On becoming an electrician

Hatorade

Hatorade

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Some shit went down today, 10 hours to get 4 walls up and together, partially because they had to cut off the brackets and weld two
of them together. Hard part done though have the very limited access walls up and bolted. The welder had apprentice cleaning up the welds and it clearly got away from him a few times.
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BrutulTM

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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To quote AvE, the secret to beautiful welds? Thick paint.
 
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Borzak

Borzak

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A "welder" that is making $48k a year is known as a "tacker", not a welder. I know a pipeline welder that paid off his house in 5 years then got married and had kids. Note, married after he paid off the house lol. I know the placed I worked a decade ago their welders that could do high nickel alloy stuff worked 5 days a week in a shop that was partially air conditioned made abov $100k a year. But that's not starting work with 6 months of training. Of course they are drug tested and have near 100% x-ray testing on their welds. Cream to the top kind of a deal.
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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Yeah I thought quite a few of the salaries he listed were a bit low. Maybe they include apprentices. I talked to a guy who had a mobile welding rig during the bakken oil boom and he said they were so concerned with not having to wait for anyone that they would pay him $200 an hour to sleep in his truck half the day and then jump out and weld for an hour when they were ready for him. Sometimes he would be there for hours just to make one weld and charging his full rate the whole time.

The part about how the drywall and concrete guys love drugs matches my experience. The only reason to do drywall is if you can't pass a drug test and the only reason to do concrete is if you were so drunk on a daily basis that you got fired from doing drywall.
 
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Kajiimagi

Kajiimagi

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BrutulTM said:
Yeah I thought quite a few of the salaries he listed were a bit low. Maybe they include apprentices. I talked to a guy who had a mobile welding rig during the bakken oil boom and he said they were so concerned with not having to wait for anyone that they would pay him $200 an hour to sleep in his truck half the day and then jump out and weld for an hour when they were ready for him. Sometimes he would be there for hours just to make one weld and charging his full rate the whole time.

The part about how the drywall and concrete guys love drugs matches my experience. The only reason to do drywall is if you can't pass a drug test and the only reason to do concrete is if you were so drunk on a daily basis that you got fired from doing drywall.
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The electrical outfit I worked for requires a drug test now. Even Pot is a no-hire and it's legal here. They do a lot of federal work where they still consider it bad.
 
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Furry

Furry

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moonarchia said:
That will probably change with the reclassification.
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Almost certainly not. Fed bans tons of perfectly legal drugs for employees/contractors that do physical labor or security even if you have a prescription.

My uncle used to be a pipe fitter with a top security clearance that worked in nuclear submarines. I never knew exactly what he made, but his house is 5m dollars and he retired mid 50s, so it had to be something truly obscene. Trades can definitely make crazy money if you find a good niche.
 
Goatface

Goatface

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My cousin's husband (23) makes $48ish hour as a welder. The company he works for does out of town onsite jobs. He will be on a job for week to a month. If they don't have job, he just stays home and still gets paid.
He seems mildly retarded and is terrible with money, but apparently has a gift welding.
 
Borzak

Borzak

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Guys that work in the maintenance shop at Exxon are all blue collar workers. Welding, fitting, burning, etc...It's air conditioned and you have a job for life if you don't fail a drug test or punch out a coworker. My friend in school his dad was a boiler maker there and he sent his kid to private school and lived in a nice house. Went to work for Exxon right out of high school, retired from there having worked at the same location. Not bad for blue collar. His son is a welder that has his own truck doing power plant work.

Huge difference in some peoples view of blue collar and others view. Where I was working for a short time 10 years ago when I got sick, the average number of years retention was 30. That included the office and the shop. Shop, welders, fitters, helpers etc...
 
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