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Posted on 11/3/26 at 10:39 am to Loup
My first full time job was a welder in a shipyard. 1 summer in South Louisiana welding inside of an iron oven was enough to convince me to choose another path.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 10:39 am to DrSteveBrule
quote:
Making a lot of money because you work 2x as many hours as someone else doesn't count either
Nothing like bragging about being an independent welder getting a 1099 for $150k a year while working 1000 miles from home working 60hrs a week and self financing their own healthcare, PTO, work comp, Fica, year end bonus, and sick time.
Almost as if welders might not be good at mathing
Posted on 11/3/26 at 10:41 am to Turnblad85
quote:
$150k a year
Maybe if they only work 6 months with almost no OT.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 10:43 am to Loup
You’d be a little thrown off too if you had encounters with giant man-eating catfish on those underwater lock and dam jobs.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 10:45 am to DrSteveBrule
quote:
Don't they not even make that much money relatively speaking, but they make more money than what they could have been doing?
Making a lot of money because you work 2x as many hours as someone else doesn't count either.
I don't know about welders, but I know plenty of IBEW guys making north of $60/hr just on straight time. Add in OT, per diem, any other bonuses, and you can bust your arse off for 3 months then work as little as you want for the rest of the year. That might not look like much from your cubicle, but that's freedom to me.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 10:46 am to Loup
It's funny you noticed this. I've worked around welders half my life. The persona of being a welder is all-encompassing, like a whole way of life thing. I've found that they're usually self-important, cocky guys who try too hard to live up to the persona. They can be aholes at times. While on a jobsite , don't even bother asking one for help with anything if it doesn't involve welding.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 10:51 am to wadewilson
This post was edited on 11/3/26 at 10:53 am
Posted on 11/3/26 at 10:51 am to RandRules
quote:
The persona of being a welder is all-encompassing, like a whole way of life thing.
Yeah I've noticed this before, too. I think they spend so much time at work that what they do for a living becomes their entire identity.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 10:54 am to Loup
Go to any social media platform and search welding dive in the comments it’s a blast no one can weld!
Posted on 11/3/26 at 10:55 am to kywildcatfanone
Didn’t know we were neighbors baw
Posted on 11/3/26 at 10:55 am to Loup
What's funny is you visibly notice the personality change when they go from being a helper or coming from another job to becoming a welder
Posted on 11/3/26 at 11:25 am to Loup
If you think the welders are bad, wait to you meet the stress relieving techs.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 11:44 am to Loup
You almost have to be a little off to watch someone weld or run I grinder and think, I’d like to get up at 6:00 am every day for 30 years and do that.
I tip my hat to anyone who takes it on as a career
I tip my hat to anyone who takes it on as a career
Posted on 11/3/26 at 12:05 pm to wadewilson
quote:
I don't know about welders, but I know plenty of IBEW guys making north of $60/hr just on straight time. Add in OT, per diem, any other bonuses, and you can bust your arse off for 3 months then work as little as you want for the rest of the year. That might not look like much from your cubicle, but that's freedom to me.
How is working 9 months in 3 freedom or even wise? I’ve done it, I used to think it was the only way to earn a living. Then I signed the books in my own local and they told me I could expect a call in 16 months and we were one of a few locals in the nation with any work and I realized it was a fools errand. I know it’s been a good decade or so but it’ll come to an end and all of yall are going to riding the highways chasing fewer and fewer jobs.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 12:13 pm to Loup
Knowing that the way you earn your money is going to kill you eventually. It’s just a matter of which disease you will contract.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 12:25 pm to wadewilson
quote:
$150k a year Maybe if they only work 6 months with almost no
Median income for welders in the US is $57,800, just under the Louisiana median of $62,300. That’s about $30 an hour or thereabouts. To make $150k in 6 months with everything over 8 time and half, Saturdays time and half and Sunday double time, standard in the building trades, one would need to 23.142 hours a day for 6 months without any time
Off. That is almost a year and half of labor in 6 months. Not only is it not worth it it’s physically impossible because you’d be dead after about a week sleeping .9 hours a day……
Posted on 11/3/26 at 12:30 pm to Loup
Not an easy job by any stretch of the imagination. Life under a hood , in a heavy leather smock with gloves, having your work judged by other Fitters and Welders, and the ever present Refinery Supervision making your life miserable. Never mind the Xray Techs
Posted on 11/3/26 at 12:32 pm to AwgustaDawg
quote:
Median income for welders in the US is $57,800
quote:
That’s about $30 an hour or thereabouts.
That's IBEW scale in a shithole southern local. If you can't make a lot more than that, you've either already made enough and you're coasting or you're too lazy to take some agency and find opportunities.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 12:34 pm to EmperorGout
quote:
In general the trades are eaten up with substance abuse and addiction like you would not believe
Building trade addictions tend to be alcohol and tobacco because drug testing is still a thing. I had 900 tradesmen and 70 engineers randomed with no notice to me and there were 6 initially who busted out. 4 of those were prescriptions that they hadn’t notified medical of and the other 2 had been drinking. The 4 got their job back. The 2did not. This was in a state with legal pot
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