in my opinion there are two main directions to go. work on the road, or in town. on the road get more money, and exposure to a wider variety of scenarios. this work would be plant to plant for maintenance shut downs, oil field, and cross country pipelines, ect. in town can be done at a fab shop, or on site structural, on site plant work. all of these can be done union or non union. both have there advantages, for a younger person i might recommend going union to get some real world experience and training. later in your career (about 5 years) if you still want to weld this experience together with your schooling will be a strong foundation for you to go almost any direction you could want. in my opinion