Welding Career

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Pages: 10

Welder I remember when I was young, I was astonished by the shooting sparks and bright light from metal being grinded and welded on by my dad. He has been an electrician all my life and I’ve been to many jobs with him throughout my childhood and although it would be an interesting career to be involved in, it just doesn't excite me like welding does. My first elective in high school was metal shop where I learned what welding was really about. The reason I have chosen this career is mainly because it’s best to work doing something that I would enjoy. Through this project I expect to learn about the education and job skills needed. Also the earnings and benefits or risk factors that may be included with the career. Lastly with the job shadow, …show more content…
For example, one must have physical strength to be able to carry the heavy metal such as steel beams or large sheets of metal. Experience is a very large part of becoming a welder. Welders need to be able to know how to weld on various metals with several different machines such as, oxy/acetylene, arc, mig, tig, and more. Welding isn't as simple as grabbing the machine and welding. They would need the correct type of welder for each type of metal. A welder must also possess good hand eye coordination. Welding is an art and a steady hand is key to be able to lay a professional bead down on the metal. Patience is also needed in this career because to be able to make everything look presentable one would have to take their time and be very slow and steadily paced (“welding education”). A welder would need to be aware of his surroundings because the job site could be very dangerous and they have to know exactly what's happening at all times around them. One must be prepared for work and always be on time. Welding is a dangerous job so they must always come prepared with their safety equipment and correct clothing. Another helpful skill would be to become a perfectionist. If they are not, they could be running the risk of parts not holding together securely and structures could collapse and people could be injured because they did not put down a strong enough weld on several beams. One must be very independent on …show more content…
To start out for safety sake, they need to get dressed in work clothes such as a heavy duty welding jacket, heavy duty non cuffed jeans, high top leather boots, and also put on safety glasses or a welding helmet depending on what job needs to be done. After getting all dressed the welder needs to be turned on. Plug the welder in, and turn the power switch to on and turn on the gas, and then hook up the ground cable to the piece of metal that is being welded. These powering on the welder and hooking it up, may very depending on the type of welding machines. After powering up the welder the metal or objects that are going to be welded needs to be prepped. To do this the metal needs to be grinded and then wiped off to make sure it’s clean. If the objects are not clean then the weld will not be as good because of the chemicals that are on the metal. Making sure it's clean is an essential to making a good weld. But before starting the actual weld the welder needs to be set to the write power and wire speed to make sure it makes a good weld. The variety depends on the hardness and thickness of the metal. In order to check this, prior test welds to make sure it’s set right is mandatory to makes sure the welds being done are perfect. Depending on what job, the hours will vary. But most jobs will be 8 hours. When welding the work will mostly be self sufficient, but the area where the work is there will be many other