10 Pros and Cons of Being a Welder

I was looking into becoming a welder just cause im struggling financially, but after watching this video… i rather go be a server lol. I have a single car hauler but not enough work, so i have to alternate gigs. Is a complete fucking headache. At this point im just thinking about selling my truck n trailer and take that $$$$$ and put it in stocks.

New construction is the best work in the skilled trades. Stay away from maintenance work and outages. Always last minute emergencies that you'll get roped into at the end of shift. Filthy, hot, and noisy conditions with maintenance work.

“Guys” hey now us girls weld too 😅

I wish I would have seen this video 5 years ago... I was a welder for the last 5 years and it was detrimental for my health breathing that stuff in. I left making $30 an hour to become an electrician without having to breath the fumes and make the same if not more in a few years

Every place you jave to take a weld test and pass to get decent paying job.

You can have all the certifications a school offers in a testing enviroment and never pass a weld test at a company and never get a welding job .

Its nice to know how to weld but as a career its terrible .

i have been in the welding business for 40 years , i still own a custom fab shop in south Florida , my advise to someone wanting to get into this business , get into sales , breath fresh air , you wont have to sweat your balls off.... and you will if you choose this path , this is a hard trade that takes years to learn that is so under appreciated .
just my opinion from driving down this road for 40 years , if this is your dream or passion like it was mine , good luck

My cousin went to school for 10 weeks and has been welding 5 months and made roughly 45k he’s 1 hour from his hometown. If you live in Texas chances are you can work 3-4 hours from home making 2-4k a week if you don’t want to travel the states it’s all about networking if non union

Did you go to a welding school? If so would you recommend it ?

I'm union boilermaker

took me 1 year welding to make 25/hr. then it took 8 years after that to get to over 30/hr. I went into a leadership position and thats the only way I started making even more money. all this way in commercial construction. Just like mentioned in the video, the only way you are making alot of money welding is by traveling all the time or creating your own business

Nobody on their death bed says "I wish they worked more overtime"...
As soon as i started my business I made the same as I did before, but work half the hours.... Glad I get to see my family, drive my kids to school, take my dogs out for lunchtime walks ect....... now im not slowly dying at some shitty shop....

Subscribed, great video!
All the "kids" at school think they're gonna be making 6 figures right after school. 🤣 Fact is, most welders don't make over $50k a year. The other problem is the young welders think that's all they'll be doing is welding when in fact they'll be doing lots of labor in addition to welding. Unless you happen to work in just an assembly welding shop squeezing a mig gun trigger in which case youre gonna make the least amount of $

the reason Im gonna like welding is because like you said the guys that make big money dont have lives. I dont give a flying fuck about anyone i know and ill glady work ot every day and i just dont burn down so im real excited to travel especially because new york is ass

Bwahahaha…

With the anti oil stance of the current administration, is it hard to find these oil based jobs?

He said there are too many welders but Google says there's a severe shortage. Can someone tell me what's what? I'm thinking about welding as a career.

I’d be willing to bet you’re not that popular with a lot of the meathead welders out there. Common sense is their kryptonite and you’re full of it.

So after you get highly skilled doing many kinds of work, are welders able to charge more based on their ability? I’ve seen some welders say they can make 100, 100 plus an hour doing maintenance.

great video. honestly i cant believe this is explained in detail from just 24 years old man.

I work security at Aerojet rocketdyne and seen that they were having internships for wielding. Now welding was never been my passion and didn't really understand it till then but I think this would be a great way to solidify my spot into the company, I just want to how demanding the job can really be. I'm the type of guy who wants to just go to work make his check and go home, if anybody can give me more insight on what its actually like being a welder would be greatly appreciated

Don't forget shipyard welders. They make good money, too. My uncle works at the NN shipyard (in Virginia), making 130K annually.

am also a welder, may I apply for a job at your company because I am impressed and amazed by your company

Since I’d be traveling all the time. Would I be able to just fly in and out or do most places require a car

Fck family im ok with traveling and saving money to invest later

Thank you for you in depth, informative introspection of this career path.

I remember being at Lincoln Electric welding school in Cleveland, OH. Someone from the Boilermakers union came in to do a talk. He said they could find all kinds of guys wanting to get into the field, but none of them could pass a piss test! lol This video pretty much sums up the life. Like you said, finding the work/life balance is very important! Good job!

In the uk moast welders are paid s**t wages. I am a coded welder making pressure vessels for pharmaceutical and i just bearly make £40k a year. That's about $49k. I am seriously considering emigrating to another country for the better pay and amongst other things.

another con i would add is the additional risk of electrocution. getting shocked doesn't happen often, and when it does it's usually only a couple amps. however, all it takes is a bit of stupidity or complacency to instantly end your life from electrocution, especially during heavy rain/wet conditions, or heavy sweating

Thank you for this video❤

in europe, welders earn way more money than office workers, and there is lack of welders. But low pay will be there for first 2-3 years, and if you dont weld good enough, you wont get job, they will test you doing like a4 a5 a6 a8 a12 a16 a20 weldes both horizontal and vertical, and ultrasound test your welds when applying for companies. You can be with 10 year experience, but no employer would call you a welder, if you cant do those quality welds. EU has huge pay for welders, but 80% of people who consider themselves welders, will never be considered welders.

hey im hamza from marocco i have 3 experience and deplom

Repair automotive rust. You right away become a 1% person if you are good. You will have close to no competition & you can name your own prices. If you stray into truck & tractor rust repair, you become 0.5%er. Pay is commensurate.

This is what kids need to hear before committing to any endeavors in life from someone on the field. Several of the welders have been excellent advisors for newbys looking at the field as employment. A class no one teaches in school on how much reward you get for the direction you choose. It would save students a lot of grief from college tuiton debt the rest of one's life.

Pharmaceutical, stainless orbital welding, water purification for medicinal

I worked at bobcat. They started mig welders at $22.50 in NC

Idk $17 an hour sounds nice lol

As an areospace welder, I challenge you to weld anything smaller than .20
I can't tell you how many boilermakers come in for weld tests (mostly because they have kids and want to be home more) and fail. Sorry, boilermakers are far from being the most capable welder. On a daily basis we are welding carbon, aluminum, chromoly, titanium. Pretty much any alloy that's weldable. We are class A welders that are not only certified in any material we work on. But lots of times if not most we have to test before we even do a job. Oh you have a 5g congrats....

On the road welder myself doing a sawmill rebuild up in northern Wisconsin rn. At the age of 23 I love this life but one day I'll take to the shop life more

I started welding school and my plan is to have a job in town in a fab shop or something but I want to see if the money would still be good , I live in Texas any advice ?

Many thanks bro

most weld jobs are mig factory work and nake 22 and hour even in cali average is like 28 only been here for 8 years. switched to weld manufacturing engineering. robots are better

What about retired military ppl who become welders do they end up making a lot and being hired quickly

I have been thinking about going into welding so I know I will always have a job. The economy could collapse and I would still have a job. I’d love to work on aerospace. But I do want to start off in a shop for experience! If any of you guys have tips let me know!!

Whaaaat people been telling me there's a shortage of welders lmao. I guess it depends on the area? 🤷‍♂️

I’ve been a welder for a little over a year at 18 I started at 17 when I dropped out of high school my junior year I’ve worked in 2 different fab shops the first shop I worked at I built truck beds at 15 an hour (that’s really bad for welder/fitters) for about 11 months then I got in with a bigger company starting out at 16 but after my probation period I make 22 at 18 my job caps out at 25 as a welder with benefits at 18 I think that’s a decent pay I’m working 60 hours a week bringing home about 1,100 after taxes the work is hard but I started out in a grocery store and decided I wanted to pick up a trade so I made the decision to quit school to make money( I’ve seen that there are some things that diploma would have came in handy stay in school kids!) im currently about to buy a truck and my own machine so I can start running my own side jobs and potentially my own company in the next 10 years it’s a lot of work and it’s tiresome and it can be a stressful job but I’ll tell you what I have a plan for my cuter family and even my current one if you have a goal and can get into that line of work, DO IT it’s worth it in my opinion

Been doing this since 2013. First 5 years was for a company at a shipyard. I told my wife imma quit after 5 years experience and we will hit the road and that’s exactly what we did. He’s right about traveling, it sux. Your best bet is work for the union or a local contractor. I prefer a contractor for the shipyard since they offer per diem and the contract lasts longer than 3 weeks. I’ve been averaging 60 year for the 1st 5 years. I’ve been averaging over 100k after deductions for the past 4 years. It all depends on what you choose. I choose the best pay while other would choose the comfortability( fab shop). Tbh I will never work for a company ever again. Good luck with y’all’s journey.

My biggest concern with welding is the hazardous fumes and chemical exposures not down for that 😢

what about rope access welders?