Welding Tips and Tricks

So, I am 23-years-old and within the last couple of months I've started to consider welding as a career. I've never welded anything in my life, and to be honest, up until a few months ago I've never even thought about it as a career, let alone ever having the need/desire to weld. But I'm at the point in my life where I've considered most occupations and all the ones that have come across my mind have been non-trade related because I never really thought of myself as a tradesman. But from the jobs that I have held, most of them have either bored me or required me to always have a smile on my face; something that doesn't mesh with my character at all. And if I were to obtain a degree in what ever subject I choose, I can't imagine spending so much time and effort on a career path that I do not fully enjoy. So while I've never really thought of myself as a tradesman, what I can say is that growing up I was never around people who were into the trades (welding in this case) so I've never really been given an opportunity to see what I may or may not be interested in. I have come to realize though, that I do enjoy working with my hands and producing a product. So with what little bit of knowledge that I do have about what I like and dislike, I've done a little research and decided that if I am going to consider getting into a trade, I want to try out welding because out of all of the other trades it seems like it would suit I am looking for best.

I want to be able to travel with my career, I want knowledge that I can use even if all of our cell phones, T.V's and computers went down tomorrow, I want a career where I don't need to please a customer with a smile, and most importantly I want to do something that I love. So with all that being said, I'm here to ask all of the experienced welders their unbiased opinion on choosing welding as a career. More specifically, I want to know what you think are the pros and cons of being a welder? Also, what are all of the job opportunities available to someone who is a good welder? The last thing is in regards to safety: I talked to a man who had a PHD in Engineering and he mentioned to me that welders have bad lungs due to all of the fumes they breathe in. I am a pretty health conscience person so you can image how this turned me off when he said this. But is this true or are there safety measures that all professional welders take in order to prevent things like lung cancer, etc.? Anything else you can guys can chime in on would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Have you ever had a helmet on???
Some guys just hate the noise and spark and the general dander involved...
As too lungs, they make resporaters for that.

I'll let more experienced guys chime in beyond that.

Sounds like you have some decisions to make. The first thing that comes to mind and you didn't tell us is why welding? Money? Love? I firmily believe one needs to enjoy welding and desire to improve their skills and accept the next challenge rather than choose it for a "job" or for the huge amount of money people think they will make. Don't take me wrong, I make VERY good money but that is not the only reason I do this. My drive came from the desire to make things and I was always curious what welding looked like from under a hood. And my mom thought I would be good at it
The first recommendation I will give is go to you local career center and tell them what career choice you are thinking about and see if they will give you a tour of their weld lab. They will be able to advise you better in person and maybe set up a 40 hour SMAW class to get you started.
If you want to travel maybe pipeline would be your thing. In my opinion this is more of advanced welding and you should get your feet wet in a school or local fab shop first.
This is not meant to offend at all but if you are concerned about welding smoke inhalation, maybe a welding career is not for you. Don't get me wrong, the proper PPE will keep you safe and healthy but a lot of what you will do will not be clean and you will still breath in stuff you will not like. You can purchase a fresh air welding hood and evade most smoke but will still breath it when you take it off. I wouldn't say that weldors in general have bad lungs.
Lastly to answer directly do I recommend welding as a career to others, well it depends in the type of person. A "suit" will never make it but someone with a desire to learn will do quite well.
Remember, as Steve and others put it, we are craftsman, we don't just punch the clock and forget about our work. Most of us live and breath welding and fabrication, hence the reason we regulars soak up so much time here. Most careers don't have the satisfaction that we feel when we step back and behold what we just made or the pretty weld we made, and then we can jump on here and post the picture for bragging rights, and rightfully so.
These are my personal opinions only.
-Jonathan

Welcome to the forum.

Being in a different country I can't really give you good career advice in the US. I can talk to you about lungs.
There is risk in everything we do in all facets of life. There are formaldehyde vapours coming off furniture and house hold particle boards and carpets. Paints are toxic. Fish they say are full of mercury and lead, meat full of hormones etc. The point is to know and manage the risk. There are welders with bad lungs but you will find most are smokers or at least were and are now chewing very expensive gum!

There are risks with welding, some of these (but not all) are:
Electric shock
Burns
Toxic fumes and chemicals
Dust/grinding particles

All of these can be managed with precautions, protection and safe work practices. If you don't engage in these, you shouldn't be welding. If you do, there is no reason why welding can't be a good career option. There are plenty of "old farts" in this forum that will attest to this.

Which reminds me Steve, who are you calling old?

Welcome to the forum.

coldman wrote:...
Which reminds me Steve, who are you calling old?

Myself, mostly...

My eyes are shot, my hands shake, my back aches (It was constant, until I gave up and saw the Dr.), my knees hurt, and my right hip is probably going to need replaced in the next five years...

Anyone here who's had even ONE of those issues knows what I meant about aging...

I got told last week that within 5 yrs I will need both lamps done for cataracts.
Already using coke bottles for specs.

coldman wrote:I got told last week that within 5 yrs I will need both lamps done for cataracts.
Already using coke bottles for specs.

The eye doctor tells the elderly Japanese woman, "You appear to have a cataract."

She replies, "Cataract? Who need eye doctor now? I drive Rincoln!"



Steve S

Do cigarettes prevent lung cancer? I hope so.

BeeRanDyn in all seriousness, you're thinking the right things at a good age to be thinking them. I'm about 10 years behind you and I wish I'd known what I wanted to do back then.

3 years ago I sold out, got liquid and went to school. Not a great school, but I met some decent people who have been good folks to know. I've always done things with my hands and made good money in the trades.

Haven't had any decent welding jobs yet, one doing MIG fabrication (kill me) and I'm more moving towards starting my own automotive focused custom fab business. I love to fabricate things, especially custom one offs and I hate customer service unless the customer and I have a common goal (typically you do in fabrication).

I've made some decent money on a few small projects for people and the more I've put the word out, the more I've had to turn stuff down because I don't have a proper 10,000 sq ft shop, but there are customers out there.

I'm not experienced enough to give you any hard advice, and I haven't exactly set the world on fire with my own welding successes, Just wanted to get a bit into why I made the choice to do something I like, connected to other fields I like and never have to pretend to be nice to some nouveau riche soccer mom of a customer.

Good luck with whatever.

First advice, try everything out! Find out which process suits you best and get as good as you can at it. Personally I try to learn as much as I can about every process. I personally am striving to open my own shop and do repair work and odd jobs so I strive to stay practiced up on every process so I can be ready for no matter what walks in the door. If you want to travel, pipeline is definitely a good option. There is a lot of travel and if you like stick and tig then it is a great option.
Second advice, get as good as possible at the chosen process. If you really like stick welding compared to tig or mig then get to the point of mastery at stick and learn as much as possible. I feel comfortable to do about anything with a mig welder in any position just because I have had a lot of time running wire. I have stick welded longer than I have mig welded and I actually taught myself how to mig weld but at the time used mig more. I just recently learned how to tig weld and loved it so much that I am trying to learn as much as possible and use it as much as possible.
Finally, learn for yourself. I have heard a lot of horror stories about welding but only 1/3 of them are true. Find out what techniques work best for you and use it.
Practice practice practice. I have had a slow week waiting on my steel supplier to get their stuff straight and instead of closing up shop since I had nothing to do, I pulled out the 7018 rods and played around with them in about every position just to stay practiced up. You can never practice too much.

I've been welding for about six or seven year (I lost count because of all the fun I have had) I have been able to do small projects, heavy construction, and heavy transport industry. I enjoy what I do and still cannot believe I get paid to have fun 10 hours a day. Also, the people you meet in the industry are probably the best you will ever meet. I have yet to meet anyone who looked down at me because of my inexperience.

One of the best things about welding as a trade is that you never stop learning new things. I just turned 53 yesterday and I am still learning. My father was 81 when he passed, was a welder most of his life and even in his later years was always learning new stuff. If you enjoy learning, welding as a career is a good choice.

It is, as has been mentioned, a dangerous career. But as a welder, I accept the occupational hazards. In fact, it was the hazards that attracted me to this trade in the first place.

These are just the musings of an old man who has learned a trade that is more fun than should be allowed by law.

I am also currently learning stick welding and I also would like to hear how to get into pipe as that is what I have the most interest in.

Ps not trying to hijack your thread I am also curious about the question you have

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I'm turning 22 this year.
Welded in highschool, then a little here and there in between. (Nothing longer than 30 minutes at a time, and not often. Well actually had to cap a well head once, that was a learning experience as I had never done vertical before.)
Anyways. Lol I had always liked welding. Hadn't really been doing anything with my life, just working construction for the most part. Got tired of working on poop tanks and moving mobile homes, not to mention the extreme heat, and being so weather dependant.
So I sent in for information from tulsa welding school. (About 30 miles from me) Got some information, went in for a tour, etc. I was trying to decide what I really wanted to do. The admissions rep lady kept calling me about every other week for two months, because I kept putting it off. So finally I manned up and said screw it, I'm just getting older and older and not getting anywhere in my life, so I better do something, even if I don't end up welding for very long, at least I have something to show for. (Though each day that goes by, I'm liking it more and more.)
If you're a fairly quick learner, good with your hands, and learn by doing, you'll do good at welding.
I can't comment on which schools are best, but can say I'm pretty happy where I'm at. (And i have read reviews and horror stories. But the most common thing was, "you get out of it what you put in.") They sort of lean towards pipe, but do other stuff also.
Just my ramblings.

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spiritwalker wrote:...These are just the musings of an old man who has learned a trade that is more fun than should be allowed by law.

Agreed. I spent many years studying everything that interested me, but each time I came back to welding to pay my bills.

I still study everything that interests me, but I'm done fighting the idea that I'm a welder... Ive been doing it thirty years and it pays my bills.

BTW, I'll be 46 on the 26th... and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote:BTW, I'll be 46 on the 26th... and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

Steve S

I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys "R" Us kid. Accept now my toys are a little bigger and more dangerous.

Mongol wrote:I'm a Toys "R" Us kid. Accept now my toys are a little bigger and more dangerous.

Yep.
I also work on cars as a hobby, sorta.
Mainly diesels. Which is a pretty good profession also.

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