[Wildwelder96]

Have any of you that applied for a welding job been asked to show proof of your high school diploma?

[Poland308]

I haven’t ever applied for any job that didn’t ask for, or require proof of that or the equivalent.

[TraditionalToolworks]

I haven’t ever applied for any job that didn’t ask for, or require proof of that or the equivalent.

I will just point out that I'm not a professional welder, but I am pretty good at what I do, programming computers. I never had a hard time finding work, despite the fact that I studied music in college and the fact that I never got a single degree in my life, still it was never difficult to find work.

That was until America starting giving our good jobs out to India, where the 65,000 H1-Bs per year we give out have a bachelor and the 20,000 extra have masters. I won't go into the fact that for 10 years, under the Obama administration mostly, they gave out 250,000 - 300,000 jobs per year.

Nowadays I have been turned down for interviews because I don't have a degree. Maybe you can imagine how humiliating that is when you've been in your profession for 35 years?

That said, I have never been asked to show proof of my high school diploma, I don't even have it I don't think, but I did get it.

I recommend you finish your GED if you don't have one, just so that in the future you do have it. I always say I should go back and finish my college degree, but I never do. It's so hard to go back. The longer you wait, the harder it is to go back.

I always thought welding was something you could do even if you didn't graduate high school, Josh's comment is the first I've heard that it is required. What about getting certified? Do they still require a high school diploma if you become a certified welder?

[Wildwelder96]

Ok because I did have a high school diploma but I lost it. I know I can get a replacement by just calling my school. But I began to think maybe I won't need it. I do have my college welding program diploma though.

[Spartan]

Quite common in my experience. The larger the firm, the more "baseline" requirements they will have for certain job categories. Welding in any form certainly requires critical thinking skills, so it is not uncommon for a high school diploma to be a minimum requirement. Sometimes, especially when supporting government contracts,certain credential requirements are written into to the contract for specific positions, so it is just the employer (the welding shop in this example) following the rules of the contract.

For example, the contract I worked for my previous employer, a major defense contractor, had stipulated in their contract that all personnel given positions under that specific contract would either have at a minimum a bachelors degree (in any field) or be a military veteran if they didn't have a 4-year degree. If you didn't meet either of those two requirements, your resume was ignored. Just the way it is, unfortunately. Bureaucracy at its finest.

[Arec_Johnson]

I never applied for a job so I don't have any experience. But I suggest you that having a high school diploma certificate will be a plus point to get welding job easily.