[TB-Welding]

What's good guys. I started a new welding school this week and just have some questions. Ive been to school before for welding but this is more advanced welding i am getting into. The program i am in is called qualified welder in the energy sector. Well anyway's we are able to decide how we go about everything. For example you could start with TIG and then work through all the assigsments up to pipe level or you could do this with MIG/MAG or Stick. You can also have multiple process's going on. You could weld TIG one week then Stick the next week for instance. You also may not get to pipe level on all the process's so I need to decide what process comes first and what comes last. I want some help trying to figure out the best way to structure everything to get the most out of my school time. By the way the school is for 1 year. Thanks and keep on burning

Experience: I have been to welding school before for 1 year. While in school I learned the basics of MIG, stick, and TIG. I am most experienced in TIG because i ended up at a place for 6 months while i was in school welding solely TIG on stainless steel. I also worked a bit over the summer doing some MIG work and have also taken a license for TIG on a horizontal T-Joint. TIG is my favorite process. I am least experienced in SMAW.

[Poland308]

A lot of field welding of pipe is stick.

[plain ol Bill]

"qualified welder in the energy sector" -- To me that means you want to be a tube or pipe welder. If that is correct then I urge you to start with stick using 7018. That is the rod that is by far the most common in the fields. If you already have some TIG experience that is good but learn to stick weld first and get good at it in all positions. Weld on the bench, put it overhead, put it at arms length, put it under the bench, put it sticking over the back of the bench. Learn to weld in any position while hanging on with one hand and leaning out over a long drop. Don't shoot the bull in the school with everyone - burn rod, burn more rod, when you get tired burn some more rod.
When you can burn 7018 really well then figure out open roots with TIG. Weld, weld, weld.

[Poland308]

That's solid advice. The instructors from my local will start you out on an open but flat plate joint. Helps you get a good long 8 in run and helps you see how important fit up is. kinda like the vid on stick weld pads.