Posted on 04/22/2014 8:16:56 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
In American high schools, it is becoming increasingly hard to defend the vanishing of shop class from the curriculum. The trend began in the 1970s, when it became conventional wisdom that a four-year college degree was essential. As Forbes magazine reported in 2012, 90% of shop classes have been eliminated for the Los Angeles unified school district's 660,000 students. Yet a 2012 Bureau of Labor Statistics study shows that 48% of all college graduates are working in jobs that don't require a four-year degree.
Too many young people have four-year liberal-arts degrees, are thousands of dollars in debt and find themselves serving coffee at Starbucks SBUX +0.95% or working part-time at the mall. Many of them would have been better off with a two-year skilled-trade or technical education that provides the skills to secure a well-paying job.
A good trade to consider: welding. I recently visited Pioneer Pipe in the Utica and Marcellus shale area of Ohio and learned that last year the company paid 60 of its welders more than $150,000 and two of its welders over $200,000. The owner, Dave Archer, said he has had to turn down orders because he can't find enough skilled welders.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Welders have to make sure the weld holds, fitters have to make sure it will fit from a shop drawing so the responsibility is quite demanding. Making sure a pipe spool with half a dozen flanges, some with rolling offsets are going to match up with the equipment out in the field can be quite demanding. There is no one there to tell the fitter what or how to do it, he has to make the right call the first time from the prints in front of him. Remember, all those little bolt holes have got to line up.
I guess what I’m asking is, are pipefitters’ salaries rising to the level of welders, and so do you have the opportunity to get yourself to that six-figure level?
Maybe if I was younger but most of those 6 figure jobs are quite the specialty. Such as a welder fitter who can do it all with a helper or two. Basicly, fitters have always been a dollar or two less than welders.
Those 6 figure welders I doubt are making that in a fab shop. Mostly on the road and on call out in the field and I am sure that 6 figures includes perdiem plus travel pay.
Probably, but of course they wont have any kind of life. And forget about marriage. I work in aviation, there is big money to be made overseas or even in the gulf but you basically wont have any kind of life except work.
I make 75k AND i go home to my wife and son every night. That is far more important to me.
Interesting, thanks.
ping!
Interesting. I also live in Montgomery county and my husband is a welder. He drives an hour into Houston everyday to work because the welding jobs around here don’t pay so well.
He’s also HVAC certified and would love to quit welding to do that, but it doesn’t pay as much.
Anyways, just had to respond due to our similarities. We just moved up here from the SE side and we LOVE it.
When I was in school we all took mechanical drawing, wood shop, and metal shop. Interesting and fun. I still have the flour scoop I made in shop
The key is “good welders”.
Also, to make that kind if money, most “good welders” have to travel far from home and their family and they work 7 days a week. In that vein, the article is a bit misleading.
My husband is a good welder. (I’ve been told by people he works with, not him). They say he’s one of the best they’ve seen. He’s been offered the chance to make better money, but he’d have to travel away from home and he refuses to do so. We have 2 boys and no amount of money is worth them only seeing their dad every few weeks. We’ll just live modestly and do without some luxuries.
That said, welders, even good ones, simply don’t make that much (over 100k) as a general rule.
However, I have a Master’s degree, but he has ALWAYS made more money than me. So, the IS something to be said for trade skills vs. college.
I’ve always told people who were seeking a lifetime profession to learn a trade.
I tell them if they learn a trade, treat it well and it will take care of you for the rest of their life.
During the great depression those selling apples or pencils on street corners were those who learned how to “push pencils” and perform “white collar” jobs. Those who learned a technical skill were in a far much better situation to survive the depression.
“...Most everyone who really wants to, can weld.”
There is a BIG DIFFERENCE between a highly professional welder and a “MIG monkey.”
My business deals with specifically “Rig Welders” who pipeline weld and are the true professionals in the trade.
Quality is what you pay for and they deliver it.
I hear you on “these old bones” -
In my mind, you’re “certified” as a TOC:
Tough Old Coot, that’s for dang sure.
I made some of those Hobbs trailers in N. Ft. Worth (mig, mostly, aluminum and steel),
- worked on pressure vessels too (flux-cored wire, hotter’n hades)
- stick for kitchen hoods, ductwork & blowers
- fab shop, using carbon arc torch (loud! rattles ma nerves to think about it)
- custom cars (even did old school lead work)
- custom car production, this pimp-my-ride thing:
http://tinyurl.com/kbsjz4u
I’m a small guy, had to get out after @ 10 years.
Tough man, you are paduan.
Woa, a carbon arc torch, gees, you old too, aint ya.
That doesn’t stop them from working FOR someone with a plumbers license or electrical license and doing the work. We live in a house that I know I was thrown up by an illegal alien building crew and the electric wiring is down right dangerous.
Locally, our industries established a trade college that teaches welding far beyond the high school shop level. The graduates obtain welder certification as well as math, language and computer skills.
Course work is transferable towards a BS at another local university.
You’re right. Some of the highest paying welding jobs require travel. I can understand someone not wanting to travel.
I’ve also seen some higher paying welding jobs in specialized fields like aerospace.
There aren’t many young people getting into the field so there should be plenty of opportunities for the ones that do.
And I am with you that money isn’t everything.
What I pay for skilled tradesmen in my area:
Plumber - $75 p/hr
Electrician - $75 p/hr
Car Mechanic - $110 p/hr
Carpenter - $40 p/hr
And they tell me I’m getting discount rates because they consider me a friend. BTW, they are all very good at what they do. They get the work done right and fast.
Thankfully, my dad was able to teach me a good foundation in auto mechanics (a hobby for him).
My welding sucks. My grinding's pretty good, though.
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