welding career

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i always wondered how alot of the experianced guys ended up doing what their doing(specific welding process). why did you choose mig, tig, arc,....what influences people on what they pick up. im in school taking all of it, and im curious how you ended up doign what you do. also, do employers expect most welders to be decent at all of the processes? enlighten me please
Reply:I would have to say it all depends on the type of area you are in and or the company you apply for. I've been searching religiously for a job. There are plenty of jobs if you have 5 years experience, can fit and have a industrial mechanical background, (for my area at least). Some local companies in my area have a need for welders who can mig and tig aluminum. Also, if you can tig a root pass in pipe I'd say you are a pretty good candidate for just bout anywhere. IMHO that is. Goodluck to you.
Reply:Being in business for myself, I've found it is better to be good at all the processes. There is a lot less chance of not having work if you can do it all or at least be proficient in them.
Reply:Like said above you should be proficient in all process. I think Tig is where it's at. Maybe because that's what I do? Tig is clean. Usually little to no grinding. Needs a good fit-up. Just all around better working conditions. This is just my experience. As for how I ended up using mainly Tig. I was going to a trade school for welding. A friend got me a job welding titanium golf clubs in the early 90's. From their I've been welding Ti in the aerospace industry for 20 plus years.Last edited by TRENT; 12-14-2015 at 08:48 PM.
Reply:If you are going to be an employee you will need to become proficient at the processes your employer is needing. To be an owner operator you will need to be proficient at the processes your customer base needs. I know several pipe welders that only do pipe but they also don't work all the time. Most guys that work all the time have figured out that they will be welding the processes that some one else wants done. If you start out with the idea that you are only going to do one process and hope that you can find enough work to support you I hope you like the idea of being broke and hungry. Good luck with your schooling.
Reply:Your best bet is to not limit yourself to one process, unless you want to be a production welder. Which can get boring, but you just have to be good at the one thing that they do. But from the ads I see is low paying ($10-16)Personally I need constant challenge to stay interested. Since I left school I've always worked for industrial contractors. I do anything from millwright work, crane rigging, welding on vacuum furnaces 3x bigger than my house, small production fixtures, production robots, piping systems for anything from natural gas to fruit juice to potassium hydrochloride made from steel, stainless, nickel, aluminium, some structural work, fixing dump trucks or trailers, running heavy equiptment, and even sometimes having to dig dirt or shovel gravel. I have to use all welding process, from the back of my truck, or in the shop, crawling through mud, or hanging upside down stuffed in the smallest dirtiest spot you never thought a person could go, pouring rain, blizzards, or over 100 degrees in the blazing sun with full leathers. I'm certified for confined space vertical rescue, hazardous waste disposal and a whole list of other random things. But you get a welders rate ($20-$45) for everything you do from welding pipe to digging a hole, you get to travel, and you are never doing the same thing in the same place twice.Sorry for the long winded response. Just wanted to give the  best idea of industrial work I could for you. I personally love every minute of it and couldn't work in a shop that just did one thing.Good luck in school!Last edited by mr.dgold; 12-17-2015 at 10:49 AM.
Reply:mr.dgold, do you work for yourself?
Reply:I do both. What I described was working for established industrial contractors. I also have a growing small business doing small custom jobs and repairing equiptment for local contractors. Most industrial companies require at minimum a 1 to 2 million dollar insurance policy, some $5 million or more to do work for them. Currently that's out of reach for me personally but I am working towards that goal. I may not be a typical welder though. I absolutely LOVE welding. After welding all day, even if I'm not doing work for a customer, I will still make things for myself or just run beads for practice or to try different techniques. And if my welder isn't running I'll read old text books, welding books from the library, watch videos on youtube, and every thing I can find related to metal on the internet. I'm obsessed with knowledge and I think that has made me successful. I never have to think twice about taking a job or answering the question, "Can you weld this?", the answer is always yes. As much as you will learn at school, you're just getting started. You will learn tons in the field and talking to the old heads, along with the wealth of info on the internet, but you will never know everything and you will always learn more no matter how much you thought you already knew.
Reply:If you apply for anykind of I industrial company, they will use all welding processes, construction, ship building/repair,  heavy equipment, boilermaker, recycling, etc.So just don't favor one if you plan on going into those fields, master the craft of all welding processes. If you decide to go into an indoor manufacturing shop, lets say racing for example building custom parts. You will probably use MIG and TIG majority of the time.
Reply:If you want to be a professional Welder you need to be proficient with all forms of welding.Miller TrailBlazer 251Miller HF-250-1Miller MaxStar 150 STLHyperTherm PowerMax 380 plasmaLincoln PowerMig 180Millermatic 252Miller Diversion 180
Reply:Originally Posted by tbirkeyi always wondered how alot of the experianced guys ended up doing what their doing(specific welding process). why did you choose mig, tig, arc,....what influences people on what they pick up. im in school taking all of it, and im curious how you ended up doign what you do. also, do employers expect most welders to be decent at all of the processes? enlighten me please
Reply:I got into welding because I was tired of substituting and really didn't want to get into full-time teaching.Seriously. Don't teach if you're in a state like Texas that doesn't have real teachers' unions. We're 49th in the US for a couple of pretty good reasons.Anyway, I picked a fairly short stick/TIG program because it was what I could afford. If I'd had enough money for another couple of semesters I'd have continued into the pipelining program and taken the MIG course. Either way, there's enough stick and TIG work down here that I should be able to find a job once the December hiring slump is over.Currently working as a Paralegal, but still interested in hobby welding.Miller Bobcat 225ntOne- Character Fractions: ¼ ½ ¾ ⅛ ⅜ ⅝ ⅞
Reply:Originally Posted by WNY_TomB.often a millwright or field machinist will become a certified welder. usually employer will discourage too many being too skilled at too many things like too many welding certification's as employees expect more pay with more skill. so often hard to become more skilled as a employer might discourage it.other thing is when young welding seem exciting and interesting. when you hit 50 years old working on the floor or high up on a steel beam or being outside in the rain and the snow becomes less exciting and interesting..i went back to night school and took cnc machining courses. i weld at home as a hobby. i work inside a temperature controlled machine shop usually standing or sitting which is better than working on the floor..try getting down on floor and stand back up. do that 200 to 1000 times in a day. it actually is very tiring to do and hard on a older body. or at ground level climb a scaffold with tool belt up to a roof. do that 100 to 500 times a day. better than any gym workout usually. old welders want to work in a welding booth in a shop. old welders working in the field when over 50 years old. hmmm. not exactly the most desirable job
Reply:My brother has a friend who was a couple of years out of school and could tig weld SS pipe all day.   They had access to an AC buzz box needing weld some brackets for a project out at thier hunting camp.  Long story short I ended up giving a welding lesson over the phone on how to arc weld using electrodes.  They didn't know what kind of rod to buy or how to set the machine up.  They had never covered this in the school he attended.  You don't want to be this guy.  The school was some where in the St.Louis area.  The guy did have a job right out of school but only welded SS pipe.  I would go nuts doing this.  I hate to make more than two of anything.Dan D.Manipulator Of Metal