Hey Navy Vet, thanks for your service.
The following advice is from an old HT (Turd Chaser), so don't expect much.
I think you're being smart, as a Welder who is also a Mechanic is more valuable / hire-able than just a Welder, and vice/versa for the Mechanic. Also, the two trades can often go hand in hand.
A few words of caution though - a mechanic who thinks he can weld anything because it's metal and he knows how to strike an arc can get himself in trouble very quickly. Some metals don't weld worth a damn, especially when they're impregnated with oil/grease. Most truck frames should not be welded on at all. Welding on vehicles period is a pretty good way of burning up something you shouldn't have, including yourself and your shop.
A good Welder is more than just a rod burner, he has to understand the metallurgy under the weld, know how to make welds that won't break a few miles down the road, and understands that the best weld is no weld at all. Just as a good mechanic these days needs a degree in electrical engineering.
So, my advice:
Finish the Welding program.
Take the Mechanic school while you can.
Get your Welding Instructor to teach you everything he knows about welding cast, aluminum, magnesium, heat treated steel (truck frames), free machining steel, and using a blue wrench.
Keep your welding skills sharp while in Mechanic school.
Come back here anytime for welding related questions.
Then you'll get to pick jobs rather than having to settle for what's available.
Tim
By Cumminsguy71 
Date 02-05-2016 00:36
Edited 02-05-2016 00:47
Ahhh, the old Mechanic turned welder, or visa versa....or both! LOL!! I'm that evil guy Northwelder spoke of!
I spent 18 years scraping knuckles, lawnmowers to Cadillacs, Caterpillars to Detroits, convertible Chryslers to convertible wheel loaders.
At the point you're at I'd finish off the welding, get proficient at it. Yes, as another said you will lose it over time, like riding a bike however, at least in my case easily picked back up. More trouble dialing in a new machine than I find getting back into a different process, tig, mig, stick.
Many moons ago a great Diesel teacher I had told me this, "find the oldest guy in the shop, stick to him like glue, pick his brain for everything he knows and can teach you. When you've depleted his brain for all his knowledge move on to the next oldest guy". Knowledge gained is never energy wasted in my opinion.
In welding you will have a lot less invested as far as work. A welding hood of your choosing, maybe you don't like the gloves they supply or your favorite safety glasses, some beannies perhaps. As a mechanic, aye, a $500 welding hood would be chump change. The last tally when I retired from the knuckle busting club of America was around $70,000 tied up in tools to fix other peoples equipment as an employee. Some days I went to work and used my toolbox as a bed because there was nothing to do, that was in the automotive world, the world of flatrape....I mean flatrate.
Welding in the mechanic world and my experience. In the automotive world, general line technician, front end work, brakes as in a dealership there really wasn't any. Body shop side, more of course but sheetmetal for the most part. We at the car dealer welded in some exhaust components, that was about the most ever done. They hired a guy once to come in and fix a Cadillac transmission that had a crack in it, worst looking Tig weld I've ever seen on aluminum.
Heavy truck side. I worked at a Western Star dealer. We welded......nope, they hired a guy to weld cracked differentials. I think we had a welding machine and the dealership owner also owned a brick and block company so all of his brick company trucks were Western Stars. They had one guy that took care of the odd looking three wheeled offroad forklifts. He did the welding repairing the broken stuff the aimers decided would look better elsewhere.
The only place I saw any sort of welding was on the heavy equipment side. Caterpillar dealer had a dedicated welding shop, that's all they did but they were sort of mechanics as they would have to disassemble loader frames, excavator arms and all manner of things. They had a crew that would go out and do onsite welding repairs with a truck and gooseneck welding rig. Field service mechanics on the heavy equipment had welders mounted on their service trucks but not sure if any had been "classically" trained in actual welding or if they were just rod punchers able enough to make metal stick to other metal in the heat of the moment. Another equipment dealer I worked at was not as sophisticated as the Cat house but they had their own welding department. One old guy and then when he quit they had one young guy.....me.
Working at a fly by night "truck repair shop" and you'll likely see some sort of welding, not sure what but can imagine repairs on trailers, dump bodies, or those nasty garbage trucks. If you don't listen to anything I say in this entire novel, at least heed these words, STAY AWAY FROM MACK AND GARBAGE TRUCKS!! Some of the nastiest things I've ever ingested into my nasal passages were around these vehicles!! Towed in full of trash, ooze dripping from them while on the lift as you're trying to pull the transmission. A friend of mine works on Macks and the stories he tells of the things he has seen.
I think you have a good plan though, figuring out how to maintain your skills as a welder and learn the art of fixing other peoples stuff will be tricky. You can lose it as a mechanic as well. Staying out of the industry as I have for many years and the technology progresses so fast that you may become obsolete. Luckily I've had extensive training in the art of finding screws run thru vehicle wire harnesses by DVD and game console installation idiots that caused airbag lights to come on and throw codes. Turning the wrench is good, great knowledge but being able to diagnose a difficult wiring issue is in a class of its own. A skill, like welding that picks you, you don't pick it. Electricity and wiring thru 33 computers can fry a brain!!
With welding though it seems every jack leg in the world is doing their best to eliminate the skill of a human arm, doing their best to make operators out of us. From the pipeline clamp her on and go thing to the newest "snake" welder for reaching "those tight areas", take a seat at the end of the bar skilled awesome 6GR welder, the robot will take this one. I'd say it's far off though, the cost associated with such equipment will be out of reach for sometime for most. I don't foresee the tiny gas department that has a dozen or so welding jobs and 10 employees acquiring a high tech robot for their welding any time soon. So, it seems good welders will have a need for many years.
On the mechanic side, I have yet to see a robot that can diagnose a leaking intake gasket on a modern Cadillac Northstar engine, stick a nut between it's index finger and middle finger and reach down between and exhaust manifold, a firewall and other components to screw said nut on without even seeing what they are doing, staring across the shop, imagining what it might look like, where it might be. Robot engineers, good luck with that one!!
Pay, I cannot say what single hand welders make as I have really never been one. Pull a trigger building assembly line stuff, low, tig weld some Inconel at a nuke plant or something and much better. As a mechanic I've seen starting out at $10/hour with top out pay at $19/hour, probably a bit more since my exit point years ago. Top hourly I've had $24/hour as a mechanic at an auto dealer. Awesome pay if you were able to get 40 hours in a week but the warranty Nazi's, a.k.a., auto manufacturers and bean counters come up with some times that no mechanic I have ever met was able to beat consistently. Pull a car in, diagnose, talk to service writer, order parts, pick up parts, remove engine/tranny on the cradle from the car, separate engine from transmission, mount on engine stand, take off valve covers, front cover, all timing chains, oil pan, remove heads, remove all pistons, clean all components. New piston rings, new pistons, reinstall in block. New head gaskets, install all timing chains, I believe the Northstar had two cams per cylinder head. Time everything, install oil pump, new gaskets, which weren't gaskets at all but liquid gasket maker. Torque everything as you go along. Reseal bottom end, oil pan plus removing the main bearing housing which was integral to the block and always leaks. Reattach engine to the transmission, move assembly back under the car on the lift, lower, attach to car. Reconnect all wiring harnesses, add engine oil, coolant, attach tires after reconnecting suspension which had to be removed to remove the cradle. Run the engine, check for leaks, test drive, fill out detailed work order on what you did, advise service advisor that the vehicle is done, clock out. General Motors was gracious enough to pay 18 hours worth of labor for that. On my best day, 19 hours was the best I could ever do. Nobody in our shop EVER beat that mythical time.
I did know a guy that just might have beat the times though. He lacked that attention to detail and concern with other peoples vehicles though. I was talking with him one day as he was installing a new front engine mount on a Cadillac. He threw the bolts in, grabbed the air gun and wobble socket and went to hammering them home. After a few seconds the air gun was really laboring, BAM BAM BAM!! I looked at him and said, "sounds like it's cross threaded?". He laughed, smiled, kept his finger on the trigger and said, "cross threading's better than Lok-Tite". Personally I would have had threaded them in a few turns to ensure they were right, not destroying a thousand dollar engine block on a $70,000 car. That's just me though.
You might hear, if you go to a mechanic tech school about $100,000 per year incomes. One guy in our dealership hit $100k, they fed him "gravy work", he was a master kiss......well, you know. 11 different companies as a mechanic, Never met anybody else who made $100k. On average I'd say $40's to 60's depending on what your doing. At the Cat dealer around 40's to 50's other guys, specifically field service guys did better but they would, at times have 40 hours of overtime!! That's when our lovely Uncle moves in and takes a great big bite right out of your paycheck practically eliminating your overtime.
I know nothing about farm tractors but inquired once at a John Deere place near me and with my experience they offered me $12/hour. I laughed out loud and hung up the phone.
That's about all I've got, highs, lows, ins and outs. Having the skills though are good to have. If you ever had kids and you have a son as a mechanic you can take some old Chevrolet truck and turn it into something, teaching him along the way while his friends Dad farms out all the work and pays out the nose for it. Your son will have a skill he can use, the other guys kid will know how to spend Dad's money, LOL!!
Jeez, every time I'm on here lately it's full on novel.......good luck NavyVet!!
