Ya as you can tell by the name, I'm a chick. There are not all that many female welders out there, well not as many as guys, but i wanted to know how you guys feel about it. Alot of guys that I talk to are not very for the idea of girls in a shop. And to the girls, do you seem to have the same things happen?
-Amanda Sue Peterson
Here is a discussion on this subject from a while ago....
http://aws.org/cgi-bin/mwf/topic_show.pl?id=7896#37185
edit: BTW, Welcome to the forum :)
This is the computer illeteracy coming out in me, but what is ^-^ and >_<? Doesn't look like smiley faces to me.
I looked it up and it is another form of smiley and is better rendered as ^_^ (underscore instead of hyphen). The >_< means angry, frustrated.
ya but i just think that the ^-^ looks cooler then ^_^, and i like to be different
Amanda Sue! Welcome, welcome to the best job a girl could have. Regardless of individual opinions, you will succeed in this profession if you have the patience,and the skill to do the work. Let the rest roll off your back. Many men question a woman's ability to do the whole job, like the heavy stuff dragging lead, your end of scaffold boards, etc. They do theirs, and will expect you to do yours. But although I can't pull 200 ft of lead up, I can be smarter than the lead, carry 50 ft up and drop it down; go up fifty feet and drop down 50 more,and so on. Strive to make your welding beyond reproach, that is the key. You may not be big and strong, but your co-workers will appreciate you when there is a tiny tight spot to get into to make a hard weld and you fit just right. It all works out. This is a wonderful and challenging business and there is definitely a place for us ladies in it. Deborah Sue PS. What is a capstone?
Hey Welderette, in having spoken on technical issues with you, I feel you could go toe-to-toe with just about any man on those matters! ;-) To add my two cents on the welding, although it may sound sexist and sterotyping, I believe many females could be better welders than their male counterparts due to my perception of their better eye / hand coordination.
Capstone is a project that everyone has to do there Senior year at West Florida, I am making a chopper frame. It consists of ALOT of papers and then the product. Thats the thing to, if we have heavy lifting then my former teacher always asked guys but now the teacher for this year asks me before everyone else because he knows i will get it done. I love it!
Hang in there girl, you'll be fine!
I run 4 rigs in colorado I have a gal working for me that I would put against any guy I have ever worked with.
after 18 years in the shop and running a rig i have seen 4 or 5 female welders,everyone of them had really good hand skills and could do there job well.as far as the heavy stuff goes,in a shop, thats what the crane is for.i think if more females became welders then it wouldnt be so different for a female to be in a shop.the comment about the quality of your work was bang on,female or not, if you can put down a nice bead using a couple or more different procesess you should have no problem anywhere.there will be guys out there that still dont like it,thats there problem not yours. good luck
metalord
I have had the pleasure of working with several female welders over my 30 year career. I think who is under the hood is much less important than what the weld looks like when the hood is lifted up. In my experience, I have yet to be able to tell what sex made a weld by looking at it.
You mean you have never seen the slightest little tint of pink in the welds run by a woman.
Why does it have to be pink? Why not a brighter red? i dunno im just not a fan of pink
Amanda Sue, don't let sterotypes, prejudices, misconceptions, get you bogged down. Working in a metal-stamping shop I've seen my share of female operators, tool&die makers, assembly tech's, ect. 60% of our QA dept. is female; we have a ROCKIN' chick that does machine main't, and a couple new gals that are "learning the ropes" around the shop, esp. our robotic welding cell. I just wish that I could show them how to run bead by hand(with upper office OK), and them to not be so scared of it. I know in my heart of hearts they could pick it up faster than any guy I've got, that "has done welding before"; and get a better understanding of what's going on with the robot "in-process". Just mainly want to give you the kudos for breaking down the stereotypes and gettin' 'er done; and any f%&!@head that want's to give you grief about bein' a chick needs to check his lense, to make sure he's viewing in "realtime". (he's probably got some hang-up @ job security and for good reason; his own most likely)
My Momma raised me; and if that ain't enough stuff to say that women can do anything they set their mind to; then I doen't know what to say. Those that say women are best suited to specific tasks, NEED to be schooled in the modern evolution, put the best PERSON(M/F) to the task, reguardless.
oh yeah, I'm a dude. the bike shop job i had out of high school, owned buy a chick, and the only "individual" sponsorship we gave was to the 2time(+ I hope more after I left) jr. womens state mtb champion.
Stick to it. "Give blood, Ride moutain bikes" as Marrissa said.
Sweet beads to ya.
PS. good link above
Well thank you so much! I think that you should talk to alot of guys, then the world would be a better place lol. Sounds like you have some girls that can really show there stuff. Do you still work with bikes at all?
-ASP
Hi Amanda -- I'm a retired art school professor -- I taught a lot of stuff including bronze casting and welding. The ladies were best at foundry because they didn't strut around being macho -- my best student runs a metal fabrication/sculpture shop and is quite successful. She weighs about 115 and is very female and can kick welding ass. Sex has nothing to do with being a good welder/fabricator. MB.
I agree, I know one female that can burn aluminum all day better than I can and she just thinks she is average. HUH average no way!
pjs
lol, well i havent gotten around to TIG yet, maybe later on this year.....I hope
-ASP
By Kalroy
Date 12-02-2005 01:26
I hate it. I mean, it would be one thing if they were all horrible, but they're not. I mean, some of them are outstanding and it makes me look bad.
;)
Seriously one of the best industrial pipe welders I know is a woman. She's funny, friendly, and talented. One of the best aircraft welders I've ever had the pleasure to train was a woman and I wish I could have had more trainees of her caliber male or female.
Kalroy
http://www.weldingdesign.com/323/Issue/Article/False/12253/Issue
An article that I ran accross recently and thought about this thread.
John Wright
Ever hear the saying "lika a bunch of old ladies"... Well Like a bunch of old men is worse . Especialy when you get to a shop where ther are people that have been thier a while .They think that they own the place ,they usualy have old ways of doing things , And it pisses them off when you do anything beter then them . I guess guys are just people . Some men are woried that they are suposed to open rod containers for you or change your bottles or thier not gentilmen . The shop that I'm at now their is probably 25% (O)s . They wory about the stupidest things and can't muster the back bone to discuss problems with the boss ,they know I will so they come bit... well I hear thier problems and tell them to bring it to the bosses atention but they don't . I haven't been teaching welding long but one girl I taught had the most uniform welds of anybody . I used to tell her that she puts me under pressure because I have to try to weld smother than her . She seeed to apriciat it when I left her alone to change her own argon bottle .
Good luck Girl! Ive only known a few women welders. All the ones Ive known so far though were good. Well respected by the guys. The guys would generally do anything to help the women out, not at first but once I got to know the women, but the women rarely would permit it. Its a good trade. May be some barriers, but if there is, just bust on through. Most guys will welcome you...like me Welcome
CHRIS
hi there im new on this forum i am a female welder from aberdeen scotland. i have worked in the oil industry for 12 years, i served my time as a fabricator welder and moved into pipe welding which consisted of welding wire wrapped screen on to base pipe casings i did this for two then moved back into fabrication, building frames for preasure control equipment also wireline winches and wireline masts. i work mainly with mild and stainless steel but we build light weight masts from aluminium from time 2 time
Welcome aboard!
Need info, let the board know and we will try to help you.
Newfie from across the water!
