Help a newb welder out...Please

[PigPen]

Howdy yall.

Im a newb if you couldn't tell already, anyway im a senior in highschool and ive been welding for about two years now at the school and im pretty proficient with stick, MIG and some TIG but not much. ive decided to be a welder and ive got a couple of questions that I figured yall could help me out with..first off ive decided to go to a welding school it's not for sure yet but im most likely going to go to Tulsa welding school in Oklahoma, have any of yall been ther or heard of it what your view of it???? second I havent figured out what type of welding to work in pipewelding, joints, mig, etc. what line of welding career is more,"rewarding." third- the school I mentioned earlier also has a inspecting school aswell and it would only take an extra 7 months and 14 grand to graduate, Should I do it????. thank you for all your help. And you have ___ANY___ "advice,critisism,pointers,etc." you can give to me id be much obliged.

Thanks,

PigPen

[fabricator]

do you mean 14 grand more?

[PigPen]

thats how much the tuition is for the inspecting course overall..
what I would end up doing is goin and getting the master welder course out
of the way which will cost 14 grand for 7 months then the other 7 months for the inspecting course is another 14 grand...

over all the bill would be 28 grand for 14 months to get the inspecting license. or I could just do the master welder for 14 thousand or half as much, in seven months and forget the inpectors license.

Have you ever heard of tulsa welding school?

[fun4now]

is this the only school you have looked at ??? and is it near home ??

i ask as i'm wondering if you are just choosing whats near you ?
seems like i heard Hobart and lincoln both have welding schools. i think i would look very closely into the placement rate and the jobs open to me before getting on the hook for $14,000 or $24,000 .
welcome to the site. lots of great guys and info here.
i would try reposting with " need help finding a good welding school " as the title. could get you more responses. also post on the motor sports ( ask andy) side as well. most read both but not all, best to get all the exposure you can.

good luck with school

[PigPen]

YA ive seen you around alot of the topics, the only reason I didn't use that title is school is great but if I can't find the form of welding that I can focus on in school then school is worthless.

No it's about an 9-10 hour drive but im intentionally doing this to get out of the house.

supossedly my welding instructor right now says tulsa is a top natch place. and he's not one to lie but I figured there was such an accumulation of knowledge here that id ask yall.

also what do you think of the inspecting idea??

[c wagner]

Welding in general can be very rewarding, but what I find rewarding you might not. You'll have to try a few different things and see what YOU find rewarding.
If you want to be an inspector then spend the $14,000 otherwise I wouldn't worry about it, it would be time and money that could be spent polishing your trade. Besides I think all inspectors should have to weld in the field for a pre-determined amount of time before becoming a certified inspector.

[shorerider16]

Besides I think all inspectors should have to weld in the field for a pre-determined amount of time before becoming a certified inspector.

Never could figure that one out, a guy can walk in off the street and train to be an inspector without having ever welded. I definately agree with you on that one, they should have to work in the trade before inspecting.

[srl_welder]

I looked at going to tulsa welding school briefly last year. and i would definatly go to school. I dont know much about tulsa, but if they hand you a cert. or degree at the end i would say its a good plan. i was just looking at hobarts program and it looks like they have some good courses.

[fabricator]

14 grand seems a little high. i would say look at a state technical school. i went to a local one for 21 months.dont really remember the cost but it was far less then that.i believe it is not so much as the school,as it is the instructor.a good one will have pipewelding experience.which ever school you choose i would take the full welding course,get some welding experience and the overall feel of it.then decide where to go next.you may see other opportunities come your way.

[bryce_burden]

I also had been looking at Tulsa, even got some mail from them. I don't like it for the big city enviroment, i'm from small-town NW Oklahoma and don't like many people in one area, thats why i'm looking into a small vo-tech here local that has an excellent welding program. I've heard that TWS is an excellent school, but I have also heard that about Lincoln's program, it's really more what you prefer. Glad to know i'm not alone in wanting to go into welding for a career. I've been welding about 4 years now and enjoy every minute of it.

[shanedog]

I went to Tulsa Welding School, but it was waaaay back around '81 or '82. It was a really good school at that time, and I don't know why it wouldn't still be.

[handirod]

i'm the very last person to give carieer advice but you asked..........

hey "pigpen"!

first of all i'm not even going to ask how you got that nick name... i'm the very last person in the world to tell anyone else what to do with their life, but you asked!!! i work in the oilfield & if you don't mind to leave home then follow the pipe! especially if your not "tied down" & not afraid of over time...? especially with the price of natural gas & crude oil at today's market. the oilfield company's have plenty of work & plenty of money to pay rig welders. & trust me, pass on the inspector job until your body starts getting tired..... if your young, you'll never get the respect & you won't appreciate being an inspector yet! & you'll going to disagree with me this, but if you decide to follow the pipe, at least work with a rig welder as a pipe fitter until you learn the ropes of the trade......... regardless on your decision, i wish you good luck! rodney

[PigPen]

thank you all for helping me out...

Money isn't an issue, both my parents have said they will pay tuition to do the master welder program but if I want to go and do the inspector program im going to have to fork up the money myself...which is 14 grand I dont have.

are any of yall inspecting at the moment?? if so what do you think?

I noticed earlier some of yall said inspectors should have to weld out in the field as a right of passage, and I just wanted to say I 100% agree.


I just thought id add a thanks to rodney here.. also I wanted to state im from southeast texas and right now DOW, GSI, Zachry,etc are begging for millwrites, welders, machinist, and basically anybody they can get their hands on to come and work for them.


Are any of yall welding underwater? because some of the **** ive heard about those guy's
and the money they get just makes me want to drop everything im doing and go for it.

[KBar]

Inspector

PigPen, I cant answer for you about being a welding Inspector but I am an Inspector in the construction field. I will tell you, get some experience under your belt before you become an inspector, otherwise you wont make it. I did 25 years of construction before I became an inspector. I went back to school at 50, you're never too old to learn. Some of the older generation (not all) will see a young guy fresh out of school pointing out their mistakes and wont take it kindly. It is hard to explain and its not personal at all, its an age thing most of us will experience. I saw a lot of it when I first started my inspection field but once they knew I had the experience, things went well and I get the respect as well as give it. It is much easier to see the difference between the ones trying their best and the ones trying to paint a pretty picture.

[safetydave]

Tulsa-Inspecting

Hey pigpen and welcome to the site.

I agree with some of the guys about learning all you can from the welding side then see what else you would be interested in doing after you have done that, and who knows things might have changed and you decide to go another route with-in the welding field. I've been doing this for over 15-20yrs and yes times I look back and think what if I had takeing some other classes or who knows what, the point is if you enjoy welding then by all means get the most out of it that you can while your still young.

I agree with kbar and the other guys on the inspector issue, it would be in your best intrest if you all ready know how to weld and know what your talking about when inspecting becuase if you don't guys will pick up on it real kwick then you could end up with a bad reputation in the trade for not knowing your stuff and thats not a good thing to have in any trade for that matter, (just some thing to think about) any way I wish you the best of luck in what ever you go with, also it's nice your parents are willing to support your and the cost so do well and offer to REPAY THEM when you start making good money, it will make a HUGE differance when you might need help again from them in your welding job search and training (just a thought)