Career options

[Maker]

So, Fairly soon I'm gonna be starting my GCSE's which means I need to start thinking about where I want to go next. I'd ideally like to get an apprenticeship or go to collage and do some kind of welding course but I'm wondering, what kinds of welding related jobs are there and how much could I expect to get paid?
What do some of you guys do?

 

[cumbriasteve]

The variants of welding work and earnings are massive, from minimum wage in a firm requiring little more skill than knowing how to do a simple weld, to very high wages for the top skilled workers in harsh environments welding to the highest standards.

Simplest way is to search the net for welding vacancy's, this will give you some idea of what's out there, what they are paying and what qualifications they would expect you to have.

 

[Maker]

Thanks, I'll google it now.
How high is very high ?

 

[DanielW]

Thanks, I'll google it now.
How high is very high ?

Welding a few meters under a platform oilrig

 

[octo0072000]

suggest you read this about welding rates

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/welding-wages.49916/#post-562831

 

[Maker]

suggest you read this about welding rates

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/welding-wages.49916/#post-562831

Yeah, I saw that minutes after posting this.

 

[Bill Edwards]

Careers involving welding range from little workshops making up basic stuff that requires no qualifications to pipe welding to very high standards, and also welding underwater on oil rigs etc at very high rates of pay. I don't think that's all covered in that thread, just to give you an idea that if you're good enough and get in the right job you can make a very decent living, if that's what you want.

 

[3MPS]

I would imagine some of the highest rates of pay are found in underwater services.

Good luck finding funded training though for commercial diving - its a very competitive environment, with people very happy to spend £20,000 on training to work in the commercial diving industry. Those that are qualified welders/testers will be favoured for commercial diving jobs.

Gain some experience though, and you could be saturation diving (more training unfortunately) and welding for £1000 a day any where in the world.

 

[octo0072000]

I would imagine some of the highest rates of pay are found in underwater services.

Good luck finding funded training though for commercial diving - its a very competitive environment, with people very happy to spend £20,000 on training to work in the commercial diving industry. Those that are qualified welders/testers will be favoured for commercial diving jobs.

Gain some experience though, and you could be saturation diving (more training unfortunately) and welding for £1000 a day any where in the world.

you missed out the bit of having to live in a hyperbaric chamber while saturation diving

 

[Maker]

I would imagine some of the highest rates of pay are found in underwater services.

Good luck finding funded training though for commercial diving - its a very competitive environment, with people very happy to spend £20,000 on training to work in the commercial diving industry. Those that are qualified welders/testers will be favoured for commercial diving jobs.

Gain some experience though, and you could be saturation diving (more training unfortunately) and welding for £1000 a day any where in the world.

I would be happy to pay that much if it could lead to a job to pay that back in 4 weeks!!!

you missed out the bit of having to live in a hyperbaric chamber while saturation diving

That's fine, as long as I can have a hyperbaric workshop.

 

[Maker]

I'm considering mechanical engineering now because I think it would be better paying, more interesting and more fun than just welding and fabrication. Do you think it would be best to get a engineering apprenticeship or do maths, chemistry and physics A level and do engineering at uni?

If I do the apprenticeship then I will be getting work experience, getting paid and actually learning about engineering. It will take 42 months but by the end I should be quite employable and I could still go on to do engineering at uni to take it further.

If I do A levels then I wouldn't be learning quite as applied stuff but it would be in much greater detail so I would come out cleverer but I wouldn't be emplo need to then get an apprenticeship or go to uni to learn anything about engineering so I could get a job.

I'm leaning toward an apprenticeship because by the end of it I could go straight into work or go to uni whereas by the end of A levels I must either do an apprenticeship (so I've just wasted the last 2 years) or go to uni (which I could do at the end of the apprenticeship and then I would already have experience).

So really, is it worth it doing A levels when I'll end up in the same place but 2 years behind although I'll know more about maths physics and chemistry?

Also, what kind of things would I be doing and what could I expect to get paid?

 

[Kent]

Frankly if your working for someone else in any trade you will be paid less than your worth. This is how profit is made in its most basic form. If your a bright lad in relation to your peer group work hard and get as many qualifications as you can,do a degree in your subject and look towards a masters the only really decent pay is on specialist stuff on site or running your own firm. Many who have served their time as welder / fabricators etc are working for the set living wage (slightly more than minimum wage but not enough to get any place much with).
A good degree in Engineering and some good hands on experience at the sharp end burning rods and running lathes, milling etc. will earn you a stack more money especially if you travel

 

[Kayos]

I got an apprenticeship at 18 (with British Gas in central heating) but the same ideas apply, I was earning, learning and gaining practical experience. I'm a big fan of apprenticeships, what I earn now would need a degree or to be topped up with sales in other fields, but I work 5 days, bit of on call and never bother with "on the side work" as I just don't need it

 

[brewdexta]

I did an apprenticeship with BT, then got voluntary redundancy after 14 years and ended up at uni at the ripe old age of 29. The 5 years of day release and years of work experience made up for A levels although in retrospect I should have left earlier but had a London mortgage to pay that the redundancy, having lodgers and occasional contract work paid for.

 

[F.J.]

I did an apprenticeship as an hgv body repairer, money was crap at first but I was on full pay by the time I was 19 £10.50 ph which felt like I had won the lotto. That was 12 years ago and Unfortunately the firm still pay the same rate. I left 7 years ago and put myself through various training to get to where I am now, a self employed coded welder. If my wife wouldn't mind me travelling I would up skill some more and abroad or on rigs as the pay can be out of this world. A firm was laying pipes next to where my brother works and the welder a were on £500 a day!!

 

[Bill Edwards]

A firm was laying pipes next to where my brother works and the welder a were on £500 a day!!

 

[Rig Pig]

If you fancy a career offshore have a ring round the oil company's and supply boat operators in Gt Yarmouth, they take apprentices on now and then.