Call Yourself a Welder!!!

[bright-spark]

Hi all was having a chat the other day at work and this topic came up..... So at what point do you! think you can put your hand up and say yes i'm a welder it was quite interesting to see the different views and at one point got very heated

Your views Please

 

[irondarren]

I would say you can call yourself a welder when you can stick two bits of metal together, and it won't break. And basically passes an NDT

 

[Hitch]

I dont call myself a welder, i prefer Fabricator.
A welder imo is someone who welds, rather than doing it all.

But, if you can setup a machine from scratch, with no instructions, know what prep work to do and weld it up without a hiccup, to a good standard everytime, ideally pass NDT, such as xray.

 

[migmag]

Your a welder when (for example) some dude comes up to you and says "can you weld that?" and you say confidently yes........

You do it and it performs as good or better than expected 100% at all times...........

The same as what point do you say I'm a brain surgeon or doctor or astronaut .

When your reliably competent.

 

[lexi]

My body has probs passing xray never mind my welding!

Alex

 

[oddball90]

How about when your home built rollcage stands up to a multiple roll down 100ft hill, with no visible damage. Apart from compressed spine on my part(teach me to put full harness on!).

 

[Drains]

A welder is someone who welds for a living.
A plasterer is someone who plasters for a living
A bricklayer is someone who lays bricks for a living etc etc etc

I can weld, but i'm not a welder. (I'm a chancer )

 

[bright-spark]

Ahh some interesting lines of thoughts going on about this and Simondrains has hit the nail on the head regarding what we where having our heated debate in my workshop about.
The mobile Tyre fitter who we use is also very experienced when it comes to welding and was over just to give me some pointers regarding welding sills on a Land rover discovery as he is a complete land rover nutter now hes not doing this for a living but I am in this case.
As we are talking over a cup of coffee he says your the welder get on with it then !!!! I said how do you work that one out he said your doing it as a payed Job !! Iv said yep I know what im doing but can hardly call myself a welder Tom not until iv passed the city and Guilds course that im about to start and taken the exam.
I then said thats funny that we both dont think we are welders and both had a good laugh and set about sparking up the disco.

I liked the roll cage post by the way very interesting.

 

[Drains]

I then said thats funny that we both dont think we are welders and both had a good laugh and set about sparking up the disco.

I think that says it all Brightspark. Both you and your tyre fitter mate can weld, but if asked your job title... what would you say?

In fact maybe the appropriate question, regardless of your job description, is "are you any good?"

I'll bet there are plenty of amateur welders on this site whose quality of weld knocks the spots off the rubbish many "pro" welders churn out. It doesn't mean the pros arn't any good, more, probably that they're working to a minimum standard.

I wanted to continue the job definitions bit with - I can add but i'm not an accountant, and I can debate the number of angels on the head of a pin but i'm neither a lawyer nor a priest.....

 

[dutch2u2]

I would not call myself a welder any more as I haven’t done any serious welding for over 25 years, I did pass city & guilds for gas & stick + a coded test for steam mains + high pressure hot water. But I would call myself a bus driver as I have driven for nearly 30 years accident free!! in and around London.

Dutch.

 

[snowcat]

I was at a steam rally today and judgeing some of the welds done on the scale traction boilers, I would hardly call them welders despite being a coded job.......but then i wasnt happy because they hadnt reamed the tubes in leval so i guess its just a matter of tolarance.