New to welding, looking for mentor in Austin, TX area

tjmack321 · Fri Jan 08, 2016 1:43 pm

Hello! I just recently retired from the Army after 12 years of service and I'm looking to start a new career. Welding appealed to me for several reasons. It seems like it involves a certain level of creativity and problem solving plus I enjoy working with my hands.

I live in the Austin, TX area and am searching for a mentor. I'm looking into my options as far as schooling and in the mean time I'd like to get a job assisting a welder. A full time job would be great, but I'd even be willing to work a day or two a week for free in exchange for some experience and guidance.

If you'd be able to help me out or know someone who can, let me know and I can shoot you my resume.

Last question…if I bought some inexpensive equipment and utilized some books or YouTube videos, do you think I would be able to teach myself any or do you think it would be waste my time and I just need to get to school?

Thanks for any input!

LtBadd · Fri Jan 08, 2016 4:48 pm

tjmack321 wrote:Hello! I just recently retired from the Army after 12 years of service and I'm looking to start a new career. Welding appealed to me for several reasons. It seems like it involves a certain level of creativity and problem solving plus I enjoy working with my hands.

I live in the Austin, TX area and am searching for a mentor. I'm looking into my options as far as schooling and in the mean time I'd like to get a job assisting a welder. A full time job would be great, but I'd even be willing to work a day or two a week for free in exchange for some experience and guidance.

If you'd be able to help me out or know someone who can, let me know and I can shoot you my resume.

Last question…if I bought some inexpensive equipment and utilized some books or YouTube videos, do you think I would be able to teach myself any or do you think it would be waste my time and I just need to get to school?

Thanks for any input!

tjmack321, welcome to the forums...you might also introduce yourself in the Member Introduction forum.

Thanks for your service, hope someone can help.

Poland308 · Fri Jan 08, 2016 6:09 pm

Lots of the basics can be self taught. Plus welding is easier to learn once you have some first hand hands on experience. The sooner you can get your hands on a welder for some practice the better. There is a lot you can learn and be taught by running even the cheapest machine. As long as you weld within the capability of the machine.

subwayrocket · Fri Jan 08, 2016 6:48 pm

Exactly what poland said . So far for me i've found that seat time seems the most important. You can watch tons of video's over and over, get a "one on one" with a local professional, etc . It's not until you start implementing with lots of seat time everything you've watched, seen, read or been shown that improvement comes.
"The 3 things that matter most" is probably one of Jody's simplest and best TIG video's .

Good luck man !

Fri Jan 08, 2016 8:20 pm

Welcome, TJ,

I began completely self-taught. There was no internet to reference, and my local library was too small to have any books on the subject. I continued to combine self-teaching with observing others for many years. I've still never taken a class, but I reached a "tipping point" where I had enough ability that other welders respected my efforts enough to share their knowledge with me.

If I had then the resources available now, who knows where I'd be? I'm still in a very good place in my career.

I'd advise one thing slightly contrary to previous posts... Don't buy the first machine you can afford. Harbor Freight and others have some real junk available on the cheap. On one hand, if you can weld with it, you can weld with anything. On the other, if you frustrate the hell out of yourself on some underpowered "barely capable" machine long enough, you might be discouraged enough to give up. You can get in to something truly useful for as little as $300 new and even for almost nothing "used" if you know how to use craigslist to your advantage.

Steve S

Superiorwelding · Fri Jan 08, 2016 8:30 pm

Welcome to the forum!

I have to agree with the others. I would advise you save your pennies and when the right deal come along jump on it. Having a personal machine will add so much more training than just relying on others or a school. You can take what you learned that day and practice a little that night at home. I have a friend who went to the local career center and he was chomping at the bit to get back and weld because he didn't have his own machine.

Since you were in the military, and thanks for that service, you might have grants or such to help with schooling and that is worth looking into. Start with career centers and the like and see what is offered in your area.

And of course you also have this forum where we will help you to the best of our abilities.
-Jonathan

rick9345 · Sat Jan 09, 2016 12:28 am

Make friends with a local LWS find the 1 or 2 man shop spend some time as an intern(unpaid helper floor sweeper) show work in earnest and you will observe and be handed a torch.As my mentor said "if you can't lift a broom you can't weld." That's how I got my start with tig.
Welcome,good luck, thanks for military service

Pipefitter533 · Sun Jan 10, 2016 7:07 pm

Welcome to the forum. I'm a union member from Kansas City. You should check with the local Pipefitters Union in your area. They may have a helmets to hard hats program that could accelerate you through their apprenticeship.

CRAFTBENDER · Sun Jan 17, 2016 2:29 pm

Otto Nobedder wrote:Welcome, TJ,

I began completely self-taught. There was no internet to reference, and my local library was too small to have any books on the subject. I continued to combine self-teaching with observing others for many years. I've still never taken a class, but I reached a "tipping point" where I had enough ability that other welders respected my efforts enough to share their knowledge with me.

If I had then the resources available now, who knows where I'd be? I'm still in a very good place in my career.

I'd advise one thing slightly contrary to previous posts... Don't buy the first machine you can afford. Harbor Freight and others have some real junk available on the cheap. On one hand, if you can weld with it, you can weld with anything. On the other, if you frustrate the hell out of yourself on some underpowered "barely capable" machine long enough, you might be discouraged enough to give up. You can get in to something truly useful for as little as $300 new and even for almost nothing "used" if you know how to use craigslist to your advantage.

Steve S

You can't go wrong with a name brand welder. I have a Miller 330 AB/P that I bought new a little over 40 years ago that has been absolutely trouble free and still welds like new. Now having said that I have to tell you about the Harbor Freight tig welder with foot pedal I just bought (#62486). 165 amp, high frequency start DC only with foot pedal. This is a sweet welding machine, stable arc and 60% duty cycle on full power. The accessories are high quality and the machine appears to be well made but time will tell. I got the two year warranty. If anything goes bad, they give me a new machine.