titanium welders and members of the aircraft industry???

By Tigger18 Date 02-10-2011 07:25

I am 18, my dream job is to be a titanium and aluminum welder for an aircraft company so I can commute to work without traveling all over and still have job benefits. Not a bad dram job right? Only problem is everyone around thinks that's out of reach...."those jobs are few and far between" "you don't have the experience" "nobody is hiring welders of that caliper in this economy"......i have emailed some companies but they all either want somebody with years of experience or certified......i can tig weld stainless and aluminum already (i even taught myself to weld cans together....matter of fact I tought my self to tig initially). I have also been on a professional stainless piping job. CAN you guys please tell me wat steps I should take to score my dream job? Wat happened to american companies hiring aspiring young men to learn on the job?

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 02-10-2011 15:56 Edited 02-10-2011 16:00

Welcome to the Forum Tigger!

I had that very same dream. It took some years and some pretty serious committment to attain it.

Having been the welding instructor for United Airlines, I can tell you that most of the big aerospace players are not going to consider you until you have a minimum of 5 years experience with the processes they are using. They will consider people without Titanium/exotics experience if they do have years of stainless.

It took an enlistment in the Navy for me to get the aerospace welding experience I needed to persue my dream.

Your dream is a good one. The plumb Union, high salary/benefit aerospace jobs are tighter now that in the past. Some of this is due to the cylical nature to aerospace employment and a bigger part is due to the big players doing more and more repair work through outside vendors both in the U.S. and abroad.

Still plenty of aerospace work being done.. Especially through the Department of Defense.. Both military and civillian.

Edit: There are plenty of companies willing to hire aspiring young people... Most of them are sweatshops.. I spent my share of time in those as well. Great places for young people to pick up valuable skills.

When your skills become high level you can demand high level pay... Skills can never be taken away.. Unions cannot bargain them away... For now... Work hard and learn.

By Tigger18 Date 02-10-2011 16:42

Where do I learn? How do I get the experience and the certs? Is the military the only way? Wat should my next step be to get certified and hired for ss fab job to get the experience that the aircraft industry is looking for? And I agree completely on wat you said about skills....its wat drew me to tig welding in the first place.....i take great pride in my welding. Its hard to explain the feeling you get when you put out a pretty bead for someone who can't weld and they admire it bc they couldn't do it if they wanted to. I even dropped out of college to pursue my career in welding (I was in the top 20% of my graduating class in highschool) so my parents weren't very happy but they are supporting me so I really wanna make them proud.