Skilled hands would be welcome, let’s hope it happens.

We’ll see, I guess. It would be nice to move away from the craziness. I’m still an apprentice, but I know my craft and could teach it.

I started when I was around 40, I kid you not. Born 1982, I’m currently in my forth and final year of apprenticeship. I’ve got all of my qualifications done almoat a year early.

Before, I was leaping from crummy job to crummy job when I got a fire watch gig. The job was dumb, but I worked with welders. One even encouraged me to become a welder. He also taught me a few basics.

Best advice I can give for becomig a welder is to really committ to it. Dedicate your heart, mind, body, and soul to it. Master your craft, and don’t settle for “good enough” work. Don’t worry about the money, it will come in abundance.

When instructors and employers see your passion and dedication to the trade, they’ll respect & hire you.

Also, your reputation as a welder is crucial to maintain. It follows you everywhere you go. So build up a good reputation. When you make a mistake as all welders do, own up to it and try to make it right. If you build up a reputation for honesty, integrity, and reliability, even if you’re just a mediocre welder, it will still supercharge your career.

It is definitely hard work, but it’s rewarding work. Some welders specialize in one specific thing with one specific process, but I believe this is a career mistake. A well-rounded welder should have some experience and training in every process.

There’s SMAW (often called stick), GMAW, TIG, flux core, brazing, plasma cutting, oxy/acetalyne cutting & welding, carbon arc’ing, etc.

My shipyard job almost exclusively does stick welding. Occasionally we’ll do TIG, but I can count on one hand how many times I’ve TIG welded last year.

The shipyard trained me, but I had to go on my free time and money to learn the other processes. I think it was worth it, IMO. I’m not great at the other processes, but I can do them well enough to pass workmanship inspections.

Plus if I ever lose my job (in the US it’s looking more and more likely), I still have a robust skillset to find another job. It’s a good trade to have, it’s extremely difficult for a company to hire someone overseas to do it. In a sane world, the job security from welding is great.

I’m a shipyard welder in the US and I would love love love to move to Canada right now. With Canada shifting trade away from the US and towards other countries, the need for trade ship building and maintenance will skyrocket. Ships are always in need of repairs, and being a welder means a guarenteed job.