thinking of being a welder...

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hi everyone i was thinking of choosing welding as a career.so i have a couple of questions:can you tell me what the down-side/up-side of welding is?i heard of all these dangers that come with welding such as being blind,getting the arc eye,fumes making you sick,the heat,etc...how real are these dangers i have heard of?what do you like about welding? can you make good money out of welding?which type of welding is the best and which kind makes you more money?and how hard is it physhically?is it a very demanding job(physhicaly speaking).what are the good choices and the bad choices you made as a welder?which way is the best way to start out?( i was thinking of gong to the local community college but since the classes are full now maybe a technical institue).for what kind of a person do you recommend welding as a career?fyi:i am 18 and i live in houston,tx.
Reply:You did not post up a box that read" All of the above." Learn with Oxy acetaline, and stick. Mig will come so easily if you learn the first 2, its' rediculous. And if you get pretty good with oxy, then tig will be pretty easy to pick up. Just take a beginning welding course at the local college.And then, after so much work...... you have it in your hand, and you look over to your side...... and the runner has run off. Leaving you holding the prize, wondering when the runner will return.
Reply:michael-g   tig welding is the most skilled and also the highest paid in a nutshell . arc welding can pay good like pipe welders or pipe fitters. union pipefitters make a good living with  good benafits and retirement plans. alot of local unions will train you thought an apparntices training program. ironworkers pipefitters steamfitters gasworkers rail track crews ect. some of these trades do tig mig and arc. subarc(under water welding)  is very highly skilled and dangerist the pay is high but hard to get your foot in the door. physhicaly iron worker and subarc i think would be the hardest. far as shcool the more one can learn the better a tech school is a good start also try to get a job in a metal -fab-welding shop as a helper expeirance is the best teacher and that way you meet people that have been the the feild you can learn alot from them. as for what kind or person. i would say some who not looking to become rich or famous and loves to weld. rember tig is clean no smoke good. acr lots of flux and smoke bad.         just my 2 cents hope this helps Daye
Reply:I would try talking to some of the fab shops (there are lots in Houston) in town and see what they are paying.  Also, if you're still in High School, you might be able to get into a shop class, although, being 18, and middle of the year, might be too late.  Another thing, if still HS, check with the guidance couselor and see if they can hook you up with a fab shop for a "shadow day" where you get a day off of school to go follow a welder around for a day and maybe even try to stick some metal together, if nothing else, do this on a Saturday, it would give you some insight into the job.  If you're not in HS anymore, still talk to some of the shops and see if they will let you come observe for a little while, some of the smaller "Bob's Welding" type shops might even hire you as a helper and let you work into welding.  As far as Unions go, not likely to happen in Texas.  We are an "at will" state, which means there are no Unions except in very specific trades, even most the civil service jobs in Texas are not Union, the fire department I work for has a "Firemans' Association" which is basically a Union with no teeth.  As for how I got started welding...I worked part time in HS for one of the band directors who designed and built stands to hold musical instruments...you know, so a 6th grader can play the tuba or some such nonsense.  I walked into his "shop", he handed me a mig torch and said, "Have fun."  I learned by trial and error, that was....jeeze like 10 years ago and I'm STILL learning by trial and error, only now it's with my personal stick welder and just as a hobby/beer money maker.  Hope that helps.Contact me for any metal polishing needs you may have, my avatar is a pic of a standard, painted fire axe that I ground, sanded polished and buffed to a mirror finish.
Reply:Originally Posted by tigmuskymichael-g   tig welding is the most skilled and also the highest paid in a nutshell.
Reply:Tig welding pipe in a union you could see $50k to $100k If you are willing to put in the hours welding on the road. You will earn your money as there are no free rides in welding. Avoid at all cost production welding there is no money in it and you dont really learn welding just the proces you are doing at that time. If you are young go to school and learn the right way to weld. I did not go to school so it has taken me a long time to get proficiant in all aspects of welding and still learn new things all of the time. The best thing about welding is not everybody can do it so when people see you know what your doing it is rewarding. Another rewarding aspect is at the end of the day you can see what you have done I made that not like production oh boy I got 500 done today been there done that it sucks. If you ever take a trip to St. Thomas let me know and I can let you try the process of your choice and see what you think of fab welding.  Good luck Steel Thunder Welding LLC. St. Thomas VI USAMM350PBOBCAT 3MAXSTAR 150 STH375 EXTREME PLASMA6.5 HP COMPRESORDEWALT 18, 24, AND 36 VOLTO/A TORCH SETAND SO MUCH MORE I DONT REMEMBERALL IN MY 2005 2500HD EXTENDED CAB L/B
Reply:I agree about TIG welding as one of the highest paying processes to perform in welding, especially if one is welding precision made parts of any expensive alloy.There are no welding union jobs around here (San Diego, Ca) that I know of, except perhaps at the nuclear plant doing maintenance, or down at NASSCO building ships, so I can't really say much about that, except to say that NASSCO doesn't pay all that much.   They advertise about $14/hr to start and up to $22 max.   That doesn't sound like that much $$ for the work that is done and they are constantly laying off and re-hiring, so there is no gaurantee of a steady paycheck.    I think this is caused by there being too much cheap labor available here from the other side of the border.   I know a few Mexican nationals who are great welders and willing to do it for next to nothing, which is sad, they deserve much more.   Companies out here know that and take advantage of it too much.I disagree with the comments about production welding.   Production welding, especially TIG or anything aerospace, can pay more than one would expect, depending on who you work for, and can be interesting if welding a wide variety of parts and metals, as in a job-shop.   I also disagree that one doesn't learn anything doing production work.   In production, one gets plenty of opportunity to experiment and learn the effects of all different combinations of machine settings, filler and gas variables and torch movements, etc.   I do agree though, doing high volume production work of the same parts with the same process all day, every day does get monotonous.   If that was all I did, I think I would go insane.   Variety is good.As to which type of welding a person should do, I say whichever is the kind that satisfies you and pays the bills.MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op
Reply:Originally Posted by michael_gi was thinking of choosing welding as a career.
Reply:Hard to top all the answers posted thus far, but here's my $0.02.I love welding and over the past ten years it has been very VERY good to me as a career.The key to my success has been multiple processes and continuing education.Started in a sweat shop in full leathers and a respirator 10 hrs a day squirting MIG on dirty parts.  Not much fun.Moved to a structural shop and got schooled on stick, and mig.  Took tig up as a hobby.Moved into helium leak proof enclosures for the high vacuum industry 100% tig.Went back to school and got a mechanical engineering degree.Got hired as the welding engineer for a company that builds custom automatic welding solutions.Picked up my CWI last month.As far as money, I didn't get paid much at all for the pretty unskilled mig and stick work I started out doing.  These were also fairly dangerous and physically demanding jobs.  When I went back to school, I was making excellent money for the high quality tig work I was doing, but I wasn't going to see much more in terms of my hourly wage.  That was still about $60k though not including overtime, so decent $$.  I'm earning significantly more than that now as a welding engineer and have the ability to add substantially to my employment pay with independent CWI work as well as precision TIG work.Keep learning, change processes and don't settle if you aren't enjoying what you are doing.Good luck!
Reply:thanks for all the replies.i liked the answers by tensaiteki  very detailed.but i have another question :does anyone know any good welding schools in houston,tx?and one more thing you guys should know: i use to have an eye allergy to the sun and dust particles.i don't know if i still have it but do you think it would be a problem?i think i just might like welding.i am currently working in production(assembly line) and i basically operate laser welding machines.it can be a bit hard (specially if you are running all the machines by yourself) but other than that i'd say what i do now doesn't require much hard work.the major concern i have is the dangers the physhical hardship but i think i'd get over the latter one in time.i have a u.s. army manual of welding i might take a look at it more.and as far as finances go i am fine as long as i make  a decent living.i don't look forward to being rich or anything. anywhere above $13.00 is good money to me.i want to learn all kinds of welding but the community college i looked up only lets you specialize in one kind(mig,tig or pipe).
Reply:If you are interested in stick and oxy-acetylene welding one of best aids you will ever find is a copy of the book "The Science And Practice Of Welding" by A. C. Davies. It is an old book but you should be able to find in in your local library. It is just as revelent today as when it was written.
Reply:MichaelIn my experience, welding quickly becomes secondary to the rest of the job. The work, the workers, the drive, the boss, the company, the customers etc really define your day and in turn -- Whether or not you like welding as a career.  I would recommend that you try welding as a hobby and see if you like it!
Reply:You have cheated yourself out of so many choices.Become a welder if you like being around metal and machines.But just like an artist learns how to paint and draw and study design and colorand all of the materials and other art  processes, a welder needs to learn about all welding processes and related subjects. You will specialize in a few depending on the jobs you get.Go to a junior college and take a beginning coarse and you will get to learn about all these things, THEN make a choice about becoming a welder as a profession. But when you get older no one is going to hire you to do welding because of your age so learn something that you can do when you are over 40 like maybe welding inspection or something related.
Reply:I am not in the industry. However I feel the need to reference Tensaiteki's reply. It was detailed and specific with well thought out answers. I am also fairly sure it didn't have one misspelled word.Clear and accurate communication is usuallyvery important to those people that are in a position to hire and/or promote candidates.And after typing ^that^ I realized that you dug up a crazy old thread. How do you know the blacksmith's dog? When you hollar at him he makes a bolt for the door!
Reply:Read this:http://www.cnbc.com/id/46658758Millermatic 211Lincoln Precision TIG 225Century 250 MIGLincoln 225 AC Box (sold)I support my local welding store (Amazon, McMasterCarr, Cyberweld, EBay).
Reply:Originally Posted by Fab54Read this:http://www.cnbc.com/id/46658758
Reply:Also consider taking a general aptitude test.  It is not written in granite but the results will indicate where your likes and dislikes are as well as your general cognitive skills.   I have seen people take 10 months of welding and come out at the end hating everything about it.