Words of wisdom for a newbie?

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Hey all. I'm a 24 year old girl in Saskatchewan, and I'm a helper on a big thermal project, working with rig welders.About a year ago, I realized how unhappy I was in my career path. I have a diploma, degree, certificate, and 6 years of post-secondary school for Sport and Recreation Studies, majoring in Sport and Rec Management. My whole life, I never thought I'd do something non-sport related. But when I got into the real world, the office world, i HATED it. I had what I thought was my "dream job" (working for a provincial sport organization), and hated it.Then I moved to the oil patch and saw WELDERS. I was instantly interested. So I started as a helper 6 months ago, not having a single clue about the trade, or the construction industry. I immediately fell in love with it! I love everything about it, and I've never been so passionate about ANYTHING. Ive been a hockey player my whole life, and never loved hockey as much as welding. My last welder let me start welding structural about 4 months ago. I started off doing flats, now Im working on overhead, and down/uphand verts. I'm doing alright, and Im happy with my progress so far. I'm a registered first-year apprentice and will be doing my first period of school in August.My problem: I am super hard on myself. I forget that I haven't been doing this for like 10 years, like all the welders I've worked with. When I screw up, I struggle to get over it. My current welder always says "What's gonna happen when you get your first pipe repair?". Answer: probably cry. I'm so damn hard on myself, and when I screw up, I keep asking myself "why I changed careers/what am I doing?/wow my welder must hate me." I stress and stress and I feel like I'll never get better. My current welder is REALLY good. I've heard from numerous other welders that he is the best they've ever worked with. So that stresses me out more! He's super nice to me, but I feel like I'm constantly letting him down...My question to you guys/girls is: when you started welding (if you can remember), what did you do to pump your own tires? What words of wisdom do you have for a beginner who tends to stress out way too much over the little things?I hope you can help! Because I'm getting really discouraged
Reply:Relax! Don’t take it so personal. Just get up in the morning, look in the mirror and say you’re going to do your best today. That’s all anybody can expect from you, your self included. Don’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:Originally Posted by CEPRelax! Don’t take it so personal. Just get up in the morning, look in the mirror and say you’re going to do your best today. That’s all anybody can expect from you, your self included.
Reply:Originally Posted by MinnesotaDaveAlways knew you were a softy.....
Reply:First... take a chill pill and relax so you don't have a heart attack/stroke. Second... DO NOT GO INTO DEBT TO PURCHASE WELDING EQUIPMENT. I have many friends that went to welding school with me years ago that filed bankruptcy after they put everything up for caladeral  to start a welding business. I have more than one friend that lost his home after his business went down the toilet. Buy used equipment to get started and pay it off with side jobs before you buy more welders. Most importantly, work your butt off if you want to get anywhere in this world and don't look back at your mistakes. Good luck!Last edited by kctgb; 04-29-2015 at 04:32 PM.
Reply:Originally Posted by CEPMe? No way, I’m hard as nails!
Reply:Well hey there, Look. It doesn't matter if you think you are letting him down. You are trying your best at a newfound love for a job. As long as you give 100% and try for him. TRUST ME when I say this. He notices! Whenever I have a helper on a pipeline or any job really I let my helper do a good amount of work if they can show me they hustle and know what they are doing for the most part. Now on the other hand I have had the helpers who don't want to do anything, kick rocks, play on their phone, pick their boogers and possibly eat them. When I have those hands I will do all my own grinding, fitting, running leads, rolling up and cleaning up after the job. Because I don't care what they do after they have showed me they don't want to help me. After that job is over I will call the office and tell them not to send So and so back out there with me or I will commit some hairy carrie stuff on them lol.When I first broke out as a welder it was rough. I was working with nothing but old welders that were very awesome. They harped on my welds so bad and kept dogging me every time I made one. All that is, is constructive criticism. Let it sink in that they are only telling you "Hey nice try, but try again". Don't let it go to your head that your not doing good. Because you are. You're there with them! My first pipe repair.... O M G. I thought they were all going to throw me overboard. We were 18 hours into a job and I busted on the last weld of the night! Everybody had to wait until I was finished on my repair to roll up and go to eat, shower and sleep. BUT after it was all said and done they laughed and so did I and talked about how mad they were at me, but how funny it was on my first repair it had to end up on the last weld of the night. DO NOT SECOND GUESS YOURSELF! They are there full of knowledge to help you. If you want to roll with the best one day. Then your in the right place to learn. I started when I was 18 offshore, got thrown into the welding ring with the old school guys and now I am 25 and a Certified Welding Inspector. But I can see some more pipe welding in my future  Good luck and have fun with what you do! If you have any questions shoot me a PM.
Reply:It's a job , that is it! You will be learning the rest of your life. All you need to do is enjoy your job, if you don't well then you better find another.We all want to be the best we can be. As you weld more experience and self satisfaction will come. Even when you become good you will have frustrating days . Listen to the old guys, I'm sure they have already told you to chill out, you are doing fine. Instead of being hard on yourself, just try to be better tomorrow and chalk it up as experience. Torturing yourself isn't gonna help and just remember you are still learning. You must take the good with bad and in the beginning there are times when it appears to be all bad. Remember, if you screw something up, most of the guys did the same thing starting out and no how to fix it. No big deal ! Just don't sit there and look pretty !
Reply:There's a macro image that says something to the effect of: "Someone who works with their hands is a laborer. Someone who works with their hands and their brain is a craftsman. Someone who works with their hands, brain, and heart is an artist." It was written by a guy, but you get the idea.There's also one with the dog from Adventure Time, saying "Being bad at something is the first step toward being good at it."
Reply:Originally Posted by AndrewDavenport89I am 25
Reply:sometimes you got to work your way up that ladder quick. I like continual learning. I plan on going back for more Codes soon. Makes my resume more desirable. I will get back into pipe welding soon enough. It was just time for me to take a break, step back and say hey I am not going to be a welder my entire life. So I had to do something about it. CWI was my next step. I hope to achieve a lot of goals I have set for myself.But I will never never ever forget where I come from and what it took to get where I am at. A lot of hard work, sweat and blood went into my journey. Just like majority of you on here had to go through. I might be many years younger, but I didn't have it easy when I came into the industry. I was dogged, cussed, yelled at and thrown into the nastiest and hardest jobs they could find for me. I pushed through with my head held high when people would talk about me, my welds, my situation, my personality. I didn't care what they thought, all I had in my mind was im going to be a better welder than them and I wont be sitting here in 10 years talking to them on the same job. I will go places and do bigger and better things.Last edited by AndrewDavenport89; 04-29-2015 at 04:29 PM.
Reply:Originally Posted by teh603There's a macro image that says something to the effect of: "Someone who works with their hands is a laborer. Someone who works with their hands and their brain is a craftsman. Someone who works with their hands, brain, and heart is an artist." It was written by a guy, but you get the idea.
Reply:Thanks so much everyone. I appreciate the advice and suggestions. I'm reading all these on my coffee, and I tell you, I really do enjoy the work. It's fun, the crews I'm with treat me nicely, and so far I've only been told to man up once or twice. I Know that as a girl, I might have things a little easier (I've been told "if you were a guy I'd yell at you"). But I work hard, want to learn as much as I can, and I'm never on my phone! I hope that others notice stuff like that. I'll absolutely take your advice and words to heart. Thanks so much❤️Last edited by campbell04; 04-29-2015 at 05:17 PM.
Reply:I worked with a few great girls over the years. In my line of work girls generally didn’t last long, just to physical. Years ago I helped a young girl who use to ride my wife’s school bus. I helped her get into the Iron Workers union. My thought was for her to go structural, but she went rebar. Tying bar for almost 30-years has really took a toll on her body! She only takes foremen jobs now. I was on a job with her one time. She was tying the mat in the bottom of a graving dock for a floating bridge project. That girl was an amazing workers!Don’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:Originally Posted by campbell04... so far I've only been told to man up once or twice...
Reply:Originally Posted by campbell04Thanks so much everyone. I appreciate the advice and suggestions. I'm reading all these on my coffee, and I tell you, I really do enjoy the work. It's fun, the crews I'm with treat me nicely, and so far I've only been told to man up once or twice. I Know that as a girl, I might have things a little easier (I've been told "if you were a guy I'd yell at you"). But I work hard, want to learn as much as I can, and I'm never on my phone! I hope that others notice stuff like that. I'll absolutely take your advice and words to heart. Thanks so much❤️
Reply:If you have a really good welder to work with and he is helping you and letting you do as much as you can means he has faith in you. Every welder no matter how long they've been doing it will have repairs and/or fail x-rays. Most women welders I've seen put most of the cocky guys to shame. Women make very good TIG welders because they have steadier hands and pay attention to fine details.
Reply:[QUOTE=campbell04;5810251] I Know that as a girl, I might have things a little easier (I've been told "if you were a guy I'd yell at you"). But I work hard, want to learn as much as I can, and I'm never on my phone! I think what they may have meant was if you had a guy's ego we would have yelled at you.  On my farm I have employed several teenagers over the past years. The ones that "But I work hard, want to learn as much as I can, and I'm never on my phone!" and here is one  important one that you missed owned their mistakes! did not cause my level of furstration to rise to the point of yelling.
Reply:Originally Posted by campbell04About a year ago, I realized how unhappy I was in my career path.
Reply:You have got to settle down and not take sh!t personal. That would drive me nuts to work around that vibe. I want someone who is confident, even with their inexperience. Inexperience does not mean you are a dummy. Be confident that you are a solid MFer who just needs a shot and be shown how one time. Someone who is a doer & can be quiet, watch everything. Asks why and how and then makes great effort to duplicate. Your attitude, your attention to detail and being good & quick will get you very far with your mentor. Add in 10 years and you'll be training someone.