Career in welding

[Frank S]

Choosing a career as a welder is a lot like choosing to be a Doctor there are as many diverse facets to welding as there are in a Medical PHD.
You might find that you like standing in a booth welding up prefit up weldements with a mig gun ot a tig torch or even stick . Or you may be more inclined to weld out much heavier items. You could find yourself in a Union shop where you are only allowed to weld on certain items on an assembly line.
All of the previously mentioned will most assuredly be finely monitored by some shop safety inspector and will provide the least dangerous and best protected environments. There is nothing wrong with these is that is your cup of tea.
Another scenario is you could wind up in a repair and rebuild facility where you are asked to do much of your own evaluations in how extensive the repairs will be You will not find yourself in these positions until you have gained years of diverse welding experiences with a knowledge base of many types of welding procedures, as well as being able to determine what type of filler and method of application will be the better choice.
On a somewhat lessor experience level you might find that you like working in a general fabrication shop where you will need to know how to follow a design assembly print sheet these may be either in 2d or in 3d As ancient as shop drawings sound in today's techno world they are still used and very important in the fabrication industry. Many shops and factories now use 3d drawings as their main layout process These can be confusing and easy to read at the same time alot depends on the person who made the prints.
As far as working conditions to be expected these run from the very tame and mundane as in a boot typ atmosphere to the very severe and adverse as in pipeline construction , offshore rig work underwater repairs conditions can be from extreme cold as in Arctic or severe hot as in working in a desert.
I've been in all of these from making a hot tie on a 3000 PSI natural gas line in -40° weather to having to make emergency repairs on Earth moving equipment in +125° or higher in the deserts of Kuwait and Iraq I have had to spend as long as 24 hours in a decompression chamber after spending a little too much time 120 ft below the surface welding on a drill rig
the pay can be great for an experienced hand ,or it can be little more than minimum wage for an entry level tacker.
I might make one suggestion though, should you decide that becoming a welder as a career choice will to be gain as much knowledge as you can about the trade through research and practice , try to find an older hand who is in need of an apprentice and work for him for at least 4 to 5 years before you even think about letting someone call you a welder. and have 10 years of experience before you call yourself a welder.