Career Plans

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Hello Everyone I just joined this great forum.I am fairly new to welding and plan to apprentice prior to graduation. After I eventually get my jorneypersons ticket I want to find a great paying career. I've been looking into underwater welding and have a few questions that I hope you can help me with. Are there any companys I could get on with who only require me having my recreational diving tickets (not commerial)? Also could you please suggest other jobs that can pay close to that?Thanks I think I'll enjoy my time here
Reply:Hi Ya underpressure and Welcome to the Welding Web Family. If you post your first time under the  Introduce Yourself forum you'll find more folks welcoming you to Welding Web.As for the Job questions  and help you get more help by posting a request down in the Job Opportunities  Forum.Co-Own CNC shop:Miller :1251 plasma cutter, MaxStar 700 TIG/Stick, & XMT 456 Multiprocess Welder.&  2 Hypertherm HPR260's Plasma CutterSorry I had a bad stroke but now I am back.
Reply:underpressure,First of all welcome to the forum.I don't know how others on this forum feel about underwater welding, but to me it is a joke. Some people talk big about it like the those kind of like those who were "fisherman in Alaska". It sounds cool, like it is the best job or it is the toughest job. You have these fly by night, or scams school that charge some poor guy $15K for a 4 to 12 week class. This class will attempt to teach you everything you need to know to 1) be a proficient welder and 2) be a trained diver. I'm not sure what your level is in regard to welding but it takes a lot longer to even get mediocre.  Not to mention diving. If you do go for the underwater thing than let me warn you. First you will need to go to school. Next you will need to find a place that will hire you. The pay will be close to minimum wage. You start off as a tender. This means you will make sure everything is clean and orderly. You will be required to tend the lines of others and be talked down to the hole time. This will only last about 3 to 5 years. If you can complete this portion of your training then you may find a place to hire you as a diver. but by this time  you only have a couple of years left to work. No company will even talk to you unless you are under 25 years old. You can look forward to being out of the business by the time you are 34, 36 if your lucky.There is only one diving school that is worth a crap - the navy.I would strongly suggest that you continue on with getting you journeyman ticket. That is something real that will benefit you the rest of your life. There is much more adventure available to you if you stick with above water welding. If your good you can make six figures, travel the world, have 2 to 4 months off a year, and continue to diversify.I hope that I have sufficiently discouraged you from this line of work. But don't get me wrong, welding is a great way to get yourself a career without ending up with a huge student loan to pay back."Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." -- Seneca the Younger
Reply:Thank you for the advice, if not underwater though what would be the best way to make the largest wage in welding?
Reply:Originally Posted by qaqcunderpressure,First of all welcome to the forum.I don't know how others on this forum feel about underwater welding, but to me it is a joke. Some people talk big about it like the those kind of like those who were "fisherman in Alaska". It sounds cool, like it is the best job or it is the toughest job. You have these fly by night, or scams school that charge some poor guy $15K for a 4 to 12 week class. This class will attempt to teach you everything you need to know to 1) be a proficient welder and 2) be a trained diver. I'm not sure what your level is in regard to welding but it takes a lot longer to even get mediocre.  Not to mention diving. If you do go for the underwater thing than let me warn you. First you will need to go to school. Next you will need to find a place that will hire you. The pay will be close to minimum wage. You start off as a tender. This means you will make sure everything is clean and orderly. You will be required to tend the lines of others and be talked down to the hole time. This will only last about 3 to 5 years. If you can complete this portion of your training then you may find a place to hire you as a diver. but by this time  you only have a couple of years left to work. No company will even talk to you unless you are under 25 years old. You can look forward to being out of the business by the time you are 34, 36 if your lucky.There is only one diving school that is worth a crap - the navy.I would strongly suggest that you continue on with getting you journeyman ticket. That is something real that will benefit you the rest of your life. There is much more adventure available to you if you stick with above water welding. If your good you can make six figures, travel the world, have 2 to 4 months off a year, and continue to diversify.I hope that I have sufficiently discouraged you from this line of work. But don't get me wrong, welding is a great way to get yourself a career without ending up with a huge student loan to pay back.
Reply:Go1lum,I'm sure for that money that your course took longer than 4 to 12 weeks and was from a respectable institution.underpressure,I could go into a long winded lecture about how you should do what makes you happy. But you probably know all that. So what I'll try to do is break down the different welding fields.If money is all you are after then I would say get into plant work during outages/shut downs. An outage/shutdown is when a plant ( petrochemical, pharmaceutical, pulp and paper, computer chip) is when the plant shuts down for maintenance. They typically do this twice a year. One is a little longer than the other, but most will last no longer than 45 days. The shifts are typically 10 to 14 hours a day and 6 to 7 days a week. What happens is the plant will hire one company to perform inspection while the equipment id down (offline). This company will inspect and make sure everything meets the applicable code requirements. Any repairs that are noted will be performed during the next scheduled outage (unless it is critical). At the next outage the welding company will make all of the repairs. This is a never ending cycle. If you get in with a company that has national contracts, this can keep you employed year round. But the hours can burn you out. Most people that do this will only work 6 to 10 months a year, and can make six figures in that time. I did this for seven years and it was a very beneficial experience. The work is very hot and dirty. You travel a lot. This means living out of a suitcase going from motel to motel. Not the best thing if you have a wife and/or kids. The most common welding process are SMAW( becoming less frequent), GTAW, and FCAW-S (becoming more frequent) in all positions.After that on the pay scale is high purity tig and pipelining. Pipeliner work has similar hours and the work is dirty, but not as bad as plant work. There is a lot of travel but you stay in one location longer. Making money at this will require that you have your own welding rig. This uses mostly SMAW but there some automated systems that are being used more and more. welding in all positions (6g)The tig work is mostly working with exotic metals and high purity applications. This one usually gives you set hours. It is a nine to five Monday - Friday. Not a lot of advancement once your proficient. but a very clean work environment. welding in all positions. I guess automated welding could fit into this category. There will always be a need for operators and someone who has some metallurgical experience when problems arise.Next, as far as pay, I would put ironworker's ( I'm grouping together all structural field work for this one) This is typically a Monday - Friday with 8 to 12 hour days. You can work in town or out. Jobs are a little longer term in one location. You will need to weld in all positions using FCAW-S (gas shielded), and less and less SMAW. Maybe a little stud welding but that is pretty simple. More and more the local municipalities are requiring that in addition to your AWS welding cert they want you to take the same (AWS) test every year.Finally there is the shop welder. this is a nine to five, Monday - Friday. This is, after tig, is the cleanest environment. The majority of work will be in the flat or horizontal position. Most work is FCAW-G, GMAW (solid wire for thinner and metal core for thicker), and again less and less SMAW. If you choose this one it is best to try for a union, otherwise you will probably get paid peanuts or taken advantage of. Not a lot of room for advancement here.I'm sure others will add or argue this little list. But there is a lot of info to try to put into a nutshell. Welding is a great field to get into.Feel free to ask more questions and good luck."Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." -- Seneca the Younger
Reply:That was really good advice thank you! Off hand do you know any of the companies that do these repairs in large factories etc? I can handle traveling cause i'm young to this trade. Thank you for the advice, this information was very helpful
Reply:underpressure,I had actually typed out about twice as much info on the first attempt, but lost it. Most of the links I have are more geared toward inspection (also a very good option. It's something you can do at 60, unlike grinding.) If I was in your position I would call as many companies as you can that are posting jobs, even if your not interested in the job. Ask as many questions as you can. Here you go and good luck.http://www.roadtechs.com/"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." -- Seneca the Younger
Reply:qaqc, You are 100% correct on underwater welding and diving.I started out in the welding field and went to school to be an underwater welder. My vision was clouded by all of the money I was going to make and didn't investigate the diving field as well as I should have. I did go to an accredited dive school and loved learning everything that was taught about diving. I did learn during school that most welds are done top-side if possible for more control of the weld atmosphere. That was a let down. When I graduated and started in the dive field I quickly learned that diving is not as glamorous as I thought it was going to be and I probably wouldn't do as much welding unless it was back at the dive shop fixing some equipment that was broken. It definitely was a good learning lesson.Just my two cents worth.jscb
Reply:Originally Posted by underpressureThank you for the advice, if not underwater though what would be the best way to make the largest wage in welding?
Reply:Thanks for the advice, and yes I am fairly young so I'd like to work hard for a good 5 years and save every last dime (aside from a decent vehicle). Then after I have a good sum saved up I can buy a house (with a little mortgage) and maybe start a family.
Reply:UA.orgLook into an apprenticeship. Its worth it.Bill
Reply:Fat Bastard:  Very well said and incredibly true.  It took me until only recently (and partially thanks to becoming interested in the trade) to realize all of that.  I was always a corporate suit type and thought I always would be until I realized there was more to life than that...