Welding

Welding Career Overview

If you enjoy working with tools and like the idea of creating strong structures, then perhaps a career in welding would be a good fit. Welding is the most common way of permanently joining metal parts using heat applied to metal pieces, melting and fusing them to form a permanent bond. Welding is used in shipbuilding, automobile manufacturing and repair, aerospace applications, and thousands of other manufacturing activities. Welding also is used to join beams when constructing buildings, bridges, and other structures, and to join pipes in pipelines, power plants, and refineries.

Welding workers typically plan work from drawings or specifications or use their knowledge to analyze the parts that need to be joined. They are responsible for selecting and setting up welding equipment, executing the planned welds, and examining welds to ensure that they meet standards or specifications. Highly skilled welders often are trained to work with a wide variety of materials in addition to steel, such as titanium, aluminum, or plastics. A career in welding requires a great deal of skill and concentration. It also provides one with a profound feeling of accomplishment, with lasting structures standing as the result of the work performed.

Welding Training & Education

Formal training for welders is advised and takes anywhere from 6 months to 2 years to complete on average. While some employers provide basic training, they prefer to hire workers with experience or more formal training. Courses include:

• Blueprint reading
• Shop mathematics
• Mechanical drawing
• Physics
• Chemistry
• Metallurgy
• Electricity

Knowledge of computers is becoming increasingly important, especially for welding, soldering, and brazing machine operators, who are becoming more responsible for the programming of computer-controlled machines. Welders can advance to more skilled welding jobs with additional training and experience. For example, they may become welding technicians, supervisors, inspectors, or instructors.

Welding Career & Salary Outlook

Job prospects for welders should be excellent as employers report difficulty finding enough qualified employees. In addition, it is projected that more vacancies will occur because as a large number of workers will retire over the next decade. Because almost every manufacturing industry uses welding at some stage of manufacturing or in the repair and maintenance of equipment welders will always remain in demand.

The construction industry is expected to have solid growth over the next decade and as a result, an increasing demand for welders. Government funding for shipbuilding as well as for infrastructure repairs and improvements are expected to generate additional welding jobs. While salary varies among welders, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the middle 50 percent earned between $11.90 and $18.05 as of May 2004.

Career Fields/Specializations

Welder Career

While there are numerous types of welding, arc welding is the most common. Welders use many different forms of technology in order to get the job done. Standard arc welding involves using a strong electrical current to help separate pieces of metal to melt together, forming a solid bond.

There are many other ways in which to weld in addition to arc welding. As a result, the most skilled welders will be the most versatile, enabling them to work on various different types of projects. That being said, many welders assume a specialty in which they excel and have particular interest.

Underwater Welder Career

One type of welding specialty is underwater welding. The applications of underwater welding are diverse—it is often used to repair ships, offshore oil platforms, and pipelines. Steel is the most common material welded for these projects. For deepwater welds and other applications where high strength is necessary, dry underwater welding is most commonly used.

In general, assuring the integrity of underwater welds can be difficult especially for wet underwater welds, because defects are difficult to detect if the defects are beneath the surface of the weld. For the structures being welded by wet underwater welding, inspection following welding may be more difficult than for welds deposited in air. Assuring the integrity of such underwater welds may be more difficult, and there is a risk that defects may remain undetected. Due to all of the possible complications that can arise in underwater welding, this career takes a great deal of training, skill, and precision.

Welding Operator Career

Welding operators are not so much responsible for doing the physical welding, but are in charge of monitoring machines or robots that are used to do welding procedures. Automated welding is used in an increasing number of production processes, as a result, the technology must be supervised by a welding machine operator.

Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders follow specified layouts, work orders, or blueprints. Operators must load parts correctly and constantly monitor the machine to ensure that it produces the desired bond. This requires less hands-on stress, but allows one to be responsible for ensuring a high quality finished product.

Welding Technicians Career

Welding technicians are those individuals who are flexible enough to understand the duties of both welders and welding engineers. Welding technicians are mainly problem solvers or troubleshooters. Most educational institutions that offer welding technician programs require individuals to spend a great deal of time learning about the various processes involved in welding and develop some sort of basic skill on each. Welding technicians are exposed to the various testing and evaluation methods and ways that weld quality can be affected.

They commonly take courses in metallurgy and materials science to understand how the structural makeup of various materials affects the way they can be welded. Welding technicians are also exposed to automation and robotic applications of welding and understand how to troubleshoot these automated applications. Such a career requires an individual that can multi-task well and has a broad understanding of many different facets of the welding industry.

Welding Inspector Career

Welding inspectors are typically expected to perform daily inspection and supervision of welders. They are responsible for achieving safety standards and for assessing effectiveness of working practices and systems. Welding inspectors should continuously be focused on how best to improve welding systems, along with monitoring personal and team performance.

They maintain inspection strategies and implement and execute all of the technical inspection monitoring. While performing these duties they must provide technical support where required to the welding operations and maintenance teams. Welding inspectors must have an excellent understanding of the necessary procedures and techniques used in welding and often transition to this role after having spent time as a welding specialist.