pay scales

Date 09-18-2004 01:06

Where I am in California, pay runs the gamut. Nonunion shops are typically offering $10 to start for someone who can do MIG and TIG, with 10% and 20% shift differential for swing shift and graveyard. If you look around a bit, you can find work for $15. Union shops pay more. You can make more if you do structural with NR-232 and are FEMA certified. You can make more if you can do pipe welding to the quality required by the refineries. You can make more if you can land a job with an aerospace or research outfit and do TIG on exotic metals.

One of my welding instructors used to quote an old boss of his: "Welders are a dime a dozen." I sometimes get the feeling that a lot of employers feel that way, have no trouble filling positions and see no need to pay better.

By waynekoe (**)

Date 09-18-2004 01:30

Rod burners are a dime a dozen! A good welder is worth his or her weight in gold when their needed. Or, you could go back to school and then get a real job. Just kidding. I've made a pretty good living from it for 30 years. The thing is, you have to make yourself worth the big bucks. Learn as much as you can. Especially when it comes to fit up and layout. Pay attention to the old timers out there, you can really learn alot, but you'll have to show them that you want learn. Then when you have something to sell you can go for the big bucks. End of lecture.

By bamaCWI (**)

Date 09-18-2004 23:31

[deleted]

By waynekoe (**)

Date 09-19-2004 05:35

It's the best of both worlds. Knowing the how to lay parts and pieces out on this big sheet of blank steel, making good clean freehand cuts with a torch, how to fit them together and then weld them out and still maintain and control (to some degree) all the dynamics of what your trying to accomplish and then step back at the end of the day and look at what you've done! A good fitter can weld, but most welders can't fit.
So, now you know how to do it. You know that these things Can be done and done well. Put that together with the knowledge you obtain as a CWI, you know why things go together that way. Why you can't open a can of lo-hy and let it sit on the shelf for a year and a half, make those one inch wash passes and weld roof and floor deck under water. How will it benefit you? In more ways then you'll ever imagine. Wayne

By dlmann

Date 09-19-2004 12:12

I'm doing close to what you are doing. I decided 3 years ago that I would educate myself in other areas. At that time I had 20 years plus of NDT. I obtained my CWI and here I am.

When I started training for the CWI, I would attend seminars and other classes along with pipe welders, structural welders, boiler welders, etc... I was amazed at the lack of awareness a lot of these men had concerning codes and the different welding processes.

One example is a guy did stick welding for years in a fab shop and at the seminar he found out he was welding SMAW to AWS D1.1 and used a WPS everyday. He never heard of it! A lot of the guys had their first exposure to things like SAW, ESW and found out the MIG and TIG was actually GMAW and GTAW.

I did a lot of RT on most of the welding processes using API, AWS, and ASME codes. Exposure to the different codes and x-raying the different welding processes was my strength and a good starting point. Your strong point is your fabricator/welder experience. I can read film, but I am not well versed as to what caused some of the discontinuities.

Regards, Donnie Mann

By bamaCWI (**)

Date 09-19-2004 22:50

Do you have any good advice on getting a start with my CWI career? I have talked with a few companies and they all want someone with 5-10 years inspection experience and a level II cert. with PT,RT,UT, & MT.

By thcqci

Date 09-20-2004 14:00

You are probably looking at inspection companies. Two thoughts, 1) They, of course, are looking for experience and adaptability from their technicians. They have to keep them busy all the time and that means they have to be able to do many different things. If there are many experienced inspectors available, they are less willing to take a chance on one with less experience. 2) You probably have many more years experience than you realize. Some may have not been "inspecting" weld but if you are a quality person in this field, you have been "inspecting" your welds and probably those around you for years. Your background adds up to as much or more than some other "inspectors". Use it! On the other hand, sometimes there is no substituting for experience.

Alternately, try looking at companies that produce or service. They need inspectors also and may be more willing to take an inspector with less years experience and may not yet be as widely adaptable. Either way, never stop educating yourself. Too many of the people we are all surrounded by can't wait to hit that clock at the end of the day so they can go get a beer. They are the ones that will be doing what they are doing now when they retire and wonder why they did not make more money doing it.

I used to be point man for our local AWS Section CWI training classes and dlmann's above observations are right on. I would start every seminar with a pretest to let each CWI candidate get a taste of what the seminar was going to teach them. Average score was about 20%. Eye opening as most candidates had been welding for years. They just did not know what they knew. At the end of the seminar their eyes had been opened and we had a very high percentage of candidates that achieved their CWI status.

As for me, I started out my career on the inspection side of the fence and have spent years trying to improve my hands on strengths. I (and my family) would be considerably skinnier if they had to depend upon my "welding" (more like dirt dauber) skills.

Anyway, that is my 2 cents worth.

By dlmann

Date 09-20-2004 15:46

What price are you willing to pay:

Your handle "bamaCWI" leads one to think that you are from Alabama (WAR EAGLE!!). Call up Longview Inspection in Tuscaloosa @ 1-800-638-2262 (I hear there is some sort of Colledge in that town!). A lot of road time will be spent, but you will spend some valuable time in pulp and paper mills, oil refinerys, fossil fuel powerplants, cross country pipe line, and various fabrication projects.

Your CWI cert with no NDT background (exception: VT) will let you start just above the bottom rung as opposed to somebody with no certs (NDT or otherwise). Three things will happen:

1. You'll get up to level II in at least VT, UT thickness, MT, and PT in a very short period of time. RT, RT safety, and UT shearwave will depend on your motivation. Complement your employer NDT certification I/A/W ASNT-TC1A with certification through ACCP.

2. You will do inspections on miles of power and process piping, pressure vessels of all kinds, and above ground atmosphere storage tanks from fifty to one million gallon capacity and you'll write pounds of reports on the same. You will do call-out, turn-around, and outages. You will get exposure to just about every section of ASME there is, API, and AWS.

3. If you decide that petrochem, power, or pulp & paper is the thing for you, then you will be on you way to certification for API-510, API-570, and API-653. Combine those three certs with CWI and ACCP certs, and in my rarely asked opinon you will have some serious skills.

As your skills develop keep your eyes open for that ONE oportunity your looking for, and never stop learning.

regards, Donnie Mann

By medicinehawk (**)

Date 10-02-2004 20:56

Here in New England it's about the same pay (10-14 /Hour) in a fab shop. In the construction industry (where you travel to the job for a contractor) the pay starts at 20-22/hour and some companies pay per deim.
Pipe welders and Tube welders (boilers) can earn 25 to 29/ hour once you are established and your name gets around. You will have to be "bust-proof" where you rarely fail an x-ray and quality/production are exceptional.
Unions (pipers. iron workers, etc.) pay the most as one local out of Boston has a wage worth 60/hour including benefits which are the best, but you gotta pay your dues and if you are not in the right clique or family then you'll spend alot of time on the bench.
Many states here have journeymen licenses which may (or may not) get you more money, but will certainly put you ahead of a list in states where they like that sort of thing.
I don't agree with the post that says most fitters can weld and welders can't fit. People I know in the Trades do what they know (or what they prefer).
I am known as a welder but I can fit with the best of them, but to me...it's not my thing (fitting). Also, I have welded in the aerospace industry for a couple of years and while the conditions(and work) were awesome... the pay was lackluster despite all the exotic metals.
How does anyone survive in California for 14 dollars per hour???? Your gas prices are off the charts.

By JTMcC

Date 09-19-2004 23:40

The higher paying jobs won't be advertised in the newspaper.
Construction is where you find most of the high paying welding jobs, Pipefitters, Boilermakers, Pipeliners, Pile Drivers, ect.
In those crafts you find wages in the $25 to $39 range, add another $10 to $20 for rig welders.

By pipewelder_1999 (****)

Date 09-20-2004 14:05

I aggree John.

One thing to think about is that most things that can be built in a shop can be built in another country and shipped back here. Items installed/erected in the field are dependent upon the labor in the country.

Learn because of your interest in that area and it becomes very easy.

Have a nice day

Gerald Austin