Maybe Jeffrey Grady will chime in. He just got a welding job at age 42!
never to old for anything.. I just seen online about a guy who was 90 and got his high school diploma
You are definately not too old to learn and work as a welder. Some trades are harder on the body than others.
If you have the drive to do it....You can. Get some info from the local comm college. That's a good place to start. I didn't go to school for welding until I was about 33. I already had experience, but wanted more technical knowledge & instruction. Some places take apprentices, but you can do the comm coll thing, no risk. No commitment. Worth a look into for sure! Good luck on it!
""It's over, Prime..." (Megatron to Optimus Prime, Transformers, The Movie)
You are never too old to learn. But it depends on what you decide to do. Age and gravity slows us down and changes the eye hand coordination. 36 is not old, but when you are competing with 21-26 year olds, ya get feeling old.
BABRT's
You are certainly not too old....at 36 your maturity level might help you climb a bit faster on the welding ladder then your average guy at 22. I like what dbigkajunna had to say......some welding jobs can get really physical, especially field repair and fab shops that do large items. However I have always been able to adjust my employment to my physical state of being...if you gain yourself a solid ALL-AROUND set of skills this is not too hard to achieve. I am only 40 but I have a very damaged set of knees, shoulder etc. from my racing days. I managed to get a welding job where a sit in a desk chair all day and work on super light small parts......thats not the norm but those jobs are out there.
Another good point to consider is in the USA the pool of skilled welders is literally imploding....the shortage is drastically growing....therefore the wages and opportunities for those of us with experience and good skillsets is growing accordingly. Maybe not as fast as the price of gas but its looking better then ever. The cool thing about welding is not everyone can do it....its a physical hand eye coordination thing and also requires a bit of perception talent to be good at...some get it some don't. Take some starter classes and see if you have an aptitude for it and go from there. I graduated from college at a early age with an engineering degree...I got a stinger put in my hand whilst looking for work and never looked back....I love what I do for a living.
Thank you for the good words....i feel a little better about this now. Physically demanding work and goin' up against 20 year olds never scared me, just wanted to know if most places hired based on skill alone or if age factored into it.
Yall have a good one...and thank you again!
I'm 28 I look alot younger and I wonder sometimes because I look so young did I not get a chance to even test for a job because I look so young there thinking he doesn't know anything but I don't know but I have wondered that a couple of times it's probally just me
Welding is skill pure and simple. If you love it they make drugs for the pain. But blown out knees and bad backs are going to happen espically to pipeline welders. And dont forget the eyes. At your age you can compete with the youngsters, but at 45 or 50 time and gravity WILL take its toll.
I encourage the older guys to weld long enough to get the skills to inspect. Some people are not cut out for inspection but most welders when they hit 50 see the advantages of having that certification. By the time you are 40 or so you could qualify for the CWI. Spend the next 3-5 years as a welder/inspector then by the time you are 45 or so be inspecting full time.
Just a suggestion
BABRT's
Thank you....that sounds like good advice.
I'm 31 and a female, in school for this stuff..... Getting job offers and interviews already....
I don't think it matters really. Just like they said above, I think it may help to be a little more settled and mature. I know that's been mentioned in my case.
Jenn
I will put it to you this way Whippersnapper.
You're slightly less than half my age and I still keep my qualifications up to date. True I don't do any production welding any more but I could if the need arose. That's not saying I could climb around on the Iron or in get in to some of the spots or contortion like back when but sitting at a Positioner I can hold my own.
Where ever you go they will require you to test and that's probably 80% of there requirements.
That's a beginning and how far you care to take from there will not be age factor. Welding is a much broader field than allot of people realize. If you take to it well you can learn things that give you a better understanding of how everything else works.As a rule it gets into your blood so to speak to the point you live and breath welding.
RonG,
All I can add to that is AMEN! That's a gospel answer...it does get into your blood and it's all you want to do!!
Respectfully, Jeffrey
YUP YUP!! Sorta like crack, even though I've never tried crack. This stuff is very addictive!!!!
It's all you want to do, read about, live and breathe!!! From the very first time....
Thank you..I appreciate what you said. Makes me feel better about becoming a welder at my age.
Short of what everyone else has posted, welders are in too high of demand to discriminate based on age. It has been my experience that a little maturity actually helps the learning process. I'm not kicking the younger guys and gals but some of our youth are lazy and dumb. Mature people have goals and responsabilty,therefore creating a drive to be better.
Man, I hope you're not too old, because I'm 47 and thinking about breaking into the business. And I'm not even a welding student yet! ........Unfortunately, when I was in H.S. I took auto-mechanics instead. It came in quite handy, but I believe I could've afforded a few bad mechanics with a welders income. Has anybody got advice for me?....I want to learn to weld aluminum. Is that considered an advanced class that must be taken after learning to weld steel? How long would a good student take to be employable? and guess what?.....I am also Ron G. But call me Mopar384.
You are not too old. I retired out of the military and started an employer paid for welding class at 43 and just turned 44. I confess that I am looking at two different directions in the future.
1)Owning my own business. Not welding related. I am considering turning my hobby from a part time to a full time business
2) Looking in the direction of inspection a few years down the road.
Meanwhile, Im slowly plugging along one class at a time on a Bachelors. 9 classes left.
Recently got myself certed. Passed the 6G pipe test. No ceremony, a thumb was jerked at a welding table down front, boss said that belongs to you.
I weld every day, all day, on all kinds of stuff. Bumpers, cattle gaurds, pipe, trailers, fire tubes, etc. Whatever comes in the door. I am getting to be a regular truck bumper fabricator expert. I seem to manage to learn something new every day and enjoy it.
aluminum is generally considered "harder" because the oxide melts at a higher temperature than the base material and it doesn't change color with temperature (hard to tell if you are 1 deg below melting point or 500). that along with it's greater thermall conductivity, but I wouldn't say the entrance into aluminum welding means you need to know how to weld steel. I learned how to TIG weld on aluminum and it actually helped me gain the fine skills to feather the temperature so that when I would TIG stainless steel or steel it would be an absolute breeze. All that being said Aluminum welding is relatively rarer as most commericial work is steel.
My advice would be look for a votech or community college near you and see if they offer welding classes, Now adays a lot of the companies are offering on the job training, if you had a basic class or two under your belt and could read blue prints that would get you in the door as a helper or apprentice at a lot of places.
I'm almost kicking myself for not going that route, I'm in my 4th year as a welding engineering student I'm scraping by making $7/hr while paying out the nose for credits, I could be making an engineers salary right now as a pipeliner. But then I wouldn't be able to post on the AWS forums on thejob... shh this is research
Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool causing fusion. Welding is distinct from lower temperature metal-joining techniques such as brazing and soldering, which do not melt the base metal. So, you have to join the welding certification training program if you want to make your career[url=][/url]as a welder.
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