Welding as a Career

The table shows that the requirements of these groups are different and so their personnel requirement also varies. They look for different abilities, capabilities, and skills in personnel, even though all of them commonly look for welding-related skills and knowledge at different levels. Because of this, personnel having varied skills, qualifications, abilities can get employment and career opportunities in the welding field, unlike many other disciplines. For example, an electrical engineer and diploma holder in metallurgy can look for opportunities in the welding field. But, what is of importance is the fact that all of them look for some knowledge, qualification, experience, or certification in welding.

4.0 Image of welding

From the above details, it can be observed that welding has applications spread across industries and can offer opportunities to many who are keen in this field. But then, why is it that many are sceptical about taking up this field as a career option? The reason is basically because of the image of welding. Many feel that welding is not a highly technical job and it is better left to the welder. Some others feel that it is a dirty job and an age old process. Many don’t have a good, detailed and complete idea about this field and try to keep themselves away. But the reality is not so, as can be seen from Table 2. Unfortunately, sufficient effort has not been made in some countries to spread the correct image of welding and the opportunities it provides.

Myth	Reality
Welding environments are always dirty, polluted, smoky, etc.	Some welding is still done on shop floors which are not clean, but there are many shop floors which are very tidy, clean and highly environment controlled. Many shop floors have smoke extraction systems which keep the shop floor free of smoke. In fact, for some welding applications, dust free, air conditioned environments are used. Personnel protection equipment is compulsory on many shop floors. Again, there are many welding processes which don’t release smoke and the environments are highly sophisticated; many shop floors use automation and robotics where repetitive jobs are involved. In many applications, computer controls are extensively used and the operators and engineers operate remotely from the comfort of their air-conditioned rooms.
Welding is a hard job involving heavy components, lifting, manipulating, etc.	No. This is absolutely not true. Welding, brazing and soldering are used for everything from huge components to micro components. In fact, there are many micro-joining methods like micro-plasma, micro-TIG, etc. in which thin foils are joined. Sophisticated robots, rotating and manipulating equipment are available to position the job and weld them. In some cases, welding operators will have to wear sterilised hand gloves to get quality welds.
Welding is not a highly technical job.	This may be true for some simple joints made on the roadside, but not for others. Welding is a special process and requires several technical inputs, experimentations, calculations, understanding of many allied fields, etc. not only for fabrication but also for designing, consumable and equipment development, and to achieve economics in manufacturing. The same is true in the case of repair and maintenance welding applications.
Welding is not a highly paying job.	This is also not true. This paper will throw more light on this in the concluding paragraphs.
Welding is the root cause of all health problems.	If adequate precautions and safety equipment are used, then welding is like any other manufacturing process and does not become a ‘must avoid’ process.

Table 2

5.0 What are the various career starting points in this field?

Having understood that welding is indeed a field worth considering for a career, let us now focus our attention on the starting points in this field and what they demand from various individuals. Like many other fields, in welding field also, there are many career starting points from where you can start your career. The educational qualifications and skills decide this starting point. Broadly, the various starting points can be summarised as given below in Table 3. For the purpose of our discussions, the various welding personnel have been grouped in to three levels.

Level	Educational Qualification - Skills	Type of Job for Starting
Level 1	None; School dropout	Trainee Welder, Track Welder
	8th Pass	-do-
	10th Pass	-do-
	ITI	Welder; Qualified Welder
Level 2	ITI + Experience; ATI	Supervisor; Foreman
	Diploma-Degree in Engineering, IWE, IWT	Engineer; Welding Engineer; Marketing Engineer for consumables and  equipment, Design Engineer, Fabrication Engineer, Inspection, Quality Control, Research Engineer, Teaching, Training
Level 3	P.G in Welding, Doctorate	Welding Engineer, Fabrication Engineer, Quality Control, Marketing Engineer, Research Engineer, Teaching, Design Engineer, Training

Table 3

The above is only a short list of entry points and, apart from the above, there are many others which are industry-specific.

5.1 Welding is a multi-disciplinary field

The welding field requires personnel with expertise in different fields of engineering and offers an opportunity for them to grow. The Table 4, given below, shows the requirement of some industries or institutions.

Engineering discipline	Where it can be useful
Mechanical	Fabrication shops; maintenance shops; consumables marketing; equipment marketing and servicing; inspection and quality control; design; teaching; training
Electrical	Equipment design, marketing, servicing; automation-mechanisation-robotic equipment design, marketing, servicing; weld tracking equipment
Metallurgical	R&D labs; consumable developments; fabrication shops; consumable marketing; teaching; training
CSE	Robotic, automated, computerised processes; manufacturing of process control-parameter measurement equipment; quality control and testing equipment; data logging equipment; software development and programming of numerous welding applications; simulators
ECE	Development of remotely operated welding operations; development of testing and measuring equipment; simulators; data logging equipment; safety equipment;
Mechatronic-Instrumentation	Automation-mechanisation-robotics-measuring instruments;

Table 4

From the above table, it can be seen that personnel from most of the engineering streams can look for opportunities in the welding field.

6.0 Welding education

Though opportunities are there in the welding field, it should be understood that all these exist for the appropriately skilled, qualified, certified persons. We have already seen some of the educational qualification, skill sets required for various groups of welding personnel at the entry level in Table 3. Let us now focus on understanding the welding education system, which can be broadly put in three groups-the welder level, the middle level and the engineer level.

6.1 The welder level

As indicated earlier, the welder level concentrates more on skill and less on formal educational qualifications.

There is huge demand for welders all over the globe. Numerous surveys and estimates have been repeatedly made to show the demand for welders. These projections have taken account of steel consumption data (because this is closely linked to welding demand) and show that there is a huge demand for welders and welding operators.

Analysing the career opportunity for welders, a website, Go Welding.org (Ref 4), has listed seven incredible facts, which are as given below:

It is worth noting at this stage that industry needs welders with different skillsets. To ensure that the welders possess the desired skillsets, the industry qualifies and certifies welders based on many parameters. So, within the broad category of ‘welders’, there are many sub-groups with different skillsets. Some of the variables that are used for welder certification are indicated in Table 6.

Material

Welding process

Welding positions

Filler materials

Types of welds-butt, fillet

Form of material-pipe, plate

Material thickness

Table 6

Welding simulators are available so trainees can get a sufficient understanding of a process and master the basics before actually doing the welding. This procedure has been employed in major industries and has proven to be highly effective as the trainees can learn at a faster pace.

Attention is required to ensure that the education and training provided are appropriate and meet industry requirements.

It is worth mentioning here that a welder should not and need not begin and end their career as a welder. It was pointed out in the earlier paragraphs that this profession has endless career paths.

6.2 The Supervisory level

While engineering diploma holders can get in to this level directly, many industries prefer to have a highly experienced welder at this level. Formal training and education is imparted in institutions after which the candidates are absorbed into industries, not only in the manufacturing line, but also in the teaching and training line.

6.3 The Engineer Level

It was indicated earlier that the welding field requires expertise in many areas of engineering and so diploma and degree holders in many disciplines of engineering can find an opportunity in this field. Table 4 listed broadly the opportunities but all of these engineers may have to gain knowledge in welding technology to make a successful career in this field. This can be through in-depth practical training, experience or by studying further in the welding field.

7.0 What about emoluments in this field?

Welding is in no way an inferior field when we talk of payment and, of course, this is true for the right candidate with right qualification and certification in the right industry. Inappropriately qualified or certified candidates cannot hope to get these. Welding, being a specialised field, means that many industries look for appropriate qualifications and certifications at all levels, be it a welder or an engineer or an expert and, many times, this is a mandatory requirement in critical fields like oil and gas, etc.

A website “careersinwelding.com,” indicates a median salary of around USD 50,000 for divers, inspectors, sales representatives and also for senior welders. Another website, “Gowelding.org,” points out that welding is one of the few skills that can earn a six digit salary. As with many other fields, not everyone can expect to reap this benefit but what is important to note here is that the welding field is equally placed with any other engineering field in terms of opportunities, emoluments, etc.

8.0 Future Trends

The future has a lot in store for this field. The past hundred-plus years has seen the development of many processes, equipment, consumables, accessories, techniques, etc. which have enabled the adoption of welding in the manufacture, repair and maintenance of a plethora of plant and machinery. The future will see many innovative techniques in welding and many new materials and components will be welded and repaired using them. Productivity, quality, reliability and safety will assume a lot of importance in the future and all welding methods, processes and techniques may have to incorporate them as a rule. Appropriate qualification and certification of welding personnel at various levels will be the norm in many industries. The demand for qualified, certified and skilled welding personnel will continue to grow at a much faster pace as more and more critical equipment is being fabricated, demanding uncompromising and assured quality first time every time. It is quite possible that, with the continued efforts of many bodies, government agencies, private companies and individuals, the image of welding will become positive, bigger and brighter enough to enable everyone to appreciate the fair, equal career opportunities it provides and induce the younger generation to look at this field as a career option.

9.0 Conclusion

Welding is an important and critical activity in many industries. Many surveys project a very good demand for qualified, certified welding personnel at various levels. This field, so far, has not been a favoured field for many, especially the younger generation, although it is on par with many other fields in terms of opportunities, pay and so forth. This is mainly because of the lack of information about the opportunities in this field and many misconceptions. The concerted efforts being made by several agencies should go a long way in removing these and it is hoped that the variety of training, education and certification programmes presently in place for welding personnel at various levels should be able to generate a sufficient number of welding personnel to meet the huge demands of industry.

References

1. www.welding.com History of welding

2. Svetsaren No 1-2004 Page 33

3. Special report AWS Welding Journal August 99.

4. www.Gowelding.org