today I graduate from a 5 month intensive welding class, 8hrs a day 5 days a week in the grand city of Ketchikan, Alaska. I have a two month job lined up to tear down a pulp and veneer mill with a plasma torch, and after this I will surely migrate to a larger city with my structural certifications. I was looking into a steelworking apprentiship in chicago. Anyway, do we have welders on this board? How do you like the profession, and do you have advice for the new man in the field?

hell yes?

My pappy was a welder and my uncle lived in Ketchikan. They were both heavy drinkers and smokers and dead before 50.

...that's all I got. Good luck!

I used to weld for about six months at an old job. They taught me how to, but in the end, it was shit. I kept coming home smelling like burnt metal, and I had wads of black shit in my nose. Needless to say, I'm not doing that again.

I have a 20 year career as a mechanical engineer in the steel industry. I can't weld worth a damn. Porcupine city. But I know welders, some of them very skilled. Yes, they drink. "Bill the welder? I didn't know he drank, 'till he came to work sober" is the general mill gag.

The market for welders in the Chicago area, however, is pretty darn good right now. Will you be certified for pressure vessel and large bore pipe welding? If not, get there. The old Amoco (now BP) refinery in Whiting Indiana (just across the Indiana-Illinois border) is beginning a massive upgrade. Like $3Billion worth in the next 5 years. That's not a typo. Billion with a "B". There is already a giant sucking sound coming from Whiting, drawing in all sorts of crafts, from labor through 'fitter, millwright and up through the engineer ranks. Most of the steel mills in the area jetisoned large quantities of skilled craft and engineer talent in the past 5 years. The older folks retired, the younger left the area. People with skills that can pass a hair folicle drug test can write their own ticket. Most of the steel mills in the area don't have large craft ranks anymore, but there are a number of contract maintenance companies that serve the mills for heavy lifting (blast furnace relines and steel shop pollution control work...lots of that going on right now...), and they're always looking for quality hands. Most of them only urine drug test, but will be more stringent based on the nature of the job or the client.

Bless you for wanting to be a part of American heavy manufacturing. Good luck! A good welder is worth his weight in Spam...

One of my first jobs out of high school was working reception at a trailer manufacturing a tow ball fitting shop.
I ended up welding and I loved it. I went on to try steel art work for a little while but then went to uni and haven't welded since.
Its an awesome industry for travelling.
My father works all kinds of shut downs at plants world wide. At the moment hes in Malaysia.

Good Work!

Not crap.


Mr. Graham

I put together safety programs for some of my cleints, 2 of which are for welding companys. They are allways looking for people and considering these are plants with really good OSHA records the market for welders has to be great. I could never do this line of work (I am clumsy as all hell), but if you enjoy it you can be paid paid top dollar for your work... and the benfits are great at least in this part of the US...

Shit, 2 months tearing something down with a plasma cutter?

Fucking liberal arts degree...

get your underwater welding certification, move to texas, make millions from and for oil companies, don't blow yourself up, and then retire.

there's large dollars in underwater welding.

enframed wrote:get your underwater welding certification, move to texas, make millions from and for oil companies, don't blow yourself up, and then retire.

there's large dollars in underwater welding.

yup, my largest customer does this, they spend money like its going out of style...