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"It was once the norm that many people went to welding school, earned a basic certification, then sought a job. I commented on welding in #14 and really wonder how it has gone from a very desirable and high paying trade to one supposedly with a shortage of 500,000."

My son starts training at Tulsa Welding School in August. 7 months and he will be a Certified Master Welder. He is a talented welder already and has taken mostly shop classes during his Junior and Senior years in High School. While he could have a decent paying job right now, the Certification and ability to pass a variety of welding tests will bring his earning potential up several 10s of thousands of dollars. From what we are hearing TWS is almost 100% full. Kids are getting smart and taking the Tech School route, it will just take a few years for them to make it into the work force.

A welder can make upwards of $100,000 or more per year if they really hustle and put in the overtime. And the cost of training is less than $20,000. What I've observed is that many young men are put off by getting dirty. They want clean jobs.

During the years while the Alaska pipeline was being built (1974 - 1977 according to Wiki), I knew a few guys who'd become welders. They were making around $18 - $20 per hour working on a pipeline in the Southeast, and often talked of going to work on the Alaska pipeline (year round) for $90 per hour. The $20 was very good pay in the mid-'70s, and the $90 in Alaska was astronomical. I just wonder if welders pay has kept up with inflation since, or if immigrants have undercut the pay growth.

Still hard to believe there is a shortage of 500,000 welders.

It is true. Welders can earn very good money. I had that opportunity. I could have gone to specialized welding school, possibly up to nuke welding in the NAV. But it also occurred to me that no matter how much I earned as a welder I would spend many many days just “burning stick”. And while I am good at framing and finishing, rocking and mudding, plumbing and tile and electrical, I chose an engineering degree instead.

Good for your son. I love hearing stories like this -- about young fellows like that who pursue a craft they love and are very good at what they do at a young age.

Has he considered getting into some kind of specialized welding that will make his skills even more valuable? I was thinking of something like marine welding that might require him to work with unusual conditions or on unusual types of equipment.