All I can say is get a good education and love what your doing. Look around this board and others. There is going to be a huge need for welders in a short time. I my self am 50, I cant do what I used to. I cant jump out of a truck bed and run across a feild no more. And the thing is most of us have about 10 more years and it's done, time to step a side. But the thing is there are no young people like yourself standing in line to take our place. So what you will have to work with is people who dont care about the satsfaction of doing a great job. They are there for the money and could care less if your Co. fails or not.
Just an example my son worked for me for about 4 months, well he has this problem of lieing. Why I dont know, so he lies to one of the oldest customers I have and says he will be there today to fix problem. I did not know anything about it, I was in the hosipital for three days while they (thought) I was have a heart problems. Well I get out and I am at home and phone rings and customer is hot. So I am not to lift more than five pounds. And I go do the job, took 30 min. So I fired him, this boy is 20 year old and can weld out of this world. But what can I say, a lot of kids think someone will take care of everything. Just so it's not them.