Anyone work in engineering? How’s it going?

A lot of people who can lay a bead down call themselves welders....A welder can make good money if and pretty much only if they can weld in all posistions, in several processes (Mig, stick, Tig, Submerged arc etc...) on multiple alloys (low carbon steel, stainless, aluminum, high nickle content etc..), can set up the machine, follow a multi page procedure for the weld in questions, and being able to pass a drug test doesn't hurt. I don't think production welders make well, welding the same weld day after day on production line type deal.

A lot of guys can come in can pass a weld test if someone sets up the machine and tells them how they want it welded. The guys that make good money can set the machines and make the weld. In really good paying jobs on high dollar alloys there will be a high percentage of the welds tested (Xray, mag particle, dye pentrtion) and their pass/fall percentage will be tracked.

So anyway welder is a pretty big umbrella. There was a guy I worked with that after Vietnam he was trained as a pipe welder by the union. He went to AK to weld on the pipeline and then various other places and finished up on the local nuclear plant before transitioning into the office. The guys in the structural shops I deal with don't make all that well. All their stuff is welded with flux core so it's not like TiG. Now plate shops that do all TiG and submerged arc the guys who set it up (automated trolley that lays down the flux and welds behind it while moving along) and various alloys they do pretty well.

If you really want to make good money welding at this point you are going to be willing ot move around. If it's real high paying in one location nowdays it will be automated.

Noodleface said:

My ex brother in law worked on the pipeline and made a killing. Big problem is you're constantly moving, so he'd have to be ok being a nomad.

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The guy I mentioned that worked on the Alaskan pipeline as a welder then other things before moving into the office he wound up having back surgery and he blamed it on his pipeline work. Leaning over, crawling ontop of and under pipelines and stuff. No idea if that is true or not.

In my limited experience it's good to be a welder and pick up various skills along the way related to it through your work. Some welderss however only want to be a welder. Fitting, layout of pipe pentration templates and such are just a few things I know a couple of guys picked up and can do multiple things besideds weld. I know guys that work on the more expensive alloys make a lot more. The new hotness in petrochemical and power plant work is high nickle stuff like hastalloy which is $55/pound compared to the low carbon regular stuff which is a couple of dollars a pound. Same with titanium but we do a very little amount of titanium, one or two pipe flanges on a large job at most.

Yes, moving around for pipeline work is pretty much required. But large fabrication using high end alloys is pretty stable. However like the hastalloy I mentioned there are only two companies in the US that do the large fabrication of it for petrochemical and power plants but that limits the number of jobs obviously.

My friend picked up pipe welding from a union after Vietnam. I don't think that is a thing anymore. He had spent all of Vietnam in Alaska so it was a good fir to go weld on the pipeline.