Blue Collar and Proud of It: The All-In-One Resource for Finding Freedom, Financial Success, and Security Outside the Cubicle (23 page)
Authors: Joe Lamacchia,Bridget Samburg
Tags: #Business
Because welders are needed in construction, manufacturing, and other industries, employers have a constant need for skilled workers. What exactly is welding? It’s themost common way of permanently joining metal parts. In this process, heat as high as 800 degrees is applied to metal pieces, melting and fusing them to form a permanent bond. Because of its strength, welding is used in shipbuilding, automobileman-ufacturing, and aerospace construction. Skyscrapers are welded. Cars contain hundreds of welds.Your bed was probably welded, as were some of the tools in your basement.
Welders should have good eyesight, hand-eye coordination, and manual dexterity. They should be able to concentrate on detailed work for long periods of time and be able to work in awkward positions. In addition, weldersmust increasingly bewilling to receive training.There are over eighty different welding processes that a welder can use. Some are performedmanuallywhile others are semiautomatic and require awelder to usemachinery to complete a task. Skilledwelding, soldering, and brazing workers generally use drawings or specifications to complete their work.Highly skilled welders often are trained to work with a wide variety of materials, such as titanium, aluminum, or plastics, in addition to steel.
Work Setting
Welders are often exposed to a number of hazards, themost obvious being the high heat.They wear safety shoes, goggles, and hoods with protective lenses. Welders and cuttersmaywork outdoors, often in inclement weather, or inside, sometimes in studios or indoor job sites. They may also be required to lift heavy objects.
“It’s a shock for a lot of folks that you have to study and read and use math.This is quite a sophisticated science.There are always new metals, processes, and techniques. It’s a challenge to keep up with the changes. changes.”
—Connie Christopher, welding instructor, on welding
Training and Certification
Several trade unions have programs that allow newcomers to obtain the training necessary to work as a welder while being paid in the process. These apprenticeships sometimes culminate in an associate’s degree and are beneficial for future employment opportunities. Some welding positions require general certifications in welding or certification in specific skills. Although some employers provide training, most prefer to hire workers who already have experience or formal training. The welding unions are a significant source of training and apprenticeships.
The Numbers
There were about 462, 000 jobs in welding in 2006, about two-thirds of which were in the manufacturing industry. Both a retiring workforce and growth in the oil and gas industries are expected to create excellent opportunities for welders. As we’ve mentioned, welding schools and industry experts report that skilled welders have little difficulty finding work. The median earnings for the industry were $15.10 an hour as of May 2006, with the top 10 percent earning more than $22.50.
Blue Collar in ACTION
Building More Than Ships in Newport News
The coasts of the United States used to be lined with shipbuilding towns and yards. One of the few that has remained a steadfast and imposing presence is the Northrop Grumman Shipyard in Newport News, Virginia. Better known for years as Newport News Shipbuilding, the yard has been constructing military ships since it launched its first vessel in 1891. Today, the company is the sole designer and builder of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and only one of two yards in the entire nation that builds nuclear submarines.
Connected to the shipyard is one of the most impressive and productive training programs in the United States. The Apprenticeship School was founded in 1919 and trains participants in eighteen different trades through its four- and five-year-long programs to become part of Northrop Grumman’s shipbuilding workforce. The apprenticeships train participants to be successful in shipbuilding careers while also providing rigorous academic courses. “We build three types of ships here; craftsmanship, scholarship, and leadership, ” says Robert Leber, the school’s education and workforce director. The program is popular and competitive, so much so that recently Leber received three thousand applicants for just three hundred positions.
The school is unique in that it trains students for the trades, but it’s simultaneously set upmuch like a typical college campus, with extracurricular activities, Division III sports teams, and a supportive, close-knit community. If students meet academic and grade requirements, they graduate fromthe programwith an associate’s degree. Even if they don’t receive the degree, graduates are highly employable with exceptional technical skills and are still eligible to work in the shipyard, building warships, aircraft carriers, and submarines.
“These are not Tonka trucks, ” says Leber. “When you go home at night, you can honestly say you helped protect the country with the product you’re building.” A majority of the graduates of the Apprentice School go straight to the Northrop Grumman shipyard, and five years after graduation Leber says approximately 80 percent of the former apprentices are still working there.
Leber says training is more essential now than ever for getting into the trades. The willingness to be trained is a quality he looks for in applicants. You have to show up with a good attitude, Leber notes, and a willingness to learn and be instructed by others. He points to growth in new industries, such as solar panel installation, as sectors where jobs are expected to be plentiful, but will require significant skills. Not only do installers need to have electronic and technical abilities, but also they have to communicate with a property owner about how to operate the new systems. These jobs will require physical strength as well. “It’s not going to take a college degree, ” he says, “but we need quality training after high school.”
That’s what you get at the Apprentice School, where Leber says students can challenge themselves while becoming master welders, electricians, or machinists and become integral to one of the most cutting-edge operations in the country.
Check out the Apprentice School at
www.apprenticeschool.com
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Chapter 4
This Is Women’s Work, Too
W
omen make the best welders. At least that’s what Dave Barton says. Barton, who is the senior welding engineer at Lincoln Electric in Cleveland, Ohio, says women tend to have exceptional hand-eye coordination, a crucial skill in welding.
“They’re very good, ” Barton says of females who weld. “That is, as long as they get over the fear factor.” Formany women—andmen, too—the high heat used to weld can be daunting. “It’s the eye-hand coordination that separates women from men.” Dexterity is key, and Barton says women are naturally detail-oriented.
Connie Christopher agrees. “There is the eye for detail and such a patience requirement, ” both of which she says are female strong suits. Christopher fell into welding as a young Navy wife who was desperate to make some money. In 1973, she went to Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut, and applied for a clerical position. There weren’t any available, but she was told that there was a welding position open. “I’ll take it, ” she said and then asked, “What’s welding? ” Coincidentally, Christopher had found her passion. “Once that shield went down I had a world of solitude. I fell in love with it.” She’s been welding since and went from working on submarines in Connecticut to railroads in Oregon. Now she teaches welding at Portland Community College.
Christopher says there were few female welders when she started in the industry, but she is slowly seeing more joining. There is always at least one female student in her classes, and recently she had six, something she thinks of as a sign that things are moving in the right direction. With massive welding shortages anticipated in the next decade, Christopher said there will be incredible opportunities for women. “Some places it’s really accepted, and others there’s a real gender bias, ” she says of how women are received differently depending on the area of the country. But overall, she thinks it’s an incredible field for women.
“I am the only woman you will ever meet who legally gets paid to check shorts. ” shorts.
—Veronica Rose, master electrician from Long Island
When Christopher was working in Connecticut, she felt accepted as a woman in amale-dominated field. She was one of the lucky ones who didn’t feel singled out for being a woman; she wasn’t discriminated against and managed to have incredible male mentors. But when she moved to Oregon in 1979 to work for a shipbuilding company that had recruited her, she was confronted with a completely different attitude. When she walked onto the welding floor at her new job, she was told she couldn’t take the test that was required to place her and others in an appropriate position according to their skill level. “If you weighed in at three hundred pounds I might think about hiring you, ” the supervisor said. “But I’m not going to have you distracting my welders.”
We’re used to seeing women behind desks in corporate offices, in boardrooms, or working as doctors and computer engineers. We’ve come a long way and think it’s quite normal to find a female architect or accountant. Women have been working for decades on Wall Street and in marketing positions at large companies. But women haven’t come quite as far in the skilled trades. They haven’t made the same strides, and the stigma of being a woman in the trades still lingers. We find it an odd sight—and indeed it is highly unusual—to see a female plumber, automechanic, or trucker. I tend to cranemy neck when I see a woman on a construction site, just to be sure I saw what I think I saw.
“Our first obstacle is image, ” says Ellen Voie, president and founder ofWomen in Trucking. “Women don’t know they can do this job.” With 20, 000 truckers, Voie says it’s an excellent time for women to consider this as a career. Most trucking equipment relies on hydraulics or other automatic mechanisms, which means heavy lifting is rarely necessary. Women are often hesitant to enter the skilled trades, andmany wonder whether they can handle the work or will be welcome. But the trades have become incredible opportunities for females, even if they are still in the minority.
The trucking industry hasn’t entirely adjusted to its female workforce, andVoie points out thatmany amenities across the country need improving. Some truck stops still don’t have designated showers for women, and many of the on-site convenience stores don’t carry women’s toiletries. But her organization is working to improve these facilities as well as the perception that trucking is just for men. For people who enjoy driving and traveling, trucking can be a great career. Companies often have training programs fromthree to six weeks long, after which new drivers are on the road with their first hauls. After just six weeks of training, Voie said first-time truckers can often start off with a $40, 000 salary.