born and raised here I live 15 min east of salem i'm also scouting for a new job. been welding for about 8 years now but i'm not certifyed mainly self taught. working for a ag shop now mainly running 045 flux core and some mig work on stainless fertilzer boxes. I have quite a bit of tig experiance from chassis work i used to do. Does ayone in oregon pay more than 10 bucks an hour for a uncertified welder?
Any place you go to work would need to (re-)certify you if they are working to ASME or AWS codes. So when I'm hiring welders, previous certificaitons or lack thereof don't make a huge impression on me. I have seen many "certified" welders that can't weld thier way out of a box, so don't let lack of previous certification stop you if you are a decent welder.
commute is really not much of a problem if the money is decent portland is a long ways away though bout hour and half away one way. i have been checking all the normal online places but nothing has popped up on the radar screen yet.
try oregon iron works(port), fought and co.(port), velmont(salem). those fab shops do a lot of work. have you looked into a job as a millwright? look at the pulp and paper plants in the area, also computer chip plants in eugene and Hillsboro.