Whatever you may choose to do, take advantage of any paid/reimbursed or partially paid/reimbursed tuition assistance your company offers. If you decide to leave there in time, you'll take that education with you. If you stay long term, your knowledge benefits you & the company. Being a welding machine/consumable manufacturer, they may offer classes in house or most likely offer a tuition assistance toward community college/university classes. Look into it & use it to your advantage.

Good luck. S.W.

Hello Jeremy, first off, welcome to the forum, if you have been able to figure out the search function of the forum start out by looking through some of the old threads where new folks have asked similar questions. There are a "ton" of them and I believe you will find many answers there as well as develop many more questions. Try such keywords as: "looking for advice on a career", "newbie looking for advice", "interested in a career in welding", and any other sort of description that comes to mind. You will likely get some matches on some of these keywords and find plenty of reading from a host of sources to answer some of your questions.
     As to whether you should pursue welding or inspection, I would start off by saying that in most cases(not always) it is helpful to consider the welding before the inspection. Just like the other questions that you have ask you will find plenty of comments for the pros and cons of choosing one over the other or before the other. A few points might go something like this: becoming a CWI requires a minimum of 5 years of associated experience in the trade, this may or not mean being a welder, it can also be covered by other associations in welding. Inspection can possibly mean a different sort of hands on type of work as well as fairly extensive book associated learning and understanding along with good communications skills and administrative skills. Similar to welding, inspection skills are typically honed by working under the tutelage of more experienced individuals and paying attention and possibly crafting your own style and understanding of what your job is.
     Welding can be approached in an endless number of ways, you can partner up with someone who is skilled and learn in a one-on-one type manner, you can attend any number of different types of welding schools, you can opt for an apprenticeship through one of the unions. You "might" consider welding to encompass a slightly broader range of skills than inspection on the one hand but on the other inspection also goes hand in hand. Gotta run, will try to get back to you soon. Best regards, aevald