Any welders?

evo2000 · 19-09-2015 11:04pm #1

Anyone here done welding abroad? canada, oz and the likes, just wondering what was the pay like and was it tough to get work? im thinking of getting into welding is it worth it?

(Sorry if this is the wrong place to post)

Datallus · 19-09-2015 11:08pm

What's wrong with welding in Ireland?!

evo2000 · 19-09-2015 11:10pm

Datallus wrote: »

What's wrong with welding in Ireland?!

Nothing just wanna travel yano! is there much work going in ireland for welders?

Sunnyisland · 19-09-2015 11:13pm

Didn't think there were still welders left, thought they were amagulated into fabricators/welders.

Served my time as an apprentice welder back in the day :-) we constructed the pope cross in the Phoenix park. My claim to fame :-)

Datallus · 19-09-2015 11:17pm

Maybe the problem is people are just gluing things together nowadays.

Banjo String · 19-09-2015 11:21pm

I shifted a welders daughter many moons ago.

(She had acetylene tits)

wadk · 19-09-2015 11:22pm

Lots of money
Depends what type welding your doing
Was doing orbital welding myself about 15 years ago and earning 25€ in ireland
I'm a pipefitter
Most of the lads I worked with worked in saudi, holland and italy
They'd work for six months, all expenses paid and the least amount they'd come back with would be 30 to 50k
Depends on agencys now days I suppose

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000 · 19-09-2015 11:23pm

Of course there is more work and better paid work abroad op.

evo2000 · 20-09-2015 12:46am

wadk wrote: »

Lots of money
Depends what type welding your doing
Was doing orbital welding myself about 15 years ago and earning 25€ in ireland
I'm a pipefitter
Most of the lads I worked with worked in saudi, holland and italy
They'd work for six months, all expenses paid and the least amount they'd come back with would be 30 to 50k
Depends on agencys now days I suppose

Was that doing pipe welding? thats unreal money for 6 months work! do you need alot of exp to be hired on them jobs or do you just need to know how to pipe weld?

PARlance · 20-09-2015 12:49am

Weld, weld, weld.

BreadnBuddha · 20-09-2015 12:58am

evo2000 wrote: »

Was that doing pipe welding? thats unreal money for 6 months work! do you need alot of exp to be hired on them jobs or do you just need to know how to pipe weld?

Those lads would be at the top of their game welding pipe and vessels, xray and dye tested and weld faults are not tolerable. Takes skill and serious understanding of the materials and their characteristics when you turn on the hot metal gun/stick. It's nothing like fixing a gate or tack stitching body panels in place.

A typical welding discipline that's in short supply these days would be certified and insurable work aluminium and magnesium TIG weldors. Tricky work and demands attention to detail and finesse with the materials and machinery.

If you want to earn good money, specialise. Just like having all sorts of different vehicle and needing a driving license for each category, there are lots of different types of weldor that need training and certs to match that specialist skillset.

NachoBusiness · 20-09-2015 12:59am

Welding is overkill. Sure bit of Evo stick do grand.

Filmer Paradise · 20-09-2015 1:00am

Welding?:eek: OMG, manual work!

You're better off in the Bank or the Civil Service. Nice pensionable job.

Collar & tie. Your own typewriter.......

On topic, I worked as a welder back in the '80s. MIG mainly. Didn't stick with it.

Datallus · 20-09-2015 1:00am

PARlance wrote: »

Weld, weld, weld.

What have we got here?!

enricoh · 20-09-2015 1:02am

I know a couple of lads wielding here in Louth, money is pretty crap where they are - would be doing well to clear 400 a week. These would have 10 years plus experience.

kneemos · 20-09-2015 1:13am

Gates is where it's at.Make a fancy gate you'll never be out of work.

Datallus · 20-09-2015 1:20am

kneemos wrote: »

Gates is where it's at.Make a fancy gate you'll never be out of work.

I don't think you've thought this through, what about the costs of galvanizing a fancy gate?

Galvinizing is where it's at.

jayo26 · 20-09-2015 1:27am

Datallus wrote: »

I don't think you've thought this through, what about the costs of galvanizing a fancy gate?

Galvinizing is where it's at.

Galvanizing aint no good if you have nothing to galvsnise, id stick with the welding

evo2000 · 20-09-2015 2:10am

enricoh wrote: »

I know a couple of lads wielding here in Louth, money is pretty crap where they are - would be doing well to clear 400 a week. These would have 10 years plus experience.

Any idea what welding process there doing? id imagine mig or something? 400 week is shockingly low for anything with 10 yrs exp!

Filmer Paradise · 20-09-2015 3:06am

evo2000 wrote: »

Any idea what welding process there doing? id imagine mig or something? 400 week is shockingly low for anything with 10 yrs exp!

This is Ireland. Yer only a dishrag if you do any kind of manual work, no matter how skilled. Working in an 'office' or not getting your hands dirty is brilliant in the Irish mindset. Collar & tie yer only man!

Germany, on the other hand values people who make things...........but who are they in the scheme of things?:rolleyes:

We followed the British example & lost out big time as a result.

gw80 · 20-09-2015 5:05am

In Ireland the rate for good pipe welders is around 21.50 an hour+around 180 travel so with decent hours to could easily come home with 1000 euro a week, that's not to say you will always get that it depends on the company and the job site,
It can be very hit and miss in Ireland,

As for abroad, welding is a skill that is in demand world wide but it involves lots of travel and not always to the nicest places on the planet,
I am up in the oil sands Canada at the minute,horrible place, but the money is ridiculous, flights,accom, food all paid for,

Having said that, with the price of oil at the minute things are definatly slowing down up here(as most oil dependant spots are)

What I would say to you is go slow take your time,start with the basic coarse,s and work your way up to pipe welding,get good at it, it's not for everyone but if you "click"with it you will enjoy it, I love it,
Welding spans a huge range of fields,with different levels of skill and work rates, I'd stick with tig and stick welding as that's where the higher paid jobs are, not much money in mig welding in a work shop in Ireland, or you could aim for pipe line welding(welding on long sections of pipe across land) like here in Canada for 140 dollars and up an hour.

wadk · 20-09-2015 9:18pm

evo2000 wrote: »

Was that doing pipe welding? thats unreal money for 6 months work! do you need alot of exp to be hired on them jobs or do you just need to know how to pipe weld?

Sorry for late reply op
Orbital welding is basically a machine type welding of stainless steel, (high purity), cleanest of the cleanest work
Piping used in semi conductor and pharmaceutical work
Try get into tig welding (stainless steel) and if your any good or get a start with a large engineering company you may just pick up the orbital if its on site you end up on
Steady hands and concentration are a must as all welds are bombed for any defects
Good luck if you choose it o/p

evo2000 · 20-09-2015 9:57pm

wadk wrote: »

Sorry for late reply op
Orbital welding is basically a machine type welding of stainless steel, (high purity), cleanest of the cleanest work
Piping used in semi conductor and pharmaceutical work
Try get into tig welding (stainless steel) and if your any good or get a start with a large engineering company you may just pick up the orbital if its on site you end up on
Steady hands and concentration are a must as all welds are bombed for any defects
Good luck if you choose it o/p

No worries man cheers for the reply at the moment im just starting a pipe welding course ive been doing tig mig and arc for the last year and abit im fairly good at em, hate mig tho im only too happy its the lowest paying of the lot, was just asking here too see what the opportunitys are like if u can pipe weld

donegaLroad · 20-09-2015 10:22pm

a relation of mine did an introduction course for sub aqua welding. Apparently it is pretty risky work from a safety perspective, but you can make a lot of money they say.

Massimo Cassagrande · 20-09-2015 11:48pm

donegaLroad wrote: »

a relation of mine did an introduction course for sub aqua welding. Apparently it is pretty risky work from a safety perspective, but you can make a lot of money they say.

Rates have taken a dive recently..

Mother Brain · 21-09-2015 1:28am

wadk wrote: »

Sorry for late reply op
Orbital welding is basically a machine type welding of stainless steel, (high purity), cleanest of the cleanest work
Piping used in semi conductor and pharmaceutical work
Try get into tig welding (stainless steel) and if your any good or get a start with a large engineering company you may just pick up the orbital if its on site you end up on
Steady hands and concentration are a must as all welds are bombed for any defects
Good luck if you choose it o/p

My brother does ndt in this area (pharma etc.) and he says its pretty rotten sometimes alright.

He'll have to go in and tell the lad to throw out half a day's worth of welds or whatever and just seeing the guy absolutely gutted at having to redo it all.

enricoh · 21-09-2015 11:01am

enricoh wrote: »

I know a couple of lads wielding here in Louth, money is pretty crap where they are - would be doing well to clear 400 a week. These would have 10 years plus experience.

Yeh the lads I know work in a big workshop using migs. Welds x ray,d and everything, half the lads are Irish n half eastern European.
I can't blame young lads wanting to go at office work when there getting that kind of crap money

SEPT 23 1989 · 21-09-2015 11:36am

Welding would be my idea of hell

each to their own if you like it go for it

gw80 · 22-09-2015 2:44am

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Welding would be my idea of hell

each to their own if you like it go for it

We are a special breed alright,

But know this, when ww3 is over and we will need to rebuild from scratch, all the IT people will be used as food for the more important trades people

It's gona happen people

ardinn · 22-09-2015 2:55am

Young lad finds a pair of welding goggles on his way to school, puts them on and is in amazement at the surroundings, everything is green and dark and wonderful looking to the young chap.

As he is walking down the street a car pulls up to him, a strange man opens the door and asks the young lad would he like a lift to school, the boy, thinking its his lucky day, says "that'd be great mister thanks"

As they are driving along the man starts asking questions to the boy, they are getting stranger and stranger to the boy but he is still amazed and looking around through his new found welders goggles, the mans asks the boy, do you know where babies come from?

The stork says the boy, Do you know what oral means says the man - eh, oral? no says the boy.

What about a blowjob? do you no what that means says the man, a blowjob? no, no I dont have a clue replies the boy.

What about anal sex says the man?

The boy thinking for a few seconds looks at the man and say, ahhhh - Sorry mister, I just found these, I'm not a real welder!!!!

RDM_83 again · 22-09-2015 3:30am

donegaLroad wrote: »

a relation of mine did an introduction course for sub aqua welding. Apparently it is pretty risky work from a safety perspective, but you can make a lot of money they say.

Was chatting to somebody who's X works in hyperbaric welding, apparently savage money but dangerous due to the diving and screws you up in the long term with bone-loss (something to do with the gasses)

wilhelm roentgen · 22-09-2015 10:00am

Working for an Inspection company I deal with welders a lot of the time and although everyone has their own opinion, I would say that being a skilled welder involves experience in multi-arc welding processes and the welding of a range of materials.
Multi processes include manual skills at SMAW(Stick), GMAW(MAG), FCAW(Flux core), GTAW(TIG), oxygen/acetylene flame cutting, carbon arc gouging and some mechanized welding experience (Submerged Arc Welding /Orbital TIG) This is the ‘skilled welder’ that is hard to find these days.

I have worked with some incredibly skilled welders over the years and a lot of really poor ones also, who can cause mayhem!
FAS/Solas have completely dumbed down the welder training IMO, a 16 week pipe welding course will show you the basics of pipe welding, but it takes many many years to become competent.

A time served welding apprenticeship used to be 4 years!

A good pipeline welder can earn incredible money, but if you start getting repairs you won’t last pissing time.

cowboyBuilder · 22-09-2015 11:59am

ardinn wrote: »

Young lad finds a pair of welding goggles on his way to school, puts them on and is in amazement at the surroundings, everything is green and dark and wonderful looking to the young chap.

As he is walking down the street a car pulls up to him, a strange man opens the door and asks the young lad would he like a lift to school, the boy, thinking its his lucky day, says "that'd be great mister thanks"

As they are driving along the man starts asking questions to the boy, they are getting stranger and stranger to the boy but he is still amazed and looking around through his new found welders goggles, the mans asks the boy, do you know where babies come from?

The stork says the boy, Do you know what oral means says the man - eh, oral? no says the boy.

What about a blowjob? do you no what that means says the man, a blowjob? no, no I dont have a clue replies the boy.

What about anal sex says the man?

The boy thinking for a few seconds looks at the man and say, ahhhh - Sorry mister, I just found these, I'm not a real welder!!!!

where's the punchline ?

gw80 · 22-09-2015 1:00pm

wilhelm roentgen wrote: »

Working for an Inspection company I deal with welders a lot of the time and although everyone has their own opinion, I would say that being a skilled welder involves experience in multi-arc welding processes and the welding of a range of materials.
Multi processes include manual skills at SMAW(Stick), GMAW(MAG), FCAW(Flux core), GTAW(TIG), oxygen/acetylene flame cutting, carbon arc gouging and some mechanized welding experience (Submerged Arc Welding /Orbital TIG) This is the ‘skilled welder’ that is hard to find these days.

I have worked with some incredibly skilled welders over the years and a lot of really poor ones also, who can cause mayhem!
FAS/Solas have completely dumbed down the welder training IMO, a 16 week pipe welding course will show you the basics of pipe welding, but it takes many many years to become competent.

A time served welding apprenticeship used to be 4 years!

A good pipeline welder can earn incredible money, but if you start getting repairs you won’t last pissing time.

100% agree, Fas have brought down the standard of Irish welders
They also teach very little theory

evo2000 · 22-09-2015 4:05pm

wilhelm roentgen wrote: »

Working for an Inspection company I deal with welders a lot of the time and although everyone has their own opinion, I would say that being a skilled welder involves experience in multi-arc welding processes and the welding of a range of materials.
Multi processes include manual skills at SMAW(Stick), GMAW(MAG), FCAW(Flux core), GTAW(TIG), oxygen/acetylene flame cutting, carbon arc gouging and some mechanized welding experience (Submerged Arc Welding /Orbital TIG) This is the ‘skilled welder’ that is hard to find these days.

I have worked with some incredibly skilled welders over the years and a lot of really poor ones also, who can cause mayhem!
FAS/Solas have completely dumbed down the welder training IMO, a 16 week pipe welding course will show you the basics of pipe welding, but it takes many many years to become competent.

A time served welding apprenticeship used to be 4 years!

A good pipeline welder can earn incredible money, but if you start getting repairs you won’t last pissing time.

Uve to do 30 weeks in mig, tig, arc basics pass all them and you move on to a 40 hr 24 week structural steel course pass that, then onto the 16 weeks pipe, alot of people go on to get very good jobs if they complete them, they cant be that bad, id imagine some very good welders have come out of it and went on to be successful.

wilhelm roentgen · 22-09-2015 4:51pm

evo2000 wrote: »

Uve to do 30 weeks in mig, tig, arc basics pass all them and you move on to a 40 hr 24 week structural steel course pass that, then onto the 16 weeks pipe, alot of people go on to get very good jobs if they complete them, they cant be that bad, id imagine some very good welders have come out of it and went on to be successful.

I can't argue with that evo2000, I know some good welders who started off through FAS and have had good careers.
As I said the best welders I have come across are time served and have done proper apprenticeships IMO.

But I have witnessed firsthand the ‘carry on’ at many a FAS welding school over the years.
Welders not tested on job knowledge.
Welder tests not carried out to the proper parameters and a general ‘dumbing down’

Mind you having said that, welders will invariably have to test out time and time again for different processes/materials/diameters/contracts etc at a later date…………the good ones will prevail.

Best of luck anyway evo2000, go for it!

Diane Selwyn · 22-09-2015 6:31pm

I have two brothers that weld for a living in Australia. Couldn't tell you what type of welding they do but the money must be pretty good - one tends to work for a year or two then has a big fight with his manager, quits and lives off his savings for another year or so before he goes and gets taken back on at the same place again. The other guy just bought a new house about 4 times the size (and nice-ness) of mine and has a 2014 car as well. One of them works at making semi trailer-trailers or something and the other one makes some kind of fencepost digging machinery that they sell boatloads of to farmers in the USA. TBH I think they both find the work a bit dull so the money must be good to keep them at it. Also possibly worth mentioning that they'd often have to work in +40 degree heat = not my cuppa!

biko · 22-09-2015 7:14pm

I did a spot of welding overseas. It was spot on.

I also had a dog named...

...Frank

Breaston Plants · 22-09-2015 7:54pm

ardinn wrote: »

Young lad finds a pair of welding goggles on his way to school, puts them on and is in amazement at the surroundings, everything is green and dark and wonderful looking to the young chap.

As he is walking down the street a car pulls up to him, a strange man opens the door and asks the young lad would he like a lift to school, the boy, thinking its his lucky day, says "that'd be great mister thanks"

As they are driving along the man starts asking questions to the boy, they are getting stranger and stranger to the boy but he is still amazed and looking around through his new found welders goggles, the mans asks the boy, do you know where babies come from?

The stork says the boy, Do you know what oral means says the man - eh, oral? no says the boy.

What about a blowjob? do you no what that means says the man, a blowjob? no, no I dont have a clue replies the boy.

What about anal sex says the man?

The boy thinking for a few seconds looks at the man and say, ahhhh - Sorry mister, I just found these, I'm not a real welder!!!!

Wtf????

evo2000 · 23-09-2015 12:51am

Breaston Plants wrote: »

Wtf????

Cocaine's a helluva drug! :pac::pac:

LimmerSheils · 01-12-2015 2:30pm

wadk wrote: »

Sorry for late reply op
Orbital welding is basically a machine type welding of stainless steel, (high purity), cleanest of the cleanest work
Piping used in semi conductor and pharmaceutical work
Try get into tig welding (stainless steel) and if your any good or get a start with a large engineering company you may just pick up the orbital if its on site you end up on
Steady hands and concentration are a must as all welds are bombed for any defects
Good luck if you choose it o/p

Hi there,

Sorry to be butting in on the convo.... I was hoping to pick your brains!

My BF is looking to make the move to Canada. Has 9 yrs working a Welder. Any advise on how to get in?

Most jobs nowadays seem to have "locals only" as a specification. Will he have to wait for the next hand-out of Working holiday visas?

Thanks!

Any welders?

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