What should you do?
Well, pipe welders make between $85,000 and $300,000 a year - it is worth pursuing - no matter how you become a pipe welder. HF Welder are the "kings of Welding." The fastest way is to find a pipe welder and ask him to teach you. There is NO LAW that says you have to learn pipe welding in a school. Heck, you might find a pipe welder to teach you for say, $3,000.
My point is this:
If you want it - have no doubts - you will make big money. The demand is crazy and the demand is growing like crazy. In this old (and getting "old"
slow economy, pipe welding is one of the few sweet spots - so find a way to get it done.
What about conditions?
Kiss your mama good bye.
You'll be in North Dakota or Wyoming or Colorado or Texas of one of about 16 U.S. States that are actively fracking for gas and oil.
You'll be outside in bad conditions with little comfort. What is the good newsYou CAN make $100,000 a year with 3 or 4 MONTHS off a year.
If you are up for this kind of life, if you have the determination to get through school, and you really want to make more than $15 an hour (a lot more), pipe welding is the place for you.
There are very few true or "pure" trades left.
What is a true trade?
It is you learning a specific skill that has almost nothing to do with book learning. This is the truth: If you somehow learned to weld pipe in the middle of nowhere in a shed - and you really get it - and you show up at a refinery, pipeline, power plant or water works job call, and you pass their test -
they'll put you to work.
AND it
doesn't matter if you can read or speak English.
You will BE the man (or woman or transvestite). A "true trade" is like being an artist - if you can paint or sculpt - and nothing else matters!
Here are two other examples of what
I'm talking about - two other examples of "true trades":
If you can put shoes on horses or if you can operate a backhoe like it is part of you - you can make big money - without a license, permit, or degree, and without formal schooling. Do you see what I meanAlmost everything else requires a certificate of education or a graduation diploma from a trade school or a license or permit or a degree.
All pipe welding requires is that you pass a 6G test - which means welding just one test joint good enough to pass a destruction bend test as judged by a CWI - (a Certified Welding Inspector. You are NOT required to demonstrate any book knowledge about welding!
Why is the demand so high?
Most welders are structural welders - and they all think they can weld pipe - but few have the determination to actually learn to weld 6G pipe. (Only about 5% of all welder are pipe welders).
The oil and gas industry is exploding in growth because of fracking.
The USA is now the top oil and gas producer in the world because of fracking - and the train keeps rolling - thousands of new wells are being drilled all over the USA every year. It is the sweet spot in this slow economy. It will continue to rock because the U.S. has the equivalent of at least 8 times the oil and gas in Saudi Arabia - with more being discovered everyday - much of it in places where gas and oil have never been extracted before.
You can head over to your local Junior College or private welding school and be a structural welder in 6 months to a year.
You can spend another year learning additional processes. When you are done, you will be ready for a job that pays between $10 and $15 an hour (unless you catch a break and get into a union - then you might make $21 an hour). That is a lot of education and not much money at the end the trail. Meanwhile, there are people taking ethical, legitimate short cuts utilizing secrets, tips and tricks to make $100k welding - first year...
Can a deaf person who
can't read or write and who has no formal welding education really make $100k a year?
Yes. HowWelding is NOT an exercise in book learning. It is a Clamshell Packaging Machine like pitching a baseball. Let me ask you - if you wanted to learn to pitch a baseball, how would you do it?