don't do it. Look into the union training program first. You will get more training and on the job experience. You will spend much less than ten grand and be able to learn pipefitting/plumbing or refrigeration and work on your weld certs at the same time. You may not be interested in pipe at the moment but for me its always something new or different, much more fun and challenging than structural welding (imo). Check out http://www.ualocal693.org/training.aspx and contact them for more information maybe go check out the training center. Your age doesnt matter, let me know what you think or if you have any questions about joining a union apprenticeship and I'll give you the best answers I can based off my experience.hank wrote:Hello all - I'm new to welding, having done some brazing and some stick and tig in a community education class.
I enjoyed it and would like to get certified and get an apprenticeship, preferably as a boilermaker. I have an interest in working in a shipyard. What's the best way to go about this?
There is a local school (in Vermont) that I can go to and get a few basic certs, but it's over 10 grand for a 600 hour program.
I'm tempted to take a 40 hour class, for about $1000, find a mentor,and then buy a welder and some metal and just practice.
Is this a viable route to getting certified and being eligible for an apprenticeship?
One other potential caveat: I'm 47. What effect will my age have on my getting into an apprenticeship or decent job?
Thanks for your help.
Last week I went into the UA training center and applied for an apprenticeship position.
I don't feel like the interview went that well, but we'll see if I get a call.
I'm at the point now where I think I'm just going to have to get a machine, try and find a mentor, and start
going after it on my own. I think this is the only trade I've come across where it's difficult to just get into.
mateo - if I have further questions, I'll definitely hit you up.
I don't feel like the interview went that well, but we'll see if I get a call.
I'm at the point now where I think I'm just going to have to get a machine, try and find a mentor, and start
going after it on my own. I think this is the only trade I've come across where it's difficult to just get into.
mateo - if I have further questions, I'll definitely hit you up.
hank wrote:Hello all - I'm new to welding, having done some brazing and some stick and tig in a community education class.
I enjoyed it and would like to get certified and get an apprenticeship, preferably as a boilermaker. I have an interest in working in a shipyard. What's the best way to go about this?
There is a local school (in Vermont) that I can go to and get a few basic certs, but it's over 10 grand for a 600 hour program.
I'm tempted to take a 40 hour class, for about $1000, find a mentor,and then buy a welder and some metal and just practice.
Is this a viable route to getting certified and being eligible for an apprenticeship?
One other potential caveat: I'm 47. What effect will my age have on my getting into an apprenticeship or decent job?
Thanks for your help.
That's crazy, you can take a 40 hr class at Lincoln for just over $500 and they have some world class instructors. Hell there's community colleges here where a 16 week course is around $700. I'd keep looking.
Yeah, I agree on checking out the community colleges in the area and see what they offer. We only charge $160 a credit hour. Also taking a class would really help you figure out if you REALLY like welding, and what kind of welding you prefer. I get guys that really gravitate toward the GTAW side and others really go the SMAW side.
Well I'm glad to hear you interviewed, don't sweat it they usually put on tough interviews but they know you're applying to be an apprentice so they don't expect you to know everything. Keep that phone glued to your hip and if they call by all means answer it! They tend to move on quickly if you don't answer or promptly return their call. If you don't hear from them in what ever time frame they say that they will contact you in, by all means check back in with them. Let me know how it goes....hank wrote:Last week I went into the UA training center and applied for an apprenticeship position.
I don't feel like the interview went that well, but we'll see if I get a call.
I'm at the point now where I think I'm just going to have to get a machine, try and find a mentor, and start
going after it on my own. I think this is the only trade I've come across where it's difficult to just get into.
mateo - if I have further questions, I'll definitely hit you up.
- Otto Nobedder
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Location:Near New Orleans
I work on liquid hydrogen tankers. The standing joke is, "It's not rocket science, it's rocket fuel..."mateo32 wrote:...so now i'm curious about what you do...?
I do helium leak detection on vacuum-jacket vessels, and am ASME certified to make the repairs.
This is an oversimplification. My job is usually very interesting.
Steve S
- Otto Nobedder
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Wow, what a question...hank wrote:Otto - sounds fascinating.
Just out of curiosity, what was your career path like for you to end up where you are?
I'm always interested in how people come to be doing what they're doing.
High-school was math/science, advanced and gifted programs. Hated it. After graduation, went to St. Louis and did carpentry with my brother. High-end stuff. $50K pool decks, remodels on $1M homes. Hated it. Went back to school (discovering too late my guidance counselor was an idiot and my ACT scores were worth a free ride if I'd gone straight to college). Studied industrial electronics for 4 years. Hated it (flourescent lights? C'mon! No one told me there was money to be made doing it in a hardhat outside.) Fixed/customized cars and bikes to help pay the way. Built limousines. Built structural steel. Worked in a plastics plant. Painted houses (again high-end, mulicolor faux-finishes in millionaire homes) Always came back to welding.
Went to Florida, and sold high-end water treatment for a year. This is when it clicked... When I realized why I'd hated everything I'd done, and stopped doing that. The sales training was the answer. I won't do sales, I actually hated that, but I finally understood why.
Dead broke in Springfield, MO, power turned off in winter, got an offer to go to IA to build a powerplant, went from broke to $2K/week, and life got better from there. Once I understood what it takes to be happy, and realized that I liked to weld, I've been climbing out of my hole ever since.
Steve S
Wow thats a lot of experience! Thanks for the reply! My apprenticeship is supposedly going to offer a cwi class, i'm hoping to get into it...wish me luck...Otto Nobedder wrote:Wow, what a question...hank wrote:Otto - sounds fascinating.
Just out of curiosity, what was your career path like for you to end up where you are?
I'm always interested in how people come to be doing what they're doing.
High-school was math/science, advanced and gifted programs. Hated it. After graduation, went to St. Louis and did carpentry with my brother. High-end stuff. $50K pool decks, remodels on $1M homes. Hated it. Went back to school (discovering too late my guidance counselor was an idiot and my ACT scores were worth a free ride if I'd gone straight to college). Studied industrial electronics for 4 years. Hated it (flourescent lights? C'mon! No one told me there was money to be made doing it in a hardhat outside.) Fixed/customized cars and bikes to help pay the way. Built limousines. Built structural steel. Worked in a plastics plant. Painted houses (again high-end, mulicolor faux-finishes in millionaire homes) Always came back to welding.
Went to Florida, and sold high-end water treatment for a year. This is when it clicked... When I realized why I'd hated everything I'd done, and stopped doing that. The sales training was the answer. I won't do sales, I actually hated that, but I finally understood why.
Dead broke in Springfield, MO, power turned off in winter, got an offer to go to IA to build a powerplant, went from broke to $2K/week, and life got better from there. Once I understood what it takes to be happy, and realized that I liked to weld, I've been climbing out of my hole ever since.
Steve S