Thread: My journey as an Apprentice Welder

Hi OzJohn,

"but isn't the average wage in the IT industry somewhere between $70k to $80k??", Im going to have to show this one to my boss. I think those commercials telling people they can earn that much once they compleat there 10k or 20k training courses is a bit of a wank.

Dont get me wrong I love technology and use it all the time, its a great way to get knowledge and to have fun, but I need to be happy and fullfilled in my career. I can spend weeks at work doing nothing (sitting down on the laptop and just fixing issues installing software ext...) and the end of the day, I feel as if im wasting my life.
Nothing makes me happier than building or making something with tools and my hands.
The guy in the last post that built that boat, he sounds happy, Newlou built some carts and takes pictures and is proud of what he built, Grahame Collins is making some DVD's about his trade because he wants to share his knowledge and make sure people do things rite. That passion, excitement, job satisfaction (although I know you cant have that all the time at work) is what I want, and have a gut feeling that ill be getting into it somehow, soon enough.

Thanks for your encouragment, sometimes its really needed.
Sorry Lou i hope im not pinching your thread.

Hi StartedwithaTIG,

Originally Posted by StartedwithaTIG

I think those commercials telling people they can earn that much once they compleat there 10k or 20k training courses is a bit of a wank.

Haha, i was actually looking into one of them... lucky i didnt sign up!

I am 100% with you that a trade has a lot more job satisfaction than many other professions, thats why not long ago i decided to drop out of Uni and an accounting job to become an apprentice electrician (with a whopping pay cut)!!

I would highly encourage anyone else in a similar situation to consider doing the same!

By the way Lou, your apprentice journey is a great read, and you can have your thread back now!!

Gidday )

Been a while since I updated this thread or added some new resources. Is hard to believe that ive almost finished my first year as an apprentice Welder/Fabricator................whoooooo hooooooo should be getting a payrise soon!!!!

If theres one thing ive learnt welding properly is certainly an art in itself that requires constant practice and application. Practice practice practice and striving to understand and learn what your doing and why certainly helps u stay on top of things.

Heres some more excellent video resources that Ive found invaluable and well worth a look if your keen to learn about Welding. Although these are American resources I must say Ive found them particularly handy N in particuarly really respect and appreciate what MD Trend is trying to achieve in his "Behind the Lens" welding series!

Hope you guys get as much from these resources as i have!

KD Trend Behind the Lens Welding Series
http://au.youtube.com/profile?user=mdtread&view=videos

Tonys Welding Series
http://www.tonywelding.com/2008/04/t...deos_5309.html

REgards Lou

Im now a second year apprentice Whooooooooo Hooooooo!

Regards Lou

Congrats Lou !!

hey Lou - love your work buddy - your an inspiration......just started this forum and read yours and everybody elses threads. What you guys have said about the students who arent there to learn is so true. They just waste a valuable resource and dont aprreciate what they have in their hands - a chance to make a living and earn big bucks - welding a great occupation but you have to enjoy doing it. If you dont want to do it, leave and give someone else a shot at it.

We need to chance our thinking in terms of eduaction and training - we need to do this otherwise we will keep getting foreigners taking our basic jobs. And we are to blame, not the skilled migrants who wanna work and earn a living. If we dont really wanna work and wonder why skilled migrants keep coming to our shores, then get on the dole.

So many times at trade school, there would be those guys who dont give a damn and clown around. Sure you can have fun but you are there to learn to weld and not muck around - employers do us a favour by letting us go to trade school and they take a great risk - they pay for your fees (mine did) and we can walk out of that job with skills which can earn us big bucks. Welders are in high demand.

Great to see your journey and great that you can inspire others to have a look at this as a trade option - welding is fantastic - sure its not all fun and games but its what you make of it.

Cheers

Gidday

Been plugging away in the FAbshop lately N is great to see that things are starting to come together I'd be lying if i said the learning curb hasnt been a bit steep but a bit a hard work n constant practice n application goes a long way.

In saying this I cant count the amount a times Ive miss cut.......... F*$&#$ Up............. N stuffed up.............. reading plans having to re do jobs to get it right. IF theres 1 thing ive struggled with its been reading plans if theres another thing Ive learnt every one F(&$^ Up from time to time even the FAbshop guns...............

As a fabricator all the drawings I come across are section views a Section View is a cut-through view of the object, usually an imaginary view that shows how something will be built. All being well your drawing will give you all the information u need to make the job if not the best thing you can do is 'ASk Someone' to help clarify what u cant understand or get information needed to do a good job.

ASk your boss n he'll tell you he'd much rather you ask than mess a job up cause u didnt have all the information u needed or couldnt understand something! If it saves him time n money rest assured it'll save you hassles!!!!!!!

When reading workshop drawings its easy to fall into the trap of looking at the entire page of Words lines drawings n symbols and getting overwhealmed at this point its easy for your brain to shut down n make it hard for yourself by saying (or thinking) things like 'i cant do this'..............

Just remember if you tried to read an entire page all at once the same thing is likely to happen............The way around this is to calm down, start at one corner and begin figuring out what you can learn from the drawing one step at a time!

Whats worked for me is developing a procedure N taking my time too read rather than just look at the drawing at HAnd. Heres whats working for me"

1. Start from the left and read the drawing one bit at a time so that you can take in all the information that the drawing is trying to convey to you.

2. Never assume anything about the drawing attempt to take note of all the details "Read it' dont just 'Look at it' and try to visualise the job as you understand the information given to you

3. TAke note of any abbreviations or construction details for example:
OA: Over all Length
CL: Cut length
6mm fillets all round

And ensure to apply these to the job at HAnd

4. Measure twice CUT ONCE! (Geeeeezzzzzzz I wish i could remember this one )
5. IF its a critical or expensive job get a workm8 to run the tape over it (NEver hurts for a second set of eyes to check your work)

6. If your not sure ask someone!!!!!!! A dint in the pride lasts a microsecond upsetting the boss cause of a silly mistake can cause hassles!!!!!!!!

Needless to say consistantly practicing these things has helped my plan reading come along Nicely N the great thing to remember is that if you practice these things enough it becomes second Nature!

Heres some great resources ive come across thats also helped with my plan reading:

http://www.constructionknowledge.net...426%201995.pdf

http://www.constructionknowledge.net...040%201994.pdf

Regards Lou

Originally Posted by NewLou

Gidday


4. Measure twice CUT ONCE! (Geeeeezzzzzzz I wish i could remember this one )

But I cut it twice and it's still too short...

Hi Lou,

I've been lurking on the forums for a while but your thread piqued my interest and I had to post and say thanks for sharing

I'm a 24 year old female moving from the fitness industry into welding and its definitely been an eye opener! I'll be reading your thread with interest, keep up the good work and good luck with your journey

Hi lovedirt
welcome to forum
Good on Yer! and congratulations
for moving into the trade ,

I have had involvement with a couple of young ladies in metalfab vocational training and by and large found them to be better focused on their studies than many of the lads.
In the workshop there were often better organised and had a better approach and temperament to the difficult bits that require a bit of thinking the job out.

Get in there and ask questions when you are not sure.

cheers
Grahame

Thanks Grahame

I'm doing a pre-vocational course (Cert II Auto/Metal Fab) which is usually 2 days a week for a 12 month period, but because I was enrolled mid-year I am doing it all a bit backwards. I've set myself a bit of a challenge to get the year's worth of work done in one semester so I can try for a mature-aged apprenticeship early next year.

I'd never really been in a workshop environment (besides ag college) before tafe so I've been pestering my poor teacher with lots of very basic questions! I've taken on two extra night classes and have to do 400 hours of work experience in industry - by the time I find an apprenticeship I'll have a sound understanding of how it all works (hopefully anyway!).

I've just caught up to the others doing vertical up fillets on the mig so I'll probably end up posting a few silly questions on the forums here and there Overheads after that, eek

Thanks again for the friendly welcome

I am 31 and am into my second year as an apprentice light/general fabricator. If you are over 30 the government pays an additional $150 a week in wage top up support which on top of the award takes you to about $16.50 an hour which is bearable. I have 2 kids, one is 2 and the other is 4 1/2 months, so my wife is currently on maternity leave. Second year award is about $17.40 with the wage top up and then of course your employer doesn't have to pay you the minimum which is where I am lucky and I can afford to live on an 'apprentice' wage single income family.

I originally was working in the finance industry and as everyone in that industry knows - redundancy is always around the corner! So I prepared myself for this eventuality by attending tafe night classes to learn as much about fitting as I could, I even ended up buying a Hafco 12x36 bench lathe!

Welding didn't really interest me as I saw it as hot noisy dirty work, When I finally had my redundancy handed to me I started working on getting a fitting apprenticeship, no luck after several months and I saw a job advertised for a sheetmetal worker/welder and made a call. After speaking with the HR people I applied and subsequently got the job. When I turned 30 I signed up to an apprenticeship. Hot, noisy, dirty? Not really, no more than fitting. Yesterday for example I was fusing 3mm 316 to 1.6 304, and then later welded 12x6mm flat copper bar to each other to use as electrical terminations. We have a pretty decent lathe at work and I get called on frequently to do any more technical type machining.

If you want to take on a trade after white collar work, it can be manageable especially if you live in more regional areas, although half my take home pay goes on rent currently! Just do it, you'll be better off mentally over your life than the stress and pressure you see in an office. Best thing I ever did was get into manufacturing.

Gidday

Heres a little GEm I just came across that I couldnt resist adding Ive done a lot of production runs lately N youd be suprised how much work u can save by being conscious of these kinds of ideas:

Regards Lou

Another couple of Little Gems that can help out with angle positioning and stick setup please note the settings are for firesticks (Cellulose electrodes) doing rootruns on pipe !!!!

REgards Lou