Welding is a fantastic career choice that comes with many opportunities and can be highly rewarding for anyone patient enough to learn. While it might not look as lucrative as others like medicine, law, or the hospitality industry, it is a fantastic career if you take enough time to learn the trade and sharpen your skills. Here we look at some of the things that make welding a good career choice.
What Does the Welder do?
At its most basic definition, welding is a trade where a skilled tradesperson uses heat or gas to join metal parts or repair imperfections like holes and cracks in metal materials. Hence, welders can work in a wide variety of industries provided some metal is used.
While many welders get into the trade by working under an experienced welder as an apprentice, and a few even teach themselves from online tutorials, there are welding schools that offer formal training.
Welding training is offered as a vocational program in technical schools and institutions. The courses typically take just a few months (around 6 or 7 months) to complete, meaning you can land an entry-level welding job in under 1 year after commencing the training.
Reasons Welding is a Good Career Choice
1. No University Degree Needed
You will not need to go to school for several years to get a degree that allows you to start a welding career. While formal training is highly recommended, you can still become a welder without one.
Hence, if you choose a career in welding, you never have to worry about common issues that come with pursuing a college degree, such as hefty student loans. Since no degree is required, welding is a cheap, fast, and easy career to get into.
2. High Demand for Welders
Provided metal continues to be one of the most widely used materials in all sectors, from the manufacturing industry to agriculture, welders will always be in high demand. This high demand means you are more likely to land a job as a welder than in many other careers.
Even with the ever-looming economic crunches and depressions that always affect different careers with the massive layoffs following such occurrences, welders are rarely affected.
3. Welding Pays Quite Well
Although welding is not a path to easy riches, it is quite a well-paying career, compared to many others that require skilled tradespersons.
An entry-level welder can make at least $40,000 per year depending on the locality’s wage rates, while the more experienced ones make up to $500,000 per year.
The massive demand for welders and the many opportunities that come with this trade means there is room to make even more money, and the better you get at it, the more money you earn.
4. More Career Path Options
Contrary to what some people might assume, welding does not restrict you to following a specific career path. Regardless of your area of interest, you can be sure there is a welding job associated with it that suits you.
Besides being an active welding tradesperson, you can choose to be a welding inspector or even advanced to an engineering level. Additionally, you can go into the education sector and become a welding tutor or even become a salesperson for welding equipment and other related merchandise.
5. Keeps You Active
If you do not want a passive career where you are always behind a desk, welding is perfect as it can help keep you active. For a typical welder, most of the time is spent working on something, which often entails a lot of movement and lifting things.
Even if you are a welder in an assembly line, you will still be far more active than someone working in an office. When welding, you often face more situations that require you to work your brain as you try to solve the challenge at hand.
6. Easy to Start Your Own Business
With welding as a career, it will be easier to start your own business. Welding is a trade that is more dependent on the ability and the skills of a welder. Therefore, setting up your business is as easy as getting the necessary equipment and finding a good location if you have the skill.
Running your own welding business means you are in more control of your income as you dictate the working hours, and hence you make more money. Better yet, once you master the trade, you can even specialize in high-paying welding types.
Conclusion
A career in welding opens you up to a wide variety of opportunities as welders work in various sectors. Welding does not require you to have a college degree, and it also pays quite well. Better still, it should not take a lot of time to land your first job after training, given the high demand for welders. If you sharpen your skills and gain enough experience, welding can be pretty lucrative, and so it is worth giving a shot.
Sources
- 3 Reasons Why Welding Is a Good Career – Tulsa Welding School
- 12 Reasons Why You Should Start a Career in Welding – CareerMetis.com