Jobs

[Tungsten]

I am currently in my 2nd year at Alfred State Tech for Welding Technologies. I will graduate with a AOS in occupational studies( in 3 weeks), I am certified in many processes on both plate and pipe. I am currently looking for a job and am having no luck at all. The best job I found was willing to pay me $10.00 an hour and it seemed like I had little if any room to move up. I really don't want to get caught up in a job I hate and a life style I don't want to live. What should I do? Should I go onto more schooling? if so what? All the pressure is just coming down on me to fast, and I have no Idea what I am going to do with my life. I almost wish I would have never started welding! I wish I had gone to school for a different job that would be better paying then this. help me!
-Jeff

[boilerman]

check with your local boiler makers union....

[Guest]

I started off welding making $1.31/ hour...after 45 years, I make $26/hour, full benefits and I've raised 6 kids and now have a dog breeding business on the side. While I'm not rich, I have never been without a job, and the whole trip was a learning process.

You could continue in school, get some business classes and start you own business, or look for a job where there are lots of old time weldors that you can learn from, like a shipyard, trains, heavy equipment, truck builders, then there's oil fields, pipe line welding, and on and on. Do you want to be your own boss? how about engineering? There's a myriad of jobs and fields to work in that are just plain fun, too. Don't be discouraged at the $10/hour jobs, remember when you graduate, is when you actually start learning the welding trade. $10 bucks an hour is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!

[pontiac]

My best advice is do what you love..

I couldn't imagine working a job for 40 years and hating every day of it.

Like Rock said.. it'll take time to work your way up..


If you enjoy your work it'll show and you'll move up the ladder..
If not.. Well it's never to late to try something new.

[Tungsten]

I really do enjoy welding a lot! That's why I do it. I had a job at Kodak over the summer (intern) I did both field work and in house work. It was the best job I ever had. I got good money and paid vacation! Free training and some certs! While in the field I did pipe welding, chilled lines and steam lines, with 6010 and 7018. The guys really taught me a lot. But because of the bad economy they are not ready to hire anytime soon I'd love to have my own business, but I have no idea where to start or what i'd even be building. I guess I just want things to move faster then they are.

[deere_x475guy]

Tungston....what was said about doing what you love hits very close to home for me. At the age of 45 after doing the same thing for 20 years I realized that I had hated at least the last 5 years. I had made my way up the ladder and found myself in a job that I spent close to 80 hours a week in. I had 45 people working for me....well..not directly. I was a Director and had 6 managers that managed the day to day stuff of the 39 people left.

Anyway, I had been spending all my spare time learning the IT end of the computer world. Luck was with me and I managed to end up with a good company and a lot less hours. I cut my pay in half to start over again but at the end of 5 years...which was last fall I managed to climb back up the salary range and am doing ok.

Trust me....its not all about money...you will be much happier doing what you love....and those around you will be also. I am lucky my wife and daughters put up with me those last five years....and also lucky they put up with my mid-life change careers and take less pay move that I did.

On another note...my brother in-law works for a union construction company and is a welder. They build bridges. He loves it. Have you checked with the local unions like was suggested. You may not start out as high as you like....but in a job like that you won't stay at the entry level long. Everything worth while is worth waiting for.....remember that....


Good Luck...
Bob

[Franz]

If you're looking around the Alfred/Rochester area, things are thin right now, and starting wages are low. Foster Wheeler just closed up in Dansville, and put a lot of welders on the street looking for work.
You're fresh out of college, and although this may oppose everything your instructors have been telling you the last few years, there aren't a lot of employers ot there competing to hire you. Yes, you have some basic skills, but they are very limited. As far as your experience at Kodak, I hate to tell you, but Kodak ain't considered the real world around here.
You could also apply for apprenticeship in both the Plumbers & Steamfitters, although they probably won't be taking anyone in for a year in Rochester, or the Ironworkers. You could even try the sheetmetal workers union.
You said you have an offer of $10- an hour to start, my suggestion would be that you take the offer, and begin working in a craft that will be a lifetime of learning, some fun, and some miserable rottin jobs. All things considered, there are plenty of worse ways to make a living.
$10- is a beginning, once you get int he door and demonstrate your worth to the employer, you can negotiate. Until you have demonstrated worth, $10- is a very generous offer in this area. Consider that to pay you $10- an hour, you must generate $20- an hour for your employer just for him to break even. There are a lot of expenses involved in employing someone, from administration to insurance and overhead.
Now is the time for you and you alone to begin building your reputation. Nobody other than you can do that.

[Stu Bass]

Re: Jobs

Originally posted by Tungsten
I am currently in my 2nd year at Alfred State Tech for Welding Technologies. I will graduate with a AOS in occupational studies( in 3 weeks), I am certified in many processes on both plate and pipe. I am currently looking for a job and am having no luck at all. The best job I found was willing to pay me $10.00 an hour and it seemed like I had little if any room to move up. I really don't want to get caught up in a job I hate and a life style I don't want to live. What should I do? Should I go onto more schooling? if so what? All the pressure is just coming down on me to fast, and I have no Idea what I am going to do with my life. I almost wish I would have never started welding! I wish I had gone to school for a different job that would be better paying then this. help me!
-Jeff

Tungsten: By all means get as much schooling as you can.You'll find something. If you want to do as boilerman says try the Boilermakers apprenticship it's 4 years and you graduate with the equivalant of a engineering degree without the paper. Welding in this trade has been great for me. I love to weld. You'll learn how to make "window welds" exray, mirror welds.Just all kinds of positions to weld in. I've even made exray wearing a sock hood using a mirror for the back side. Sound exciting? Maybe. Check into it first it's not a 9-5 job. Still education is the best way. Stu

[Gambeeno]

Local 440 Plumbers and Steamfitters Union in Indianapolis is in high demand for certified welders at this time . We have refinery work in Noblesville right now. If you need more info just holla.

[BillC]

Tungsten,

If you can live on $10 an hour (at least for a little while) then take the job and be glad for the real world experience. It is still more money than unemployment will pay, and it looks a lot better on your resume <grin>. Meanwhile, keep looking for a better, higher-paying job.

Good Luck!!!

[Sberry]

Learn to do it right while you are young. I tell a couple guys this. Learn right first and the speed and money will come. Change jobs a few times just to get a chance to see how other guys do things. I get a kick out of a new job sometimes. By 10 oclock I usually have a grip on whos who, whats what, what we are doing and where the tools are.

[Tungsten]

You guys have a lot of good points, I have tried getting into the local 13 union, but they have over 300 guys out of work right now Everyone is laying off, its not a good market up here right now, and I am not really ready to move right now. The job for $10.00 an hour was over 50 hours a week, Starting at 5:30-6:00 Monday-Friday and then Saturday sometimes. I just don't want to get caught up in a low paying job that I don't like and not be able to look for another one. I do other experience, I worked for Weco Metal as a TIG welder in 11th/12th Grade, and I worked for McDonalds Welding shop for a while. Its not a lot of experience but its a start. I might have a chance to work at a heat exchanger company. I guess Its good pay and lots of travel. At times i'd have to re-tube heat exchangers which requires ASME Code welding. Does anyone here do that? Thanks for the help.
-Jeff

[Mike Sherman]

You epitomize the problem in our industry with your attitude that a beginner welder, not even out of school deserves more than $10 per hour. Can you set up a tig, any tig and weld aluminum, titanium, Inconel, stainless etc.? Can you weld any diameter stainless pipe 2" from the wall? Can you pass a 6G pipe test, everytime? Can you weld overhead SMA? Vertical SMA? Can you read blueprints? Can you work from 7 am to 7 pm everyday until the job is done? Maybe you can do all this but until you prove yourself to your employer you are not worth that awful much. It takes time to learn and prove yourself, if you are truly gifted, your new employer will see that and give you a raise. If you are not or you have a lot to learn, he will not raise your pay. Even the union hall will start you out for several years at a low apprentice pay, why? Because you are inexperienced. Take the $10 per hour job and learn something. I have had many employees and young men who come in my door demanding top dollar don't even get a second look. Good welders know they are good and can prove it, until you can prove it you will never make more than $10 per hour. The very best man I have can do it all and at one time he had to prove himself also. It only took him one day, but he still had to do it.

[Arbo]

[Hobart Expert Rock]

TUNGESTON.........ALL THIS INFORMATION IS FROM EXPERIENCED HANDS....EVER HEAR THE OLD SAYING BEEN THERE DONE THAT... WELL YOU HALFT TO GIVE YOUR TIME TO THE CAUSE....... IN OTHER WARDS YOU HAVEN'T BEEN THERE AND HAVEN'T DONE THAT YET..................... HOWEVER MY FIRST JOB WAS FOR .50 CENTS AN HOUR AND I GATHERED CHICKEN EGGS 2 TIMES A DAY 365 DAYS A YEAR.............. BEFORE SCHOOL AND AFTER SCHOOL... I CAN GUARANTEE YOU I DID NOT LIKE SMELLING LIKE CHICKEN CRAP TWO TIMES A DAY............... BUT HEY I NEEDED LUNCH MONEY, SHOES, ETC...........................SO I TOOK THE JOB WHILE ALL THE OTHER SCHOOL KIDS MADE FUN OF ME WORKING FOR CHANGE.................. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I'VE HAD A FULL TIME JOB SINCE I WAS 13 YEARS OLD............. I THINK YOU SHOULD TRY THE $10.00 AN HOUR JOB EVEN IF YOU ONLY STAY 6 MONTHS LOOK AT THE EXPERIENCE YOU'LL AQUIRE....... HEY I'LL BET YOU EVEN GET THE INSURANCE AFTER 90 DAYS AND IF YOUR GOOD EVEN A RAISE............... YOU CAN ALWAYS MOVE ON BUT THE EXPERIENCE WILL STAY WITH YOU............... HANG IN THERE LIFE TRUELY DOES GET BETTER.............. EXPERIENCE IS THE KEY...... JUST REMEMBER SOMEDAY YOUR GOING TO TELL THE YOUNG GUY THAT WALKS IN THE DOOR AND WANTS $50.00 BUCKS AN HOUR..................... OK SHOW ME HOW YOUR GOING TO DO IT.......... .......... EVERYONE NEEDS TO PROVE THEMSELVES.......... WE'VE ALL BEEN DOING THIS A LONG TIME........... HAVE SOME FUN WITH IT.............. AND YOU NEVER REALLY STOP LEARNING THE REST OF YOUR LIFE............... YOU WILL SEE.............BE SAFE.... ENJOY IT..........................................ROCK.. .................... [email protected]