Currently going through school

By evenflow Date 11-02-2011 20:47

I am currently going through Tulsa Welding School. I want to further my education after school and I have not decided what type of welding I would like to further training in. I have not preformed any welding before attending TWS but I am doing fairly well. I know I want to take blueprint courses at a college and possibly some CNC courses to help with the machining side of the whole ordeal. I personally would like to find a good paying job after I am done with school but I will further my training if that will help with the possibility of a better paying job. I am asking what courses you all believe is beneficial to assisting me in finding a career job. I got the VA paying for my school so that doesn't bother me. I would prefer training in the Florida area so I wouldn't have to relocate. Some instructors just care about getting a paycheck not teaching students every bit of knowledge they know. I've had a great paying job before but the risk was far too great and would like to get into a great paying job on civilian side. I've been reading about jobs paying $12hr and that is not worth the training I am going through (I can make that at Walmart with no training or anything)

I have a few thoughts of courses I would like to take.
Blueprint reading
CNC Machining
Shipfitting? (where can I take this course?)
Pipefitting? (where can I take this course?)

Thanks for whatever assistance you may provide.

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 11-03-2011 16:23

Evan,

1st. Thank you for serving our country!

2. Welcome to the forum.

3, 4, 5, 6, etc.. You are asking a bunch of questions.

Isn't Tulsa offering blueprint reading in the program your currently taking?

I know Tulsa is primarily targeting pipe welding, so they should have some training for fitting as well... You are certainly worth more money if you fit and weld...

Pay really depends on what you want to do... There are traveling cross country pipe welders who make 100K without much overtime just about every year. It takes time to gain the skills they have and most folks go into that specialty as "helpers" who do the bidding of the Journeyman welder and learn at his feet so to speak.

Manufacturing often starts with pretty low pay but can move up quickly in the right shops.. Some shops never pay well. You just gotta research... Nonetheless, you can learn quite a bit in a sweatshop, I know I have. Some people would rather work for low wages for a season than not work at all, I guess now a days that is just a personal preference...

Plenty of ship building going on in the gulf states and up the east and west coasts, not to mention the great lakes. Certifiable skills in GMAW, SMAW, FCAW and GTAW will make you marketable with them... You may not need all of those processes in your pocket when you start.. But the more you have the more interensting and profitable your work will be. If you have certifiable process skills, the rest of your shipfitting training will likely be provided by your employer.

Power and Chemical... Pipe and tube for power generation is huge in the NC triangle and all up the eastern seaboard.. This is a bit different from cross country pipelining, but very profitable.

I hope you found the post encouraging.. It was ment to be.

By evenflow Date 11-03-2011 20:31

Tulsa offers blueprint reading but I was planning on taking a more advanced class to make myself more profitable as well as taking advanced classes in pipe and ship fitting. Tulsa does target pipe welding and I hear that is where the majority of the money is. Are there any in's with companies to start sending resume's to companies before I even graduate Tulsa? I don't graduate for a few more months but none the less I want to get myself out there.

So are there courses for fitting?

I would not mind going in as a helper. Always have to work under someone in every field you go into. I just don't want to take the low end job that companies are paying people to do work with a skill that takes time to learn and in my case costs money to learn.

I'd serve this country anytime.