Whats Up from Virginia

Hotshot01 · Wed Aug 19, 2015 9:13 pm

Hey guys,

I started my welding career 5 years ago at a local shipyard where i became nuclear qualified. I did a lot of Hard wire mig, pulse arc and stick welding (steel, SS, and Inconel), Flux core (steel and SS) all Xray and UT 100% and a TON of mirror welding. I got a new job last year and i sure do miss welding, so im in the process of starting a mobile side business now.

Thanks,

Hotshot

Mike · Thu Aug 20, 2015 9:38 am

Welcome to the forum.

Boomer63 · Thu Aug 20, 2015 9:50 am

Welcome to the forum! Good luck with that business, let us know how it works out! Lots of guys want to get into what you are talking about, but it is a hard thing to do, full time.
Gary

Hotshot01 · Thu Aug 20, 2015 9:42 pm

well im not quitting my full time job i have a pretty flexible schedule

Boomer63 · Fri Aug 21, 2015 10:19 am

Hotshot01 wrote:well im not quitting my full time job i have a pretty flexible schedule

That is the way to do it. Keep your regular income stream. Build up your tool and equipment base, and customer base. If nothing else, the side work will keep you "off the streets and out of the gangs".

Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:17 pm

Boomer63 wrote:
Hotshot01 wrote:well im not quitting my full time job i have a pretty flexible schedule

That is the way to do it. Keep your regular income stream. Build up your tool and equipment base, and customer base. If nothing else, the side work will keep you "off the streets and out of the gangs".

"Out of the gangs?"

He's HERE, isn't he?

Steve S

Hotshot01 · Sat Aug 22, 2015 10:29 pm

Ha-ha yea that's the plan. I'm buying my welder first and I'll get my certs 1 by 1 starting with stick. Sucks I couldn't take my papers with me when I left, at least I have my experience and all I gotta do is the tests.

Tue Aug 25, 2015 6:55 pm

Hotshot01 wrote:... Sucks I couldn't take my papers with me when I left, at least I have my experience and all I gotta do is the tests.

Get used to that. Most jobs never actually "certify" you, but rather "qualify" you. The jobs that DO certify you, if they paid for the test, they feel they can reserve the paper since they feel they paid for it. (File that under "non-compete agreement.")

Even WITH serious certifications, don't be surprised to be asked to pass a test or three under a customer's WPS. Even working for yourself, with a binder full of certifications, your high-value customers will still want you to take a "qualification" test to their WPS. This does not apply when Joe Neighbor wants you to install his 5th-wheel or fix his bulldozer, but the real money comes from the folk who want you to prove it. The only times I've avoided this I was working for a staffing agency that was not above "pencil-whipping" qualifications, including, in one case for me, the MSHA course (38 hour, if I recall?)

Yes, the certifications will get you jobs. They will also get you expedited interviews. Just assume you're going to test for any job bigger than fixing your neighbor's equipment, regardless of your certifications.

Steve S

Boomer63 · Wed Aug 26, 2015 7:23 am

Otto Nobedder wrote:
Hotshot01 wrote:... Sucks I couldn't take my papers with me when I left, at least I have my experience and all I gotta do is the tests.
Get used to that. Most jobs never actually "certify" you, but rather "qualify" you. The jobs that DO certify you, if they paid for the test, they feel they can reserve the paper since they feel they paid for it. (File that under "non-compete agreement.")

Even WITH serious certifications, don't be surprised to be asked to pass a test or three under a customer's WPS. Even working for yourself, with a binder full of certifications, your high-value customers will still want you to take a "qualification" test to their WPS. This does not apply when Joe Neighbor wants you to install his 5th-wheel or fix his bulldozer, but the real money comes from the folk who want you to prove it. The only times I've avoided this I was working for a staffing agency that was not above "pencil-whipping" qualifications, including, in one case for me, the MSHA course (38 hour, if I recall?)

Yes, the certifications will get you jobs. They will also get you expedited interviews. Just assume you're going to test for any job bigger than fixing your neighbor's equipment, regardless of your certifications.

Steve S

Steve, you could open up a whole other thread with the idea of 'qualification' and 'certification' ... until you get into ASME where you certify to a pro qual ... and on and on and on. This is one reason welders have a love/hate relationship with the AWS and the 'certification' process. I would imagine that you could start a threat on the subject, get a few thousand responses, wait a year and do it all over again.
Gary

Wed Aug 26, 2015 7:15 pm

True, Gary.

I'm ASME certified, now. (Well, not quite, as I'm not current... I'm sure it's been more than six months since I've done a qualifying weld.)

However, I did not pay for this cert myself, so the documentation that proves it is in my employer's files. It's not so different for me than simply being "qualified", other than the fact that we have a national board number, and I can pursue my records to document my history. In other words, I don't carry some magic card that identifies me as ASME certified, but I could probably get it.

I'm amazed how much confusion there is between "certified" and "qualified". I'm equally amazed at how many welding schools don't explain this difference when they pass out certificates. I'm equally amazed how few of these students I've met were ever told to expect to test everywhere they go.

Steve S