Weldor or Fitter for the new guys.

[aametalmaster]

Well its that time of year when we get Vocational High School kids to work with and show them the fine art of fitting and welding. So i ask my kid what he wants to do. He wants to weld, get out on the road and make the big bucks.
My buddies kid (guy next to me) wants to learn the fine art of fitting and blueprint reading. Stay inside, make less but doesn't want to push the button on a mig welder for the rest of his life.
Two kids two different answers and neither one is wrong.
So here are some examples of welding in our shop. First pic. Just sit and push the red button 10 hours a day. The rest of the pics are how i fit my parts which isn't being taught much in welding schools. Plus the kids get to weld my parts. Most guys in our shop hurried thru welding school, owe 12 grand to the school and can't read a drawing and the welding is so so. So anyway here goes...Bob

[aametalmaster]

Another thing i always tell the guys is make a pattern if you can because we always make more than one machine. Some guys still lay out each part but i like patterns and have a wall full of them and they don't take any longer to make...Bob

[shipto]

I used to make big frameworks, not quite the size shown in first picture however. I do kinda miss the challenge on occasions but not often

[ieezitin]

Bob.

The younger generation today are for the most part not primed to enter a trade today.

Recently I had a young man (28 years old) with me in my shop who thought he was taught and learned in pipe welding, fitting and layout, but every time I let him loose on a small project he failed due to basic math skills and an inability to learn from previous mistakes.

In my interview with him he told me of his previous employers, jobs he worked on and his personal tool kit he had, he spoke the correct keywords but I noticed when asked a couple of questions on problem solving he sputtered, I gave him a shot anyways.

Within six months he was gone, what messed him up was his inability to ask questions to the crew when he got stuck on something, every time he had a problem he Googled it, he couldn’t get over the fact that a well-seasoned fitter could pipe up a boiler room with a string, soapstone and a cigarette packet to scribble math on, still to this day he does not realize all his curv-o-mark pipe wraps, flange pins and laser levels will do him no good if you don’t have the desire to understand your trade and value the knowledge and get gratification from it ( a true vocation ).

Ive seen allot over the years including my son in law filter through with similar traits and flaws.

The decline in manufacturing , promotion and dictation of higher post high school education, substandard basic education has come full circle to a young work force not having the insight of hard work being rewarding or educational.

Saying all that I had a success story with a young boy who was a laborer for a concrete company we sub with, he was bright, witty and hardworking, I hired him because he was shear entertainment, I quickly found and was pleasantly surprised to find he was taking the lead from the fitter he worked with, within a year I sent him for a pipe weld test to which he passed with flying colours. Interestingly enough he came from a broken home who in the end was raised by his grandmother, really this kid was poor.

what really struck me with glee and pride was the day he was shown how to work out an offset, he marveled through using certain rules of math he could navigate through ceilings and pipe racks the pipes he was making with precision, all this was achieved in that year, we showed him the value of his basic math and reading skills what could be done. He stayed with us for around six years then went forward, 20 years on he regularly makes $100,000 a year as a boomer in the nuke industry.
This kid had basic education, drive and desire, pride and an acute ear for listening, best toolkit in the world in my book.

My estimates in the work force today is 25 to 1 to get a kid today with the attributes needed to be successful in a trade. Shame really it’s a little secret that a tradesman can make nearly as much as a lawyer.


Anthony.

[aametalmaster]

(03-16-2014, 10:39 AM)ieezitin Wrote: Ive seen allot over the years including my son in law filter through with similar traits and flaws.

I have the same son in law LOL...Bob

[aametalmaster]

(03-16-2014, 10:39 AM)ieezitin Wrote: He stayed with us for around six years then went forward, 20 years on he regularly makes $100,000 a year as a boomer in the nuke industry.

I tried that too. Went ten years in a large oil refinery, made millions and left because i was bored and wanted to weld again. So here i am today making a quarter of what i was but happier...Bob

[EdK]

Nice story Anthony.

Ed