Where are all the talented welders!!!???

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  • fjk
    Senior Member
    • Sep 2007
    • 546

    #16
    There have been several threads on the lack of _skilled_ workers here over the last couple of years. I seem to recall reading (in other words, I probably am completely wrong :-) somewhat frequently that there are something on the order of 1 million open jobs in manufacturing/etc that companies can't fill because they can't find the skilled workers ... in other words, if they just wanted to hire weldors who could stick plain ol carbon steel together with mediocre results there are plenty of folks to hire but they want someone who can do tig joints on some superdooper s.xy alloy, while hanging upside down in a hurricane and have it meet clean-room specifications ... and all those guys already have jobs.

    This is not just a problem in manufacturing or trades ... it hits engineering, science, etc jobs as well too. I work for an R&D company with about 500 employees. We have 68 openings, of which 60 are for technical people (everything from summer interns to senior research/experimental physicists). I've done college recruiting in the past, lots of new science & engineering graduates named Chin or Srinivasan ... not so many named John or Jane. John and Jane party for four years, get degrees in Medieval Flute Playing, wonder why they can't get jobs, and then go occupy Wall Street. Chin & Srini study for 18 hours a day, get advanced degrees in engineering or science, start a company and make big bux (or their visa expires, go back to the old country, and start the company there).

    I expect it's the same in welding and other trades ... the guy who stopped learning when he found out that 6010 was a decent all around rod is probably not finding as many jobs as the guy who knows stick, mig, tig, different alloys and positions and ... well, you get the idea.

    Sorry for the rant ... but I'm feeling much better now.

    Merry Christmas to all (and to all a good night?)

    Frank

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    • jessp
      Junior Member
      • Jan 2005
      • 12

      #17
      Sounds as if this problem is everywhere. I have been welding since 1968. Had my own rig since 1975. Company I am working through right now has a huge list of people who can pass a test but have alot if problems in the field. Anyone that can purchase a truck n a welder n a few tools and pass 1 test can get hired, no precious experience required. It's really sad that our trade, in some areas, has been brought down to this current situation. I personally worked as a single hand for approx 6-7 years, learning the way to do things correctly. If I didn't know how to do something, in my spare time, I would get the book out and learn it. Just not that way anymore. They see $$$$ signs only.

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      • kvwall
        Senior Member
        • Jun 2012
        • 220

        #18
        I blame the dot com era. I went to vocational school and learned to weld in 1984. Then the internet started taking off and the dot com era was born.

        So many people made money doing nothing really. They sat in their Silicon Valley start-up office playing pool and eating free bagels. (I know because I did it for a few years)

        For the last two decades, college has been jammed down our throats. Our kids have been taught they can have an easy life if they get a degree. Trade schools aren't viewed as important anymore. Now we're short on welders and other skilled trades. People don't know what it's like to work hard. These kids today don't even have to walk down the street to see if a friend wants to play. They sit on the couch and text 5 different people in 20 seconds.

        Ok... I better stop before I really get started. <Rant Over>
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        • elvis
          Senior Member
          • Nov 2012
          • 591

          #19
          I am in my mid-20's and I have a BSF, that is for Forestry. Turns out I don't want to work for the Feds so where does that leave me? I love working with my hands and being outside. Currently working on mastering stick and learning tig so I can start a career in welding and fab. I ran machinery for a while and that was sweet, but I had more fun fabricating stuff for the machines when they broke.

          I might be young, but I have a pretty diverse background. Another thing that sets me apart is that virtually my entire family is involved in small business, mostly owning and running. I see what taxation, regulation and more government does. And it is not any good! If I want something I am going to work my a$$ off to get said item. People my age are a bunch of pu$$ys that need to shut up and try to work for something. It pisses me off.
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          • willy
            Senior Member
            • Dec 2006
            • 317

            #20
            Originally posted by elvis View Post
            I am in my mid-20's and I have a BSF, that is for Forestry. Turns out I don't want to work for the Feds so where does that leave me? I love working with my hands and being outside. Currently working on mastering stick and learning tig so I can start a career in welding and fab. I ran machinery for a while and that was sweet, but I had more fun fabricating stuff for the machines when they broke.

            I might be young, but I have a pretty diverse background. Another thing that sets me apart is that virtually my entire family is involved in small business, mostly owning and running. I see what taxation, regulation and more government does. And it is not any good! If I want something I am going to work my a$$ off to get said item. People my age are a bunch of pu$$ys that need to shut up and try to work for something. It pisses me off.
            You might just make it - there may be hope for our country after all. Keep the faith and walk the staight and narrow Good Luck!

            Comment

            • elvis
              Senior Member
              • Nov 2012
              • 591

              #21
              Thanks Willy!

              If you want something, go get it! That is my thought at least.
              MillerMatic 251
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              • ZJones1994
                Member
                • Nov 2012
                • 31

                #22
                I completely agree with my generation not being hard workers. Im 18 and a senior in h.s., ive worked with a contractor, i work in a metal shop now, do landscaping on the skde and i have for years i have yet to meet, in person, someone my age who works as much as i do. Then the people who work take no pride in their work. It drives me insane.

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                • bobhdus
                  Member
                  • Jul 2012
                  • 64

                  #23
                  Speaking of working hard, it's like pulling teeth just to get my 12 and 15 yr old's to help rake leaves. And me, I just go ahead and do it myself because it's easier, it's the way I was raised, you just do it. I used to try to make my boys do things like that but it seems that society has changed to pamper kids. They cry to my wife and she thinks I'm being hard on them. She was raised with the "you can't hold a baby too much" mentality. Me, if the diaper is good and no fever, then cry away cause I got ear plugs! All the guys in my shop are the same way. Out of 30 plus guys, I'm the youngest (42) and now were wondering who's going to do the hard work when we start to slow down? Yeah, i'm just ranting too. Great topic though.

                  p.s. to the original poster, you may need to start welders at a lower age and $$$'s and train them in how you want them to weld. If you pay them well and get them decent benefits and vacations as they grow and learn, maybe they will stick around.

                  Comment

                  • Brian Oatway
                    Senior Member
                    • Mar 2011
                    • 78

                    #24
                    Mines 18 and the same way. I own a small engineering company and he thinks he's gonna come and sit at a desk and play video games all day and get paid.

                    I can't win with him....if I push then I'm being to tough if I sit back he does nothing and I go ballistic. Another guy in the office is going to manage him for a while we'll see how that works out.

                    I just keep telling him if he doesn't get his act together to just remember that I don't like pickles on my Whoppers.

                    Comment

                    • pmac
                      Member
                      • Feb 2007
                      • 74

                      #25
                      It seems to be the same with my field or any field for that matter. I am a carpenter by trade, and finding a good carpenter is so very tough. I would say we would go through 10-15 people telling us how good they are all the stuff they know blah blah blah. But when it comes time to actually doing it they are mostely clowns. So i guess its the same with any skilled trade. If you do find someone good, they want big money and its worth it at least it has been for me, but even those guys end up just going off on thier own.


                      Its really tough now adays to find good help, I say when you do take care of them good, cause its been the toughest thing I have run into. its harder to find good help, then it is to find work for the help.

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                      • old jupiter
                        Senior Member
                        • Feb 2011
                        • 251

                        #26
                        "diamondfab", good welders are made, not born, but good men are born (more precisely, raised), not made.

                        If you can't find new-hires who are both good welders and good men, look for the good men who are as yet mediocre welders. Good men WANT to be shown how to do a job better, they WELCOME any positive instruction, they ASPIRE to become truly professional-grade, . . . and they detest working in places that don't seem to value professionalism other than with meaningless slogans exhorting "Quality and Pride". Companies in which the owners or officers or even second-level supervisors never appear on the jobsite and personally inspect the work of even their lowliest employees are not ones in which good men feel anyone cares about their efforts to do good work.

                        With, as I understand, the disappearance of the best of the old-fashioned formal apprenticeship programs (I regret never having been in one), the better employers will pretty much have to look for men who are eager to be trained up. Some young guys who mean well may not be as aware of the potential for self-instruction (via books and videos) if they weren't well-raised or well-schooled. Hand them a list of instructional resources and tell them that if they learn the tech stuff, your foremen will show them the hands-on part so that they can become REAL welders.

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                        • JTMcC
                          Senior Member
                          • Feb 2004
                          • 1136

                          #27
                          Originally posted by bobhdus View Post
                          Speaking of working hard, it's like pulling teeth just to get my 12 and 15 yr old's to help rake leaves. And me, I just go ahead and do it myself because it's easier.


                          So you give them a job, they refuse to do the job, then you go do the job?

                          Seems to me that you are creating your own problem right there.

                          Maybe if you made it a "do your job or no meals for you till it's done" type gig then the leaves would get raked. You appear to be making your own problems.
                          Children behave in the way you expect them to if consequences are attached to their actions.

                          If you just give up and do the work yourself, they will play you till the day you die. Try that in the Army : )

                          Everybody is dogging on the current generation but I see a lot of hard working, ambitious, want to learn young workers in my day. They said the same thing about your generation and the many before that. Maybe I'm an anomily but I see quite a few hard nosed young hands in my line of work.
                          Of course there's quite a bit on money to be had, so that might skew the results from the cheap labor pool.

                          JT
                          Some days you eat the bear. And some days the bear eats you.

                          Comment

                          • benA
                            Member
                            • Dec 2008
                            • 69

                            #28
                            Originally posted by Brian Oatway View Post
                            Mines 18 and the same way. I own a small engineering company and he thinks he's gonna come and sit at a desk and play video games all day and get paid.

                            I can't win with him....if I push then I'm being to tough if I sit back he does nothing and I go ballistic. Another guy in the office is going to manage him for a while we'll see how that works out.

                            I just keep telling him if he doesn't get his act together to just remember that I don't like pickles on my Whoppers.
                            Tell him he needs to spend 5 years working for somebody else before you will even consider letting him in your office. You will both respect each other for it in the end.

                            Comment

                            • bobhdus
                              Member
                              • Jul 2012
                              • 64

                              #29
                              Originally posted by JTMcC View Post
                              So you give them a job, they refuse to do the job, then you go do the job?

                              Seems to me that you are creating your own problem right there.

                              Maybe if you made it a "do your job or no meals for you till it's done" type gig then the leaves would get raked. You appear to be making your own problems.
                              Children behave in the way you expect them to if consequences are attached to their actions.

                              If you just give up and do the work yourself, they will play you till the day you die. Try that in the Army : )

                              Everybody is dogging on the current generation but I see a lot of hard working, ambitious, want to learn young workers in my day. They said the same thing about your generation and the many before that. Maybe I'm an anomily but I see quite a few hard nosed young hands in my line of work.
                              Of course there's quite a bit on money to be had, so that might skew the results from the cheap labor pool.

                              JT
                              Read the part after what you quoted on me and see the "other" problem... Others in the world push the "coddle them and nurture them" crap. I grew up with my grandparents and if I did something wrong or didn't do what I was told, I at least got the benefit of picking the "switch" they would use on me. Can't do that no more (or get caught anyways.)

                              My kids get no favors from me and working a full time job and a side job, I'm not going to babysit them. They've learned to go to their Mother or her Parents who disagree with my methods. I offer them what they need to learn. You see it all the time, A parent get's in trouble for disciplining their kids and sometimes I catch myself thinking, what did the Parent do wrong? I don't believe in hurting or shaming, degrading a child but "timeout's" don't work.

                              My kids can (and will) blame a lot of things on me when they get older but they can't say that I didn't try to teach them through example or that I did't try to show them the right way to do things. I was in the Army. One thing I learned is to never ask anyone to do something I wouldn't do myself, and in most cases, I will do it with them. I probably learned my best work ethics washing dishes at the local "Sirloin Stockade" as a teenager though.

                              Comment

                              • JTMcC
                                Senior Member
                                • Feb 2004
                                • 1136

                                #30
                                Well it's a tough job, good luck with it.
                                Some days you eat the bear. And some days the bear eats you.

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