A Career in Welding
Everybody has benefitted from welding in some way or another, but they may not know it. Whether it’s the building one works in, or the chair they sit in, welding makes many things possible in the everyday life. Most mass produced items are welded by a machine now, but there are still tons of applications that require an actual person to perform the welds. In fact there are so many things that require welding that employers can’t find enough qualified welders to hire. With so many welding jobs, it isn’t hard for somebody to get into the career, but there are some things a potential welder needs to know. A potential welder needs to investigate training and certification requirements, nature of work, types of welding jobs and the future outlook of the career.
Although welders face many different challenges, it’s not a difficult career to get into. Welding doesn’t actually require any formal training as long as you can pass the company’s certification test. Jim Moreland, Vice President at Sargent Metal Fabrication in Ames, said he’d hire somebody with no formal training over somebody that has gone through schooling if he could perform better welds. Even though welding doesn’t require an education, many programs have a waiting list for class openings. Many major welding manufacturers offer welding schools, for example, Hobart. Hobart’s Welding Institute is located in Troy, Ohio and currently has a six month wait time for students after being accepted. The cost of tuition, books and housing at Hobart runs students around $25,000 for the nine months of courses. Over the course of those nine months students spend over 1,000 hours of welding to learn different structural and pipe welds. As the class advances students also learn work with more difficult alloys (Philips). Getting education can even be beneficial to experienced welders. Many employers will be more interested in hiring welders if they have an education in blueprint...