A College Degree vs Learning a Trade.

Nothing wrong with welding, just remember most high paying welding jobs are union and he will probably travel the world for work and sit on his arse a lot waiting for the next contract.

You should get your son this book:

Shop Class as Soulcraft

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What is more valuable in your opinion?

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I used to work in the specialty welding arena in sales, spent plenty of time in power and also manufacturing. My brother is a pipeline certified welder and journeyman boilermaker. There is indeed great money to be made in this craft.

Sounds like he's been doing well so far. It's easy to get into welding and there will never be a shortage of low-level newbies... so I would specialize, specialize, and specialize some more. The big money lies in travel and being able to do welding (or be certified) in areas that are rare. Pipeline, underwater, and specialty hi-tech welding is all growing and in demand. Plain steel shop maintenance is not. A willingness to travel would be a huge plus. If he's young, it would be a great chance to see parts of the world not open to tourists and normal visitors.


But you and he already know this.

IMHO, a huge next step would be to continue welding... and go back to college at the same time if at all possible. A background in welding is HUGE in metallurgy or welding engineering. Just take your average mechanical engineer... believe it or not, most of them come out of college not knowing a bit about welding. I was talking to one student that had a low GPA (2.5ish) and couldn't qualify for a lot of the co-op positions. I told him to make his own intern position.... Go to visit a few fab shops and offer to sweep the floors for nothing after classes in college. Watch. Learn. Ask as many questions as you can. that's the sort of knowledge that most mechanical engineers come out of college not knowing. I myself was really really green for my first job out of school was at a manufacturing plant (I co-oped in electrical at a power plant). Within a handful of months, they put me over the maintenance guys and the vast majority of work we did was mechanical and welding. If I had a basic knowledge of welding (I didn't at that time) my job performance would have been MUCH better.

Anyway, congrats to your son. Best of luck.

I wouldn't say either is "more valuable", but I have always been a proponent of the trades. There is quite a vacuum for skilled labor right now as that generation are starting to retire and as Tantal said, we have been told for so long that you have to get a degree to avoid flipping burgers that the lot of these trades have been marginalized when they are really good careers. I also think the decline in labor unions has some to do with this, but that is a subject for another day.

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A background in welding is HUGE in metallurgy or welding engineering.

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Oh lawd, you're trying to get him steered into Comer Hall making those little metal elephants aren't you?

I also agree with you.

Good for your son. If he found a job he loves and is good at, thats all a parent can ask for. College is not the only route to take.

My dad always said be the best at something. The best at anything will get paid.

depends on the college degree. Trades apprenticing and trade degrees offer you usually easy to find work in most locations around the country, where as a lot of degrees dont offer that.

Lower ceiling on income with a trade and its usually more manual in nature.

My family owns a few trade schools and have had quite a few graduates over the years, Id say the vast majority of them, sans low-lifes, have not looked back since obtaining trade degree.

You can make a lot of money in a trade field. The trick is to be honest and hard working, and fix any issues your customers have.

Depends on the person. For some, a college degree, for others learning a trade. College isn't for everyone, and working a trade isn't for everyone.

Double post