NOW WHAT?

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 10-30-2009 17:39 Edited 10-30-2009 17:50

Be glad you have a job for starters..

Aerospace work is hard to come by.

Showing that you can do a high level job for a while is going to make you look much better in the future.

Most repair depots also have plenty of R&D that can be pretty satisfying.

By Superflux (****)

Date 10-30-2009 20:22

joe davis,
You're not even out of Tech School yet! My questions to you are:
1) How long have you been at this aerospace job?
2) What do you consider "critical"? How much more critical can you get than Aerospace work? (not like you can just pull off on the shoulder and wire a muffler back up with a coathanger)
3) Can you not stay at this job and further your education? (you said "tech school" not engineering degree)

Most of us in here ARE PASSIONATE in our pursuit the metal joining arts.
I don't know how much actual welding experience you have, but from here, sounds to me like you've got a pretty good gig happening.
My advice would be to have a little patience and give this opportunity a fair chance.

By joe davis (*)

Date 10-30-2009 23:22

ok to anwser your questions first i've been at this job for about 5 months i guess ive dabbled in stick (SMAW) a little my whole life nothin fancy but after i got out of the military i decided to go into central texas college welding certificate school. Just by the grace of god one of the welders on my contrac went out for med reasons and i talked them into lettin me try the tubes. Anyway from about first of june to the end of august I spent 8 hours a day at a sincrowave then 5 and a half hours a night at welding school (I saw puddles in my sleep). Basicly my experiance is basic tech school processes and i can slam out the tubes now like nothin, But here comes the criticle part .... The job title is Aerospace Structural Welder but we only fix very minor things, Im talkin 1G Maybe 1F no more than 2 to 3 in long we might get 1 or 2 repairs a month the rest of time i run a gmaw mostly on alluminum fabricating ramps or maint stands.As far as those tubes go (Ive since learned) the only reason we have to do them is someone upstairs is under the impression it certifies all positions period and they get away only with only one cert per metal group. When in actuallity we weld more 1F than 1G. I'm just sayin I feel that theres more to this and Id like to be involved in it for the experiance and not to mention the money

By waccobird (****)

Date 10-31-2009 00:42

Joe Davis
The person upstairs is under the impression it certifies all positions period and they get away only with only one cert per metal group. When in actuallity we weld more 1F than 1G
When you Qualify you Qualify for a process.
There are limitations placed on the welder which are dependent on the Procedure you use,position, thickness, material.
But the Welder Qualifying will maintain that Process qualification within that range indefinitely as long as
1) the welder doesn't allow a six month period go by without welding in the process qualified,
or
2) The welder fails to produce sound weld.
A Welder might test with a Groove weld which usually Qualifies for Fillet also.
If the welder then welds only Fillet welds for the next two years, They will still be qualified to weld Groove welds in the Process Qualified.
Positions don't expire either.
Just the Welders use of the Process has to continue uninterrupted.
Just passing through,
Good Luck in which ever way you go, Both Lawrence and Superflux gave you good comments to your query.

By Tommyjoking (****)

Date 10-31-2009 08:44 Edited 10-31-2009 09:01

ummmm    not out of weld school yet and you landed a job at a repair facility?   Be a little more patient and you might be suppressed at what "might" land in your lap.   If you want critical ...wait till a $150k compressor gets pulled and they said you can have it ready for inspection and NDT by tomorrow because they promised the aircraft back by wed next week and the manufacturer will not have a replacement ready till next month.....no second chances without a walk on carpet. Maybe that will be less boring.   Or maybe you will just be welding up a leaking coffee maker that day.......

The point I am trying to make to you Joe is if you stop and pay attention there is something going on there everyday that gives you an opportunity to learn something you do not know yet.......If its slow and your piddling around building stands or shop tools then try to learn better ways to fabricate them...or go hang out with some machinists or A&P guys   whatever strikes your interest where you have opportunity. Because I absolutely GUARANTEE you, you will pick up some skill, trick, or knowledge that will help you later. Can you fabricate, do layouts, use shears, brakes, saws, forming dies and presses, saddle horns and hand form tools, can you design a fabrication from simply a stated need or purpose and have it work first go round as well as join a couple of pieces of metal together???   Chances are you have veteran skilled tradespeople of many disciplines around you everyday.....steal whatever knowledge you can from them and soak it up.

When you have absorbed all you can around you and the work stays mediocre ....well then you try to move up the ladder with a better job/opportunity.   Your work experience is like building a brick house around you in the middle of a field getting one brick a day.....you get one wall done and you can hide behind it when its blowing that direction and so on and so on....one brick at a time....all of the sudden you can't hear the wind anymore and you realize you are using each one of those slow hard earned bricks all at once...and you can charge a fine price to all those outside with no bricks to use your house.   Your in a unique opportunity to pick up some skill sets that you will not find anywhere else as far as welding goes....do not waste it...or at the very least use it to move into something a little tougher in aerospace because it can be difficult to break into aircraft work and right now its hard to find.

Just think you could be running a MIG welder all day on pallet truck parts in an assembly line, or using all those welding school skills to heave a wildcat grinder on some farm tank for days on end.......yea that's where its at   aerospace sux!!! (i am sorry I could not help that last bit) Some of the shops really are DEAD END junk jobs, I would say as a rule they are the ones not getting very much work...

Please do not take the post the wrong way, I mean it to help you not be hurtfull.

Sincerely
Tommy

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 10-31-2009 12:32 Edited 10-31-2009 12:35

Tommy! I couldn't have worded or wrote your response to this person as well as you just did, and I'm proud of you for doing so!!! In fact, I'm glad I didn't respond to this person directly because he probably would not have like at all what I would have written, so I'll defer my own opinion to what you have written in this response -CAPECHE??? :) :) :)

In fact, everyone in this thread has given this person, who hasn't even started on his first day at work yet some excellent advice FWIW!!! :) :) :)
Respectfully,
Henry

By joe davis (*)

Date 11-02-2009 19:44

ok thanks again everyone i think you anwsered my question (or chewed me out) thats exactly what im doing here is absorbing all i can as fast as can i just wasnt sure if this was normal or if i was wasting my time. Anyway point taken and im drivin on thanks

By Cumminsguy71 (*****)

Date 11-07-2009 23:06

It's called a beginner Joe. I'm wanting to get into the oil/gas industry and I can bet my first day on the right of way they won't be throwing me on a hot tie in. We newbs have to prove ourselves, prove our schmidt ain't gonna blow up and kill a bunch of guys that have been doing it safely for years. I don't know doodly about aerospace but seems like most everything would be pretty critical, especially if it's flying over a large city.

Example, my first regulator station, the veteran guys on the job had to run it up to 1350psi for an hour long leak test. This was their first time seeing me, when they charged it up with nitrogen you could have cut the tension in the air with a butter knife. Next time I run into those guys it'll be different cause they'll know me.

I'd say more critical stuff for us will come with time, more years under our belt, more names in our phones to important folks, as long as you do it right, "respect the eldors" LoL!! Good luck man!

Shawn