so -you want to be a pipeline welder?

This is for Pipeline Jack. Pipelines don't use any of those terms! It's all about the butt and a branch. Real pipeliners only weld with Lincoln's and definitely not Hobart machines. I think maybe you should change your name to power plant rube welder jack till you pass a 6g pipe test and runs down some lines. And yes it pays very well but you gotta be top notch!

Liquid metal don't live in slag !

i'm currently working in a very small fab/welding shop. i have been there for 5 and a half years. i am 34 years old and have been doing wirefeed or gmaw welding for nine years. i am really interested in working on the pipeline or rigs. there is a school here in the state of south dakota that has a course for welding smaw. at the end of the course i believe i get an aws cert. would this be worth my time or is there another way to get my foot in the door. also i already know i will be a weldors helper for a long time..i just want to get my foot in the door. any input would be greatly appreciated.

Actually i like to attend the school so i can become one of the best welder

How can some one from another country,eg, nigeria,be come a student of your Hobart welding school, houston?

Ok guys..here's the deal. I'm a commercial plumbing foreman here in Texas. Tons of responsibility and squat in terms of pay. I have a friend that wants to get me on as a welders helper on pipeline. Funny enough, it pays triple what I make and I'm a journeyman plumber. Now, before we get into bashing trades and whatnot, I just want the skinny on the deal. What will my duties be? How do I separate myself from other helpers? What little things of convenience should I know to make life on the job easier for all of us? Before you reply, don't give me the big bad wolf bullshit because I've been there and done that. I want to know the straight facts. What I should look up online to possibly give me a In the parking lot of the ballpark assessment of life on the line. Job related inquiries if you don't mind. I know I'll travel and yadda yadda.

Most of you guys commenting on this mess have absolutely no idea what you are talkin about and have never set foot on a pipeline. The best way to learn how ti be a pipeline welder is to find you a job helping and watch and learn. When you finally save up enough money and decide that that's what you want to do then buy you a truck and a machine and start scrounging up scrap pipe then what? Practice practice practice. But dont be expecting to go pass a welding test in two weeks and be prepared for old stuck up inspectors that dont like the way you look or something and already have it in their mind to bust you before you even burn a rod. And even though there is good money to be made it is also expensive to live cause you may have to get up and drive 2000 miles at the ringing of a phone and bust a test and then be fucked because no matter how good you are you are going to bust a test and above all else dont forget to make friends cause thats where the jobs will come from when you're not doin a thing. And one last thing do not join the union because all you do is pay them to work and you only work when they want you to work and they are crooked as snakes. And for all of you union hands what makes you think you are better than anyone else i mean i have had enough of people controlling me, the government keeps that under control now why in the hell would anyone want the union running how i work.

no learning no matter where it comes from is wasted that said the cost of these welding schools are very high. i myself had to learn the hard way on the job. i wish i had started my career by going to school. if you truly want to be a welder then start by getting formalized training.

Joe McDace wrote:

Boy, it surprises me to read these comments! Why do some of these tradesmen have to act like they're the "prize pigs at the county fair" and belittle each other and so on.
My advise to those looking into this field is to know what the work is. That is, talk to others that will not talk the big talk, rather, give it to you straight.
I spend my days in gas distribution. It brings me home to my family every night, pays me roughly a hundred a year and I don't have to leave the cash on the road. When my kids get older, I'll consider going bigger and working away from home. I'll try to bring my family with me if I do.
Also, there are alot of puffy chested fellows in this business that are out to talk themselves up, pretend they're your friends and do you no favors behind your back. I'm not a religious zealot when I say this but remember to keep God and family your main interest.
Joe

joe~ you are so right. instead of passing on the 411 or posting something positive some of these guy's just want to crow about how much money they made last week or how they invented the welding rod. i'm just out there to make a better life for me and my family. the civil war is over boys move on!!

seems a lot of you guys came through the back door. I started out doing my apprenticeship back in 1966 in England. 5 years of doing everything from pipe welding,repairing diggers to shoeing horses. But them old boys showed me the right way. In the early 70s I was struggling to get work. But my break came in 73 when i had to take a job as a welders mate on a gas line. we was on the back end, the welder i worked with was pussing around with 4mm. I asked him why he didn,t fill up with 5mm. He said yeh! right do you think you could do better son. I asked him to let me fill his side. He called the spread boss and showed him what i,d done. I got a test and fired up on the back end. That was the start. i,m 65 now and retired. Good luck to ya all

If you guys are finished making comparisons at the urinal, I'd like to throw in my 2 cents as a pipeline wife. Pipeline work is an attractive thing, the lure of big bucks so appealing. Let me tell you something fellas, if you don't have good sense all the money in the world firing up that Lincoln isn't going to do you a damn bit of good. Most welders, supers, foremen, even some operators, etc that make the big money don't have a pot to piss in after multiple car payments, camper payment, hotel,alimony and child support, and living like they are big and bad 10 ft tall and bulletproof. I'd say about 10% of them have the brains to make a success of this career. You can blow 200 grand a year just as easily as you can 50 grand, or 20. Your habits just get more expensive. You will become a slave to always working away from home if all you do is build up more bills and acquire more crap.
Moral of the story: if you want to get into pipeline work, get used to the idea of having to be around blow hards that are trying to act like big shots. These guys will usually be broke, but will spend like there is not tomorrow. Get used to being around guys that think they are casanovas, out cheating on their wives. Get used to kissing the ass of jerks, some of the guys posting are a good example of that. Get it together and make a plan. And try not to be one of the 90%. If you become a big shot, and a big talker, I can guarantee you will be in the 90%. I can spot those guys a mile away.
Don't change who you are and how you live other than just a decent standard of living. it won't pan out in the long run.

Pls i need connection

He sound like a know it all

FOX MAN wrote:

if you want to be a pipeliner well you need to practice practice and practice till you cant anymore then do it again. cause all that seperates a new welder for one who thinks hes good is this.

I agree. After getting my certificate in welding at http://www.weldingtrainingcenter.com/ I immediately practiced until my hands were sore. I got a bunch of scrap to work on. Learning and practicing is a good combination to be a skillful welder.

i will hapy if i can be a pipline welder it has being long i have bein looking fo this opportunity but i coud nt make it so i think it has to rearity

Hown do I get into pipeline welding, if anyone can give me any information email me at dowell.jason@yahoo.com

Vert do you know what vert is 100% x-ray do you know what 100% x-ray is? Hey retarded? Do you know what retarded is bc that's what you are dude you're about pathetic any real welder can read you're post and think what a fu**in idiot you are I just wanted you to know the guys that actually do know what they are talking about thinks you're a fu**in moron prob a 19 year old kid that took shop in school

im banging a welders wife plus i get paid for doing it thankyou welders and ur big egos

Jesse wrote:

Most of you guys commenting on this mess have absolutely no idea what you are talkin about and have never set foot on a pipeline. The best way to learn how ti be a pipeline welder is to find you a job helping and watch and learn. When you finally save up enough money and decide that that's what you want to do then buy you a truck and a machine and start scrounging up scrap pipe then what? Practice practice practice. But dont be expecting to go pass a welding test in two weeks and be prepared for old stuck up inspectors that dont like the way you look or something and already have it in their mind to bust you before you even burn a rod. And even though there is good money to be made it is also expensive to live cause you may have to get up and drive 2000 miles at the ringing of a phone and bust a test and then be fucked because no matter how good you are you are going to bust a test and above all else dont forget to make friends cause thats where the jobs will come from when you're not doin a thing. And one last thing do not join the union because all you do is pay them to work and you only work when they want you to work and they are crooked as snakes. And for all of you union hands what makes you think you are better than anyone else i mean i have had enough of people controlling me, the government keeps that under control now why in the hell would anyone want the union running how i work.

All i have to say is for all you union bashers the only reason u make the $ u make is because of a union if not u non union workers would be getting pissed on just remember that stand up and buck the fu*kin man talk shi* about the unions this country was founded on unions genius if not for them we wouldent have shi* still workin for shit wages think about it if no unions what would be top $ to compair your wages to the only reason u make what u do non union is because unions make good $ and a non union company has to pay u close to top pay to keep u from leaving so befor u talk shit get it rite think of all of r men wlrkin in the coal mines for jack shit getting pissed on just remember that if u dont u aint fuckin american and u shouldent be reading anything about pipelineing

Only thing i can say pipeline jack is you would never hang on the pipe gang let alone on the firing line buy a real welder and grow a pair and try and run with us.