So I started school

[Van]

So I started school on Monday and I am completely geeked out about it! The three instructors that I've met so far are incredibly cool guys including my instructor who I feel very confident in his ability to teach and instructor our class. Mr. Bennet ( my instructor ) is also in charge of the department and responsible for setting up the program. He's a year younger than myself but has been involved in the maritime and structural welding field since he was 17. Another instructor that they hired after he graduated last year has 11 years of experience with pipe and aluminum while another who I forget his name has 12 years with structural and pipe and custom design work.

The course changed prior to my enrolling and is now 10 months long minus the associates degree in applied science which adds an additional 3 months to the course so I am going for the extended section as well as getting my 6G cert. Another thing that has made me feel good about the class is that 10 of the 11 students that graduated last Friday are now employed with a pay range of $12.75 to $18.00 an hour to start, the one who didnt get hired yet was the one guy who missed the max allowed hours for each module and slept in class much of the time.

So when this is all said and done I will have my associates in applied science, 6G certification, AWS member, and be a combination welder able to take care of his family.

Oh yea we have a first project to make a custom wheel chair ramp for a local non profit charity horse ranch so that the staff can wheel kids up the ramp in their chairs so that they can be helped on to horses with a rider.

 

[Rey]

congratulations :up

 

[riffjim4069]

Glad to hear everything is going well for you in the program Van!

 

[jwgreen68]

Great! And you get to something nice for charity at the same time.:up:up Good luck! When you graduate, you could make me a custom smoker. I love to BBQ.

 

[jayn_j]

Congratulations. Certification means you probably won't have issues staying employed, even during the tough times.

 

[Van]

Great! And you get to something nice for charity at the same time.:up:up Good luck! When you graduate, you could make me a custom smoker. I love to BBQ.

Tell you what, Mr. Santose is another instructor and he is getting ready to start up his own business making custom trailer mounted BBQ grills for personal and commercial use. I believe that we will be working on individual projects and ones of our own choosing so if this is the case and you want a smoker then I'll build one when the time comes as long as you cover the cost for materials and shipping or if your close enough your welcome to come pick it up. Keep in mind that material type and weight will determine cost however I won't be charging labour since its a project, also if your wanting a drum style from a 50 gallon drum the cost for a new clean drum will run around $60 as I won't cut and weld a used one which poses a big risk health wise based on its previous contents which could be anything explosive or volatile or worse. Extra's will ofcourse be extra such as thermometers whether traditional dial or digital. One thing I will do is I have been wanting a good combo smoker / grill so I will make one of my own first and post pics with close ups of the welds before I commit to working on another persons project.

 

[navychop]

Things are looking good. And you've already discovered that once you're a welder, people find things they want you to build. Our guys have built grills, furniture - and the world's fanciest, strongest shepherd's crooks for hanging plants. Tripods, no less!

OH- and remember: The second time you build something, it comes out better, because you learned from your mistakes on the first. Maybe you want to offer the first one up, and keep the second!

 

[Van]

Hehe, the first one will be done with simple scrap, mine will be made out of stainless and diamond plate on a custom made trailer with built in anti theft locks for the axle and tongue. I'm even thinking of a stainless sink and prep table with stainless 20 gallon fresh water and another 20 gallon gray tank both with internal baffels to limit slosh while traveling down the road. Furniture wise I have a loft bed / desk combo in mind made out of square tube that I want to do in aluminum if its available to free up some space in our bedroom till we can get the funds together to remodel the house to add a second floor to the back of the house.

 

[Derwin0]

Congrats!

 

[jwgreen68]

Tell you what, Mr. Santose is another instructor and he is getting ready to start up his own business making custom trailer mounted BBQ grills for personal and commercial use. I believe that we will be working on individual projects and ones of our own choosing so if this is the case and you want a smoker then I'll build one when the time comes as long as you cover the cost for materials and shipping or if your close enough your welcome to come pick it up. Keep in mind that material type and weight will determine cost however I won't be charging labour since its a project, also if your wanting a drum style from a 50 gallon drum the cost for a new clean drum will run around $60 as I won't cut and weld a used one which poses a big risk health wise based on its previous contents which could be anything explosive or volatile or worse. Extra's will ofcourse be extra such as thermometers whether traditional dial or digital. One thing I will do is I have been wanting a good combo smoker / grill so I will make one of my own first and post pics with close ups of the welds before I commit to working on another persons project.

Sounds good to me. I'll discuss it with my buddy and see what he thinks. Sounds like you're going to be a busy man.:up:up

 

[bhelms]

Good luck, Van! You deserve a lot better than you've had up to this point. Things have a way of working out for folks who are willing to kick it up a notch and look out for themselves...

 

[Van]

In the past four days 3 of which is actually been class room work I have learned more about welds and welding than I did while working as a temp at Kubota practice migging with no instruction. Because of what I have learned so far I have to make a recommendation to anyone considering the purchase of a Kubota tractor, if it was made in Pendergrass GA exercise extreme caution when purchasing one because after looking at what a bad weld is as compared to a passing weld I would not buy one of those tractors with the front loader attachment if I expected it to hold the max weight rating.

 

[Van]

Timing, gotta love it

This is the second time in the last 5 or 6 weeks that timing has come in to play for me. Starting next month the tuition for this program goes up $8k due in part to the costs associated with it. Also read a letter from I believe John Mendoza of AWS talking about the current and future qualified welding individuals in the work force going from the current 500k potentially dropping to 200k by the end of next year because most of them are baby boomers. After reading some news articles I can see that this could very well be the case considering that the Bay Bridge project in San Fran has been facing problems with bad welding possibly because much of the welding is being done in China and we all know the recent stories that have been coming out about the production and construction qualities of products from there.

American Chronicle | Serious welding problems at China-based steel fabricator

So if I had waited until next year to take the course as I had considered doing then I would have had to pay an additional $8k for the course and after finding out about some of the new welding programs that are going up throughout the country I would have been competing with more people.

If anyone here is considering a career change to something more stable and in demand welding would be the way to go from what I'm seeing and if anyone is interested in the program I'm going through let me know.

 

[navychop]

You have good luck. Share some with Bob Haller, would you?

 

[Van]

Sorry Chop, that kind of polarity is irreversible.

Only thing that I'm bummin about is that I will have to forego coffee while in the lab, it wouldnt do for me to have caffeine jitters.

 

[Van]

Hey did you read the paper today? I see some opportunities for a boiler repair company possibly if those 6 senators get what they're looking for. Check out the article in the verginian pilot today if you get a chance, this could open up allot of new jobs for the field.

 

[navychop]

Thanks. I'll try to check it out. On vacation now. Maybe some other news media will have the same story.

 

[Van]

Senators want check of Navy's shipyards | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com

 

[navychop]

Yep, thanks. I found it online. Prob not for my land based employer.

 

[lakebum431]

Great news Van! I know you'll be happier with this than what you have been doing.