Welding Jobs | Welder Jobs | Welders Jobs
Welding Jobs - What is the Job of a Welder? What does a Welding Job Involve?
Welding jobs involve bonding two metal parts together through the use of heat. Welding metals together will form a strong bond that is used in ship building, automobile manufacturing, airplane building, and many other common manufacturing applications. Welding jobs may also be used to build bridges to construct buildings, and to join pipe in power plants or manufacturing facilities.
Arc welding is commonly used by running a strong electrical current through a piece of metal. The arc welder will start by attaching two metal clips to the device that is to be welded and they will then use steel rods in order to fuse two pieces of metal together.
Metal inert gas welding (MIG welding) and tungsten inert gas welding (TIG welding) are two common forms of welding that are used the bond steel together, and the welder will hold a welding rod in one hand and the TIG or MIG welder in the other. The welder will then be used as a torch in order to meld the welding rod. Most welding equipment is self feeding so that it is not necessary to hold a rod near dangerously hot metals.
Soldering and brazing jobs will typically use molten metal to join metals together but at much lower temperatures then ARC welders. Soldering uses metals below 800° Fahrenheit, such as tin or zinc, and brazing is used in order to join pieces of copper pipe together. Braising produces a much stronger bond than soldering does, and the brazing process is often used to bond brass together.
Welding jobs will typically use drawings in order to ascertain what they are welding, and highly skilled welders are trained to work with a wide variety of materials such as plastic or titanium. Welders will then set up their equipment and began the melting process.
Automated welding is becoming common in factories, such as those which assemble cars, with a welding machine operator overlooking the automated welder to make sure that the machine is conducting its task properly.
Are and oxyacetylene cutters have jobs that are similar to that of welders, however, they are concerned with tearing metals apart as opposed to joining them together. Plasma cutters will be used to disassemble old rail cars, ships, cars, buildings, and airplanes.
Working Conditions for Brazing Jobs - How is the Working Environment for Welding Jobs?
The working conditions of welding and bracing jobs include a number of hazards including loss of eyesight and the potential to receive first degree burns. Safety is a priority on a welding job, and welders will wear special hoods with protective lenses which will shield light, in addition to goggles and other equipment designed to protect them from molten metal.
Welders will frequently work in the outdoors as well as indoors, and most will work 40 hours a week, although overtime is usually a possibility. Welding professionals may work in 12 hour shifts in factories, although construction work is usually less demanding.
Welder Education - How to Become a Welder - How to Receive Your Welding Training
Welder training is offered to those with experience from a vocational college, private welding schools, or union welding programs. Understanding electrical work is helpful, and many electricians start out as welders. Welding training will involve learning how to weld and different welding practices, in addition to workplace safety.
Welding Training Requirements - How to Receive Your Welding School Education
Welding certification is available from the American Welding Society, and some companies may have their own certification tests. Welders and brazers should have good hand eye coordination and dexterity, in addition to being able to concentrate for long periods of time. Welders may eventually become electricians or advance to a supervisory position for a welding contractor. Some welders decide to open up their own auto or repair shop business.
Welding Employment - What is a Welding Job?
Over the next decade, welder employment should grow by about 5%, as advances in joining technology have allowed individual welders to become more productive. Manufacturing welding is expected to have the greatest growth in the oil and gas industry. Welding cannot be done by machinery to a great extent, so a welders job is relatively safe from robotic automation.
Expansions in the oil and gas industry will provide excellent opportunities overall for those hoping to enter the field of welding.
Brazing Pay Scale - How Much Do Welders Earn?
In 2006, welder jobs had median earnings of $15.10 an hour, with those working in machinery manufacturing earning the highest rate of pay at $15.43, while those welders working in trailer manufacturing had the lowest rate of pay at $13.68.
Welders working in machinery shops had slightly lower pay at $14.90 in the same year, and most welders will belong to a union such as the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, or the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America.