welding and women

I've been an elementary teacher for over 10 years and have lost my job twice in 2 years due to budget cuts. I have been thinking about going back to school but not for education as obviously it is not a recession proof job. I'd like to get into a trade program so I can learn what I need to learn and go directly into the field. I was thinking of welding. Is this plausible for a 40 year old woman?

It will be a very difficult transition. I'm a 27 year old male, who uses welding to pay for my college education. There are not many women in this field. Although I have trained a few. Welding has it's rough economic times too; on top of the challenges you will face as an individual! You have to be really good to get and keep a welding job. A welder fresh from tech school, knows nothing (believe me). There is a joke at many welding jobs, "I didn't learn THAT at tech school." Many welding jobs require you to pass X-ray tests on your welds (10% of all welds), and you are only allowed to fail two. A third failed weld and they pull your certifications and you're fired, and you can't re-test for 6 months!!! The quality you must put out on a daily basis is staggering. My arms are covered in scars from burns. Welding requires the ability to do dangerous, meticulous work for long hours, alone, in uncomfortable positions... BUT, I'm a pipe welder, who worked my way up through skill, sheer determination, and people who liked me, helping me. You will start at the bottom, and it will be misery. You don't have to work in oil, you could probably get a job in a shop, it's safer, easier, and pays way less. $12 to $13 dollars an hour. I make $33. Every welder earns every dollar they make, sometimes they pay with their lives. For a woman in her fourties I wouldn't reccomend welding. My mom was a special ed teacher my whole life, and she got sick of making nothing, she is in school for law and social justice.

Vicky B,
Have you considered to become an orbital welder? I work for Arc Machines, Inc. and we manufacture orbital welding equipment. Sometimes we receive calls from customers looking for AMI certified welders. We hold training classes 1x/month in our facility in Pacoima, CA. Orbital welding is automated. The weld heads are rotating around the tube/pipe and are controlled via a computerized power supply.

vicky b in Chicago, Illinois said: I've been an elementary teacher for over 10 years and have lost my job twice in 2 years due to budget cuts. I have been thinking about going back to school but not for education as obviously it is not a recession proof job. I'd like to get into a trade program so I can learn what I need to learn and go directly into the field. I was thinking of welding. Is this plausible for a 40 year old woman?

vicky b in Chicago, Illinois said: I've been an elementary teacher for over 10 years and have lost my job twice in 2 years due to budget cuts. I have been thinking about going back to school but not for education as obviously it is not a recession proof job. I'd like to get into a trade program so I can learn what I need to learn and go directly into the field. I was thinking of welding. Is this plausible for a 40 year old woman?

Pick up literature from AWS.org about becoming a CWI certified welding inspector. Lots of studying but you aren't required to be a welder. Much less strain on the body.

Also check online with ASNT about becoming a nondestructive technician. Should be several companies in this field in Chicago.

Robert P.
AWS CWI
SNT-TC-1A Level II PT & MT

vicky b in Chicago, Illinois said: I've been an elementary teacher for over 10 years and have lost my job twice in 2 years due to budget cuts. I have been thinking about going back to school but not for education as obviously it is not a recession proof job. I'd like to get into a trade program so I can learn what I need to learn and go directly into the field. I was thinking of welding. Is this plausible for a 40 year old woman?

I have been a woman pipe welder for 37 years in the piefitters unio. Not to be mean, but you are too old. It is a young persons game. Male or female. It takes years to be good enough to pass pipe Xrays etc.
But if you insist, take a beginning welding course at a college and you'll find out very quickly how hard it is and how dedicated you must be to be good enough for pipe.

but if you insist take a begining welding course