Looking to learn Tig for Career. Any Advice on Schools or anything. I am from Arizona

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Hey Guys, Im 28 have about 5 years or more in welding experience in Stick, Mig, Flux Core and some other stuff. I am a welding freak, meaning I just love welding which means I would love to do it for a career cause of the money and I like working with my hands. I just feel like I need to learn Tig which I hear is the hardest out of all of the different types. I don't mind traveling I am young, no kids, nothing holding me back, and I hear the money is not to bad. Please any and all open suggestions please. Thanks so much, and love this web site, best thing I have found since starting this journey. Kyle
Reply:Originally Posted by AzWelderDiscount08Hey Guys, Im 28 have about 5 years or more in welding experience in Stick, Mig, Flux Core and some other stuff. I am a welding freak, meaning I just love welding which means I would love to do it for a career cause of the money and I like working with my hands. I just feel like I need to learn Tig which I hear is the hardest out of all of the different types. I don't mind traveling I am young, no kids, nothing holding me back, and I hear the money is not to bad. Please any and all open suggestions please. Thanks so much, and love this web site, best thing I have found since starting this journey. Kyle
Reply:Hey, Thanks a lot shovelon I appreciate all the help and tips I can get. I thought this would post a more popular threat but, nothing yet. Kyle
Reply:Well let me tell you my take then. Tig is a specialized weld process that entails  use of metallurgy, precision measurement and technique. I built a whole business around tig welding. I have worked with just about every metal out there, worked with engineers and inventors, combine machining and sheet metal with tig welding, and built precision machined weldments. In many ways I was at the right place at the right time. If I had to rely on tig alone though, I would starve. I would not chase tig without techinical math, metallurgy, QC, business administration classes. One can get particularly burned out on tig alone as well. Stainless steel, ti, and alum is the only worthy metals to tig for me. 4130 is fun too. Steel is a waste of my life and does not pay. Learn to aquire your own AWS certs as I have had to do. I am finding I am haveing to qualify my customers procedures as well. Never had to do that before, and they are tougher than ever to get. Welder/operator certs are a cinch compared to procedures. In fact steel procedures are so lame that you can buy them for a couple hundred of bucks. Tig in the future IMO is going to be a tough road. Tig in this country is being replaced with 3D printing, automation, and outsourcing. Combining tig with arc in pipe welding is a good choice if you are up the the pipe weldor lifestyle. I am too old to change now but I could see myself doing bridge retrofit. Does not use tig much, but semi-auto I can do.Weld like a "WELDOR", not a wel-"DERR" MillerDynasty700DX,Dynasty350DX4ea,Dynasty200DX,Li  ncolnSW200-2ea.,MillerMatic350P,MillerMatic200w/spoolgun,MKCobraMig260,Lincoln SP-170T,PlasmaCam/Hypertherm1250,HFProTig2ea,MigMax1ea.
Reply:Thanks for all of the information. Everything was very helpful Shovelon. I think what I wanted to make more clear was that I want to be a combo welder so I can become someone or a type of welder that can do almost everything. To work up north you have to be a combo welder right now, or that is the only type of welders they are taking. Tig is just something I have always wanted to learn, and I know it pays very well, and what I have heard is there is usually always Tig work available. You said as for a career move Tig with Arc in pipe welding is a good choice, can you elaborate on that and do you know of any good schools or places to get hired on as a sort of apprentice and work your way up in phoenix Arizona. Thanks for all the help and info again.
Reply:Combo weld or to me means tig, mig, and stick, with some cutting thrown in.  Again community college is your best bet for tig classes. Then perhaps you might want to purchase ayour own tig/stick machine and stay on this board for comment and critisim.Perhaps make it to the next Weld-0-Rama..Weld like a "WELDOR", not a wel-"DERR" MillerDynasty700DX,Dynasty350DX4ea,Dynasty200DX,Li  ncolnSW200-2ea.,MillerMatic350P,MillerMatic200w/spoolgun,MKCobraMig260,Lincoln SP-170T,PlasmaCam/Hypertherm1250,HFProTig2ea,MigMax1ea.
Reply:Shovelon has a great point about having to learn more than just welding to be a tig welder. Metallurgy will help you so much. But... as a pipe welder, you don't have to know squat about it.That's sort of misleading actually. Because there's a lot you need to learn about the properties of the metal you are tig welding. But it's sort of the "dummies" version. It's kind of hard for me to explain, not having an actual metallurgy background. Things like how titanium reacts to prolonged heat input. There are scientific terms for it, but as a welder, you sort of understand "if I take too long to weld this, it starts to **** up". Carbide precipitation  for instance. Jesus. As a combo welder myself... I can say I don't really know squat about metallurgy. I know what certain metals do when I weld them, so in a sense, I guess I do, but I really don't. I understand I'm probably not making any sense.But whatever. Anyway, to your point. If you can weld stick, mig, flux core, that's great. If you can O/A weld, that's even better. It means you're used to using both hands. I'm losing my focus here.Tig welding isn't necessarily the "hardest" process. It's not easy by any means. But if you understand the general properties of welding you should be able to take to it with some practice. I personally feel like it's the most interesting or most rewarding. Find a class that focuses on pipe welding, if that's your thing. If you're lucky they will teach stick welding on pipe as well as tig welding. Remember walking the cup is cool, and pretty as heck, but don't ever neglect your freehand ability. I relied on walking the cup the first two years of my career and nearly hit a brick wall when I was told at a recent (nuke) job that I could not touch the cup to the pipe. If you can, find something that will teach tig welding on thin material as well. A lot of my tig pipe welding has been on thin gauge pipe. 2 passes max (or a root/cover pass in one if you're skilled enough).
Reply:I don't know crap about the "Science" of metal and really could care less....But that has no bearing on what I am capable of......zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:Your relply was excellent akabadnews, and I do understand what you are talking about understanding the properties of the metals and not just how to Tig Weld. That is really cool about the Nuke job too by the way, So basically free hand Tig is the Mac Daddy of all welds in sort of your opinion sounds like. I need to get a school figured out with a good class or figure a way to get  some type of apprenticeship figured out with Tig welding. That is my ultimate goal.
Reply:Originally Posted by shovelonIf I had to rely on tig alone though, I would starve.