Professional welders are always in demand, and if they are good enough, can usually find work anywhere, regardless of how poor the economy is. This is because welding is a highly specialized skill that requires not just years of training, but a constantly updated knowledge base concerning the types of metal being joined as well as the industry standards for strength in a weld.
Welding is as much an art as it is a science, and there are few professions that can claim to straddle the line between the two so effortlessly. The professional welder must have an eye for what will be an attractive weld, particularly in light of the fact that in welding, an attractive weld is often the strongest weld, while a weld that is pockmarked and filled with missing spaces is often not strong at all and may fail, damaging the parts or causing significant loss or injuries. This is why learning to become a welder is such an intensive process. While it doesn’t take much to actually get started in welding, you are essentially committing yourself to a process of updating your knowledge every few months as new technologies and procedures are introduced in the welding world.
To begin your welding career, it’s a good idea to take classes that will lead to your certification as a welder. Note, however, that these classes will not automatically guarantee you a job. In fact, they only offer you the very basics of the information you will need to enter the field. After the classes have completed, you will have to select a specific field in which to practice, and then find a job within that field. You can specialize in welding high strength steels, aluminum, and construction welding, as well as automotive repair welding or even fabrication welding. Each of these requires a different skill set that branches off from what you learned in your studies. In essence, you may find that after you’ve taken your courses, you will have to relearn everything that you had previously learned just to get by in your chosen field.
If the field that you have chosen has a union, it’s a good idea to join that union as soon as you can. Within that field, you will then have access to jobs that you may not have had without union support. Some jobs, however, don’t have unions. The most likely places you’ll find unions are in auto manufacturers, plumbing and construction labor. Regardless of how you might feel about unions, they can help you get a foothold in your new career field if you use them to your advantage. After you have found work in your chosen field, you will then begin to apprentice with an experienced welder. If you skip this step, you will find that you may miss important aspects of the job that you were not told about in your education. Specific company policies are particularly important for you to assimilate once you have begun working with a master welder.
As you build your skills at your chosen profession, it is important for you to keep ahead of the industry with additional training and education. Make certain that you take refresher courses and advanced welding courses whenever possible to sharpen your skills and make you more marketable as a welder. Once you have earned your skills, there’s nowhere you can’t find work as a welder. You just have to prove that you’re better at it than the next guy.
