Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey everyone, My name is Sean and I have committed to getting back to school for welding in order to transition careers from a paralegal background to something where I can make things. I got tired of trying to convince attorneys how much I'm worth and wanted to get a job where my skills can be clearly displayed in a physical form. I enjoy a variety of hobbies like gardening and BBQ so there are many things I can think of building that would be fun and useful. I also like how welding lends itself to entrepreneurship and just mentioning my interest already has friends telling me to get back in touch once I can weld because they have work for me. And lastly, I want to buy a piece of vacant land one day and look to bring in shipping containers to build with and I'm suspecting the cutting and welding processes I can learn would prove invaluable for this type of building.

I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for welding certificate or AAS programs in the Denver area? I am looking at the Community of College in Denver Fabrication Welder Certificate program (https://catalog.ccd.edu/programs-course ... icatestext) and was wondering if anyone has experience with this institution or if another in the area is better? I will be paying for most of this out of pocket so price is a thing to think about and I like to Community College of Denver for its relatively low price per credit hour especially compared to the local Lincoln Tech campus. The Lincoln Tech program seems to go much faster (7 months), but I can wait a few extra months to save what seems to be about $10k total over the program.

Any advice or reference to other forum topics that have useful information for total newbies would be great! I am completely new to this and am reading "How to Weld" by Todd Bridigum and watching many videos online through weld.com and others to try and soak up as much knowledge as possible so once I start a program I can at least have some familiarity to begin. I have experience with woodworking and this last November I built a freestanding rock wall in my backyard utilizing ratchet strap jigs for straight angles but metalworking is something I've never touched seriously and want to learn.

Thanks for the help

Welcome. Be mindful this is a trade, skill, job, that will give back in a direct relationship to what you put into it. I’d recommend spending as much time as you can expanding your areas of learning as much as you can stand. Until you find the area that your most interested in.