Welding Tips and Tricks

-I am currently enrolled in college to get my A.S. in welding technology. Man,I have worked in the local plants here in Beaumont but only as an equip.operator and decided to go get combo license. When I started I met a guy that said he was a cert.combo-welder but came back to get the degree because kids fresh outta high-school that obtained the degree were getting picked over him for the big-paying positions,and of course,did'nt have field exp. -other people have said you just need certification. This confuses the hell outta me cause I am fixina move up to Pittsburgh,Pa. where I don't see any jobs that require a person to have the AS degree like some of the jobs down here do. Not only that,but finding a school that offers a degree in welding technology is not as easy (nationwide)as you may think. Somebody please tell me which one is better and why if they know? I would appreciate it.

Hey bro, ok here's how I understand the system to work.

Welding Certificate is obtained by fulfilling so many units of welding specific courses

Welding Degree involves fulfilling those same courses plus additional ciriculum i.e. Math, Langauge, Drafting etc.

You would be worth more money in the long run as a degree'd welder because you can string two sentences together and hold a communication about more than just burning steel. For example you would be better equipped to read a blueprint and tell the engineer he's full of shit and his project won't work. He'll then tell you "I have a BS Degree in Engineering from the University of Idiots, and how dare you challenge me."

Then you can come back to him and say "I too have a college degree AND multiple welding certificates that say you are not competent enough to tie my shoes! I won't touch this project because I dont want my name associated with people getting killed.

The big boss sides with you cause you know your shit and have the credentials and expertise to back it up besides he doesn't want his name associated with people getting killed either.

When you have the balls and expertise to talk to your supervisors like this, you are now whats called a "Journeyman" Sometimes that term means you are the man who packs up your tools and takes a "Journey" to the next job because some bosses run things on unsafe shoestring budgets and people get injured, maimed or killed.

Case in point, I spent 2 years in hospital from age 20 over a shoestring budget boss who thought specialized sheetmetal lifting cranes at the cost of $100,000 were a waste of money.
Workers comp paid over 2.5 million in doctors bills, and you better belive they will get their money back outta him, and made him install the cranes. Most importantly, if I had the balls and credentials to say NO I wouldnt have been the guy with a shattered spinal column.

Fortunately for me, I can walk special thanks to some awesome doctors and physical therapists.

Hey man thanks for the response. I was laughing my ass off until the last half and it does make me realize that I would never want an injury or a death on my hands out there in the field for any reason. MY name will be on those welds and jobs completed and working with volatile chemicals and large-scale designs hightens the urgency for a job well done. I believe that with this degree I would feel very comfortable challenging any man that may be a "text-book-journeyman" who expected me to do something dangerous no matter what his title may be. I am sorry to hear about your injuries man but it is very sobering to me what you said about all of this.....it ain't no game. **Ok! Can anybody else give me some more answers reguarding this matter of Degree vs. Certificate?

After reading the post and drawing from my experience as an old carpenter I would say get all the paperwork you can! the young kids will be trying to beat you over the head with the degrees! the boss will have to side with them on account of the education and he can also push them around to his way of thinking! If you have all the paper work they have you can beat them back. And one thing they do not have is the oj experience ! And so the boss will either side with you or you will become a journeyman as I have! The supers love the kids coming out of apprenticeship cause they run the hell out of em but when the older journeymen say stfu and slow down before you get someone hurt is when I start my journey lookin for another job!LOL