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Same here but I'll take a humble youngster with a good attitude every time over the one who knows it all strait out of school

Just occasionaly it comes down to "mother ------"...

I don't see many kids coming out of schools, other than the apprentice program...
If you are burdened with loud, cocky, know-it-all kids, I might have a place for them an any given job...

What we are seeing in todays work hires is the group of people who all got to bat during little leage and everyone got a trophy at the end of the season

Welding flash caused me to have cataract surgery when I was 50 years old.I was a weld fabricator most of my career.Did a little bit of everything including machine work.About 75% of the guys I worked with died from cancer.Should tell you something about welding as a career.

Those types usually don't make it past the interview

When I was 31 I was a complete dick. Just not quite as complete as I thought...

Long story short, I was laboring in a steel mill for about 2$ per hour over minimum wage. Got assigned to labor for the melt shop mechanical GF. Worked for him for 2 weeks before he heard my name.

Heard my name and knew my dad and uncle. Told me he had a job that would make my pocket jingle if I could pass a weld test.

He was correct on all counts.
Put me with some seasoned hands, young and old. they frequently showed me just what a dick I was, along with a bit of trade craft.

taken me a fair ways...

Isn't that the truth... Give me a humble young man who is secure in his own skin, that doesn't need to show you his confidence with his mouth, and things will probably work out.

I've gotten to the point where I cringe when I hear some young guy 10 seconds into a conversation say, "I took welding all 4 years of high school and my grandpa was a journeyman welder." As if welding is a hereditary thing and most high school Ag teachers teach more bad habits than anything.

Full disclosure; The old man fired me for being a dick when I was 17...

I bless his memory for that...

Teal, I have the same issues in the workforce. Boredom.
I grew up on a farm where a person needs to be a jack-of-all-trades. I took up welding as it was something that that took a lot of patients and practice to get it right. I'm a perfectionist so it was years before I felt very good about my talent.
I eventually hit the top of my trade with MIG, Stick and Tig while welding aluminum, stainless, mild, cast, pipe, structural, pressure vessels and whatever was tossed in front of me. It got boring after that.
I spent some time as a mechanic but not much money in that. I eventually landed a job as a maintenance tech for a large factory. There I honed my skills in hydraulics, pneumatics, plumbing, electricity, building construction and anything else you can run into.
That got old after a while and I took a job as basically a facilities manager. I was in charge of the maintenance dept. as well as doing a lot of the design work and working with contractors for all factory expansions and overhauls.

Guess what. Climbed that mountain and it got old after 8 or so years. I just started my own excavation business. Dozers, excavators, skid steers, etc. It's going well so far. Not much moving up here during the winter so a fall back on my welding and mechanic skills to stay busy. This spring cannot come fast enough and I look forward to a new set of challenges.

All of that being said, it's been a wonderful employment career so far. I'm 40 now so another 40 and I can hopefully retire. I'm very satisfied and wouldn't trade much of it. If that's what it takes to keep a person happy in life, go for it. I know that I'll never be unemployed.

Good posts guys. I've seen it work both ways. I'm a supervisor, so I need to be able to find ways to work with the young hot shots and get them trained right. If there's absolutely no hope for them, they get sent packing.. We need to get more young people interested in this trade, or we are going to be hurting!!!

Almost indicates a pattern of sorts...

as a "cocky newb" myself. I guess im lucky to have had a pipefitter no less (im an electrician) with 40 years of doing and not talkin' come into my welding booth and watch me (im self taught) for about 40 min. Didnt say a word. Then he said give me the stinger and do this... so i did. 3 weeks later he called and said the nuke plant is putting calls in for electrician welders, take the call, you'll make the test. rest is history. Turned out he was the welding coordinator, i got put in every f'd up nasty, high rad area you could think off, but made a lot of damn money, and NO ONE messes with the welders in a nuke plant, its kinda like bein' royalty haha

I earned an Asso. Degree in Welding back in 1977 from Ferris State College, Michigan. Offers came in from all over the country including Ironworkers Union, Steel Workers Union, and Auto Workers Union. I took an excellent paying job with Auto Workers Union in Warren, Michigan working at the Dodge van division. But the work was quite boring. When laid off in 1979, I enlisted with USAF and trained to be an aircraft welder. Mostly I worked on jet turbine parts. The work was clean but boring. But I had a chance to cross train into a Civil Engineer Unit named PRIME BEEF and travelled the world as a Metal Worker. Many great adventures. I retired in 1999 from USAF and currently work as a Building Code Inspector.

Sherwood

Sam like you I am just a burner of metals lol. Learned on the ranch and high school. Have built some equipment and repaired a lot. Built several set of sucker rod and drill stem corrals. Lol better cowboy than I was welder. Ed

Yer dreamin', Coop...

Everybody messes with the welders in the nukes...

Done that gig, and in every active nuke (-Zion) in illinois, the TVA system, and a few others...

This ^^^^^^^ I don't see what the OP is asking as he seems to be overqualified to share our oxygen lest boredom should set it in.

Drill stem corrals? What are you running, cape buffalo? Nice material if you can get it cheap.

I just deliver my standard line when someone gets'ta playin [bleep] [bleep].. "ill cut cho a$$" its all fun and games untill someone messes with my welding machine, then it gets serious, and ill get someones money for that [bleep] :-D

The shop I work at now has a permanent sign out hiring welders. I haven't been here long enough to know what they pay the welders. We do a mix of carbon steel and alloys like inconel and it's various varietes. We do large plate fabrication of up to 4,000 tons. Not all single pieces at that size obvioiusly, panelized etc...

Engineers keep our welders really busy. I've been fighting it for the last month. They have us putting a complete pentration weld where a 3/4" plate attaches to a 3/16" beam web. So we are putting a 3/4" weld into a 3/16" web....then they complain it's taking too long. They really are having an issue of us charging a crapload more when the job was bid as a fillet weld standard.

But the guys in the shop are staying busy, we do a fair amount of submerged arc joining our panels etc...

We're actually hoping to pick up some welders now that the frackers are just now starting to lay off in the area.

Besides the normal cert testing etc...we do a fair amount of testing on a fair number of the welds, non destructive. Sometimes 100% of welds have to be tested. They get picky on a $1 billion structure. But nowhere near as much as pressure vessels.