New Welder..

By YoungGun_Welder Date 10-16-2007 23:51

Job Corps ? what do you guys think of it ?

By DWCO

Date 10-17-2007 01:18

YoungGun, the reply to your question could fill volumes. Each persons life experiences are truly unique. Find a mentor. Go take every class and weld everything you can get your hands on. Study. Job corps is a good way to get a beginning. As for what certification is best, there is no clear answer. Where I live, local industry wont give you a dime for pipe, smaw, or gtaw. We burn .052 flux core and .032 mig wire. We weld heavy plate in all positions up to 8 inches thick. We weld mining equipment, locomotives, and heavy equipment. Other parts of the country are different. You go 80 miles north and they want pipeliners... Go figure!! There are some common qualifications to try for. Plate in verticle and overhead 1" FCAW. 3/8 plate same positions with gmaw. Aluminum & steel. If you are in a pipe area. go for the 6G..... After it is all said and done, find what suits you the best... And never stop learning!!!

P.S. Enjoy the ride!!!!

Dwco

By aevald

Date 10-17-2007 00:58

Hello YoungGun_Welder, you asked about certifications. In my opinion those are the things that typically culminate the training that you take to learn how to weld. You first have to decide where your interests are in relation to the type of welding that you will likely perform and where you will be performing it. Here's an example: if you are interested in travelling and working on jobsites you might want to concentrate some of your efforts on the SMAW process, FCAW-S process, and possibly some GTAW. Even amongst these three you can refine it a bit more. If you plan on pursuing pipe welding, GTAW and SMAW might be where you would want to concentrate your training providing you plan on welding pipe in the field. Pipe welding in a fab shop environment might require knowledge and training on SMAW, GTAW, FCAW-G, and GMAW short-circuiting, spray, and pulse transfer. General fab shop welding might encompass the same set of requirements that would be used in a pipe fab shop, but instead of welding on pipe you might be welding on structural components and other things. Learning general welding basics will never hurt you regardless of where you finally end up. Specific certifications will likely be required of you once you have targeted a specific job or trade area.
You asked about job-corps, I think for lots of individuals this is a really good choice. As you're trying to decide where to go and how to get there you will be faced with many decisions. Ask yourself some questions: What are my schooling options? vocational/trade school, community college welding program, job corps welding program, apprenticeships(boilermakers, pipefitters/steamfitters, ironworkers, millwrights, electricians, carpenters, laborers, yes even the last three mentioned here have welding components included in them), private welding schools(hobart, lincoln, others). Consider the costs of all of these options and the timelines that they require(many of these have the benefits of having a short turnaround time for training and in the case of apprenticeships you are being paid, in a sense, while you are attending school). Whenever possible try to research the satisfaction of the graduates of any of these choices, although the apprenticeship type offerings are slightly different in this sense, you can still talk to some of them and ask their opinion of how they value their apprenticeship. Hope this has given you a bit of information to consider, I'm sure others will also give you more to think about. Good luck on your journey. Best regards, aevald

By YoungGun_Welder Date 10-17-2007 01:18

Any Southern California welders give me some friendly information or ideas of what i can do to get a career in Welding.

Also i would like to add i would like to weld using GTAW and FCAW-G.

By ctacker (****)

Date 10-17-2007 04:03

that leaves me out!

By YoungGun_Welder Date 10-17-2007 04:24

your information or advise is also wanted!

but i was wondering if there where any welders down here and what exactly pays a lot and what type of welding is needed down here.

By medicinehawk01 (**)

Date 10-20-2007 17:24

Job corp can be a good way to get started in the trade, but depending on the location....might be limited training. There are many facets to welding and skill levels vary as well so it really depends on what processes you need to learn and what industry you would like to be in. IF you want to work in a fabrication shop which manufactures structural buildings you be using GMAW or mig on mild steel and the pay will not be very much (like $9-12 per hour). The skill level required is minimal and so reflects the pay. But, if you like to travel and learn pipe welding using GTAW (tig) and SMAW (stick) than you can make alot more money, but you'll have to travel. Often, the bigger construction contractors have "In-House" training where they teach you the processes they need you to have for their needs. They end up owning you tho because when they train you, they decide whether you will serve their needs. To me, it is better to get the training on your own and then get the experience working for a company. Pay in New England (East Coast) is $25.00 to start with some per diem depending on the outfit. There are schools which teach pipe welding but only by actual experience will you get better and then you can count on working anywhere in the United States, imo.