hobart welding school

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hi everyone, i really dont post on here that much but i need some serious advice. i am going to start hobart welding school in the beginning of june but now i'm having second thoughts. is the outlook for future welders dim? would going to hobart actually even mean a thing on my resume? or would my money be better spent going to college? dont get me wrong i love welding, ive done it for 2 yrs at a local jvs but now im just wondering is it a smart career decision....
Reply:As a student in a Trade School for Welding let me give you my side of things and what I've seen. The jobs are out there, it just all depends on what you are expecting to work for and where you are expecting to work. I live in NJ and the market around here is dryer than the deep desert. The majority of the people in my class are expecting to get a job fresh out making 30-40 dollars an hour. Of course, these are also the same guys that sit around the shop not welding and expecting their plates to pass just on merit alone.What you get out of the school is equal to what you put in. If you show that you are a crack welder, the teachers will notice and may even throw a job your way if they show up at your shop. I know that there have been rumours floating around the school that there might be a big hire soon and a few names have been bandied about. As for "Would my money be better spent at college." That's an interesting point. If you REALLY want to weld and there is a college around that offers a program, I'd say go for that. Especially if you want to go on from there and maybe get a Bachelor's degree and eventually a Master's Degree. Even if they aren't in the field of Welding, having a leg up on the process helps. And now a bit about me. I'm 26 years old and I messed around in school. I only recently figured out what I wanted to do with my life. Obviously it's welding and working with my hands. I spent 2 years as a Social Worker, 4 years in Retail and 2 years as a Mechanic. I thought I had figured out what I wanted to do as I went along, but I was never quite pleased with the work I was doing. Once you find out what you love doing, you'll never work a day in your life.tl;dr Any education is better than none. Jobs are scarce depending on where you live. Do what you love for a living.
Reply:Originally Posted by SinisterDexterAs a student in a Trade School for Welding let me give you my side of things and what I've seen. The jobs are out there, it just all depends on what you are expecting to work for and where you are expecting to work. I live in NJ and the market around here is dryer than the deep desert. The majority of the people in my class are expecting to get a job fresh out making 30-40 dollars an hour. Of course, these are also the same guys that sit around the shop not welding and expecting their plates to pass just on merit alone.What you get out of the school is equal to what you put in. If you show that you are a crack welder, the teachers will notice and may even throw a job your way if they show up at your shop. I know that there have been rumours floating around the school that there might be a big hire soon and a few names have been bandied about. As for "Would my money be better spent at college." That's an interesting point. If you REALLY want to weld and there is a college around that offers a program, I'd say go for that. Especially if you want to go on from there and maybe get a Bachelor's degree and eventually a Master's Degree. Even if they aren't in the field of Welding, having a leg up on the process helps. And now a bit about me. I'm 26 years old and I messed around in school. I only recently figured out what I wanted to do with my life. Obviously it's welding and working with my hands. I spent 2 years as a Social Worker, 4 years in Retail and 2 years as a Mechanic. I thought I had figured out what I wanted to do as I went along, but I was never quite pleased with the work I was doing. Once you find out what you love doing, you'll never work a day in your life.tl;dr Any education is better than none. Jobs are scarce depending on where you live. Do what you love for a living.
Reply:As someone who went back to school to change careers (welding) in the last few years, I would say to outlook is not bright, but also not dim either.  As you can see with our economy being the way it is for the most part, things are not bright either, which means it would be a perfect time to spend your time going to school.  I think when the economy picks up welders will be definitely be the first ones to benefit.      Does having Hobart on your resume mean anything? I being close to 40 giving someone younger advice is I'm looking at the cost for school.  Looking at a possible total of 25k to learn a trade seems kind of high.  Have you looked at any near by colleges?       There is money to be made welding especially if your willing to chase it.  It all depends on how you want to live? Life on the road?
Reply:Right now jobs are scarce for everyone no matter what field you are in. I am an advocate of school, be it welding/trade school or college. The job market is certainly worse for those with no formal training or education in anything.As for the college versus Hobart school...Its a matter of what you love. My suggestion would be to take a few classes at the community college for a semester and see if you are indeed suited for 4+ years in acedemia. Just like welding, college is not for everyone. Not going to college does NOT mean you are stupid or less than. Do not let other people tell you that. At some point in this country it became almost criminal to be a blue collar worker or more specificaly someone who earns a living with their hands. All I have to say is look at how much a plumber gets paid and a decent plumber is always busy.You may want to delay starting the welding school and test the waters of college first.As for the future of welders? Welding is a broad field with many facets. I would think you may want to also decide if you are going to focus more on structurall, pipe, pressure vessel, aerospace or other forms of welding. Truly welding is just a part of any of these fields. If you are going to be a structural ironworker/welder, steamfitter, or boilermaker you will need many other skills that go beyond welding. Rigging knowledge comes to mind amongst other things. So do not think that after 15K and 9 months you will be qualified as a journeyman welder in most trades. So yeah  in terms of the future of welders, who is to say what things will look like in 9-10 months when you would be finishing your program. Things could take a nose dive(if its even possible to get much worse than it is now) or they could make a serious turn around or Iran could shoot a missisle at us and all these concerns will no longer be an issue. A lot can happen in 9-10 months. I would view spending any serious cash on any schooling as an investment. Like any investment you should be reasonably sure you are going to be pleased with that investment and be sure that you will at the very least get a return on that investment.Going to Hobart or Lincoln for welding is like a musician going to Berklee or Juliard...the information is the same more or less. The difference is the access to the industry you will have. The contacts if you will. Chances are the staff at the big name school have more national contacts than the staff at the local school. BUT the staff at the local school will have far more local contacts. I will leave you with this:Have you thought about contacting a local trade union such as the boilermakers, ironworkers, pipefitters, pile drivers, sheet metal workers or millwrights? I would say that the Boilermakers do the most welding and use a variety of processes on both plate and tube(mostly tig and stick with some wire feed). I would say the pipefitters(tig and stick mostly with wire feed creeping in now and again) and the ironworkers(a fair split between wire feed and stick) are about tied in terms of welding. In my experience the pipefitters tend to be superior welders to the Ironworker. Most of these unions have4-6 year apprenticeship programs that teach you welding along with other aspects of that trade. The cost would be your monthly dues and whatever the working assesment is. Just a thought. If you want some contact information on any of these trades just ask and I will grab a name and number of who you ca talk to.'MikeIW 15
Reply:dear big boi i have been in the trade for 20 yrs as a union pipe welder i can tell you do not quit a welding education as with any education is something that can never be taken yeah right now the market is cold but in time it will turn around and when it does you will have the experience to get a good job either with a trade union or in an open shop. right now i am laid off after working for 13 yrs straight and earning 100 to 120 k a year plus a pension and annuity so learn to weld pipe get good at it master your craft and in time you will be making more than most people with college degrees and a good welder will never be out of work for too long and just remember you have to take the good with the bad.
Reply:One great advantage about welding skills is that employers are always asking for mechanics who can weld, millwrights who can weld, machinists who can weld and yes even carpenters who can weld.  It will open doors to jobs very quickly.  The other plus is that a skill such as this allows you to get decent paying jobs each summer when you are saving for next years tuition for college or university.  Your classmates are struggling after a summer working a low paying service job while you have enough to get you through the year.
Reply:Bigboi,I've been to college, worked about 15 years as an engineer, and at 35 decided to go back to trade school and learn to weld.  I went to Hobart and took 10 months of classes.  Dollar for dollar, the best money I ever spent on education.period.  Others have said this, and I'll repeat it for emphasis, if you go, you'll get out of the experience equal to the effort you put into it.  In round numbers, training at HIWT cost me about $75/day.  I never left early and I never took Friday off.  I saw plenty of young guys who did.  If you're going to spend the money, burn as much rod, use as much plate and pipe as you can.  Don't piss it away by getting drunk and skipping class the next day.  That's just wasting your money twice over.Hobart's employment office was very good at helping students, who wanted jobs, to find them.  I found work within a month of graduating.  Work a lot of overtime(~20 hrs OT/week), but made as much, or more money, than I did as an engineer with 15 years experience.Yes, the tuition is a lot of money, but at HIWT you're paying for an efficient, well organized program that gives you a solid foundation in welding skills.  Yes, there are less expensive programs at local colleges that also give a quality education in welding.  But it's luck of the draw in finding a good program, and what was good in years past may no longer be.  HIWT has been around for more than 50 years.  They've got teaching welding down pat.  The facilities are top notch.  If you use student loans to pay for your tuition to HIWT, you'll be paying somewhere around $250 a month for 10-15 years.  This is what I'm doing.  I felt it was worth it.  You may have more trouble than I did with finding student loans...times have changed a lot in the last 3 years.  If you're fortunate maybe your parents can help pay for school.  If not, you'll need to save that $7-$10K for living expenses.  I used my retirement savings from the previous 15 years of work to finance my living expenses for school....Now the down side.  Times are tight right now.  Nobody makes $30-40 an hour straight time right out of welding school.  You just don't know enough about the work or have the contacts to find that sort of work.  These days, structural welding(fluxcore) is starting at $15-$20 an hour, pipe welders(TIG and/or Stick) $17-$22 an hour. If you want to make the most money you can as a novice welder, you need to be willing to go where the work is.  Don't expect to stay at home and pull down more than $10-$12/hr as a welder; not long term anyway.  You might luck out and find a contract job that pays well close to home.  But those always end.   The best paying jobs are contract work, and you'll need to be willing and able to move in order to keep earning top dollar.  That means living in hotels or campers, and working 6-10s to 7-12s for days or weeks at a time.  Jobs will last weeks or months at a time, and you'll have to be comfortable with looking for work all the time.  A union might help with this,  but you'll have to pay your dues, literally.  I had a fair degree of success as a non-union welder when it came to finding work.  You'll need to have self discipline and be able to save money when you are working to carry you through the weeks when you're between jobs.Someone else suggested a semester at a local community college first.  That's not a bad idea if you're on the fence about trade school.  If you were not a good student in high school, at the very least you can take a few remedial math and reading courses, if you need them.  You might take a class in blueprint reading or drafting, or a basic metallurgy class if you were a good student in high school and your CC offers this type of class.  A little history and some hands-on welding or metallworking classes would round out your schedule.  If you enjoy it, keep at it.  Get an AA or bachelor's degree.  You can always do trade school later or afterwards.  If you hate academic life, then you've done some basics, and you should breeze through the technical parts of trade school.  Youv'e got to have basic math and reading comprehension skills to advance in a skilled trade.  If you can't read blueprints and figure dimensions, you're skrewed when it comes to moving up in the skilled trades world.Good luck and ask if you have more questions. Originally Posted by bigboiwelderhi everyone, i really dont post on here that much but i need some serious advice. i am going to start hobart welding school in the beginning of june but now i'm having second thoughts. is the outlook for future welders dim? would going to hobart actually even mean a thing on my resume? or would my money be better spent going to college? dont get me wrong i love welding, ive done it for 2 yrs at a local jvs but now im just wondering is it a smart career decision....
Reply:I don't know too much about the Hobart school, I believe it's one of those focused intense programs that does just welding nothing else. I went the school route, I got an AA in welding and fabrication, along with a certificate in machining. Then I went on and got a  B.S in Welding Engineering.  I worked as a welder or machinist the whole time I was in school so that took the edge off. It wasn't cheap though and I never got paid a lot for those "low skill" entry level jobs but I gained a lot of useful work experience.Anyways I say take whatever training you can get. The hobart weld school isn't the only path. There's community colleges, or unions (which pay you generally).Its slow right now but the whole economy is slow. My field is okay but I'm in a very rare profession.
Reply:Your local college may have a worker retraining program which might be state or federally subsidized so tuition my be free. A friend of mine did this with a Machine shop program and recently got his degree. A lot of good information here in this thread and everyone has an opinion best suited to their experience. First I would see how I could get that education for free. Then look at student loans. If you are a verteran you can get direct entry into an apprenticeship program called 'Helmets to Hardhats'. Its trade related and is a good way to get into a pipefitting/steamfitting union. Once in the union, the weld training is free, and you can make a bunch of money. (not looking to start a union/non union fight here)Check into UA.org   Good luck.UA Local 598
Reply:Originally Posted by joelwelderdear big boi i have been in the trade for 20 yrs as a union pipe welder i can tell you do not quit a welding education as with any education is something that can never be taken yeah right now the market is cold but in time it will turn around and when it does you will have the experience to get a good job either with a trade union or in an open shop. right now i am laid off after working for 13 yrs straight and earning 100 to 120 k a year plus a pension and annuity so learn to weld pipe get good at it master your craft and in time you will be making more than most people with college degrees and a good welder will never be out of work for too long and just remember you have to take the good with the bad.