m3dia_lab

im thinking about going to school for welding...
curious how many of you do this for a living...

How much do you make
Where do you work/ what type of work
do you like your job?
how much education do you have welding?

Thanks

cua0

journeyman welders around here make around $25/hr in shops and more in the field. (if you have your own rig and do pipeline it gets up around the $100-150/hr mark depending on the danger as well as what tickets you have.)

3 years of schooling (apprentiship) to get a journeyman ticket. (what i have) and everything springboards off of there, you can get tig tickets, B-Pressure (that's what pipeliners need), A-Pressure, CWB, AAR (like B-Pressure except for the railroad), and all kinds of other tickets.

i work for a railroad car maintenance company, i do a lot of mechanical as well as welding so it isn't as monotonous as if, for example, i worked in a fab shop building the same skids all day (did that before too, it gets pretty boring)

I don't mind my job, it's not the best available but for now it will suffice. I'd love to work in a custom fab shop where I was able to do more work with new material (welding to rusty old tank cars kinda sucks) building new and interesting things all the time.

I've been working as a welder professionally since 2001 but i learned from my father at around age 5 or so..

oh, and most of this information is canadian referenced, so the dollar figures may be different where you are.

--Brent

Widebody1

Im a union ironworker, we go though 4 years apprenticeship school to become a journeyman. Welding isnt all that it intails though. I love my job. Out in cali they bank but around where i live in kentucky/cincinnati, journeymen make around 24.50

m3dia_lab

any other people want to add...

what is a journeyman? sorry for the newbie questions

291mr2t

I you are interested in a project car to learn how to weld on, I'll give you the shell to my civic if you can just get it out of my driveway!!!! I need the space and all the car needs is a front core support welded on. E-Mail me @ shortyrh2@yahoo.com.

2KWK4U

I work at a company that builds semi trailers, flatbeds, containers, and chassis. I tested into welding here, but the company offers its own weld school in house. I was self taught in MIG, which is what I do here, but I did take a class in MIG later on. For most production welding (factory) all you need is a semester class in MIG, or be able to past a company's weld test. I make $15.00 Hr which for the area I live in is pretty good, but bigger markets pay quite better.

I also work for a small shop that builds mostly IHRA door slammers, and some street cars. Here I do almost all TIG, which I took a semester in college for, and I am also enrolled in a fab/TIG class currently. I make about $13.00 an hour here, but I am only part time, and it is a timy shop of about 5 employees.

As far as liking my job goes, I really enjoy welding. I love my part time job, but my full time job kind of sucks. But......it pays the bills, which is what matters since I have a wife and two kids to take care of.

foursquarepunk04

journeymen wages where i live is about 20 bucks an hour not a whole lot but it gets the bills paid, i work on ships like ferries and tugs

untitled

journeyman in our local #166 union makes 28.50

F.C.DragSports

I have taken only two welding classes. Basic weld 101 and a tig class. I work at a national aluminum chair plant, making high dollar aluminum chairs for hotels and cousinos. Its production work so it gets old quick, but spending 10 hours a day with a tig torch in my hand welding aluminum tubing is good practice. I get paid on production numbers so it averages 17-22 dollars an hour.

tonezilla

i was thinking about going to a local community college to take welding classes . but i noticed some schools offer a year of schooling for a certificate and others 2 years for an associate ? i know the difference between the two is that there is more education but will it help having one than the other in the industry ? and what does it take to become a journeyman welder ?

sorry, i dont know much about the profession, but very interested in it though .

CClark

I think journeymen around my neck of the woods make around 30 bux an Hour

Engloid

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by redxalien &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i was thinking about going to a local community college to take welding classes . but i noticed some schools offer a year of schooling for a certificate and others 2 years for an associate ? i know the difference between the two is that there is more education but will it help having one than the other in the industry ? and what does it take to become a journeyman welder ?

sorry, i dont know much about the profession, but very interested in it though .</TD></TR></TABLE>
In many cases, these longer courses are only set up to milk your wallet for more money. Anybody that pays money to go to 2 years of welding school is an idiot, or simply not concerned about the money they will make. A 2 yr degree in many other things will bring much more money, with less physical labor, more safe conditions, air conditioning, heating, working around women in skirts all day, etc.

Trust me...if you meet a woman welder on the job, she's likely to have Skoal in her lip. If you want to work in the cold, heat, rain, mud, and so on...go ahead and go into welding. If you want to top out your pay within 2 years of starting and then have nothing to look forward to, go to 2 yrs of welding school.

I had 5 months of intensive training and went out on my first welding job as a journeyman pipe welder. It can be done, and has been done. There's only so much they can teach you in school...and 2 years is much more than it takes to learn that.

D-cell

I work as a mechanic (ASE Master) for a few years, then I got a job doing performance fabrication for higher end automobiles. Try to get an apprenticeship, you'll learn more and earn money. I did it for my ASE certifications, in 2 years I learned more than any Lincoln Tech/UTI/VoTech institute could teach. IMO, the same applies for welding.