When attending welding school, nearly everyone discovers that pipe welding is one of the most difficult skills that a welder can learn. Many welding students give up on learning that skill and take other welding jobs. But did you know that pipe welding can pay a lot? Many times pipe welding jobs pay much more than other kinds of welding jobs! Many welders find themselves wishing they could go back to school in order to learn how to weld pipe. Even if they have 10 or more years worth of experience they often find that there are three reasons they wished they had learned how to weld pipe: regret, job security and demand, and money.
Many welders regret that they didn’t learn how to weld pipe while they were still in welding school. They want that extra skill because now – years down the road – they often have other responsibilities. They may have a family, a mortgage to pay, or some other responsibility that requires them to work more to make things break even. Now they see that if they had learned pipe welding when they were in school they would be making more now, but they can’t afford to take money from what they already are paying in order to go back and learn it. If you think you might be faced with such regrets further down the road, it’s better to just go ahead and learn pipe welding while you are in school the first time.
Job security and demand is another big reason that welders need to know how to weld pipe. No matter what job you are in, job security is a worry. There is always a demand for pipe welders (after all, people don’t want to do the extra work to learn the skill!) and there is often a bidding war at some companies in order to hire pipe welders. Pipe welders are scarce whereas welders such as structural welders are easy to find. Because there are so few, companies are willing to pay much more to have them.
And that is where money comes in. Pipe welding can pay very well. A good pipe welder can make $100,000 a year. Now how much can that help anyone? You don’t have to have a college degree in order to make that kind of money if you are just willing to learn how to weld pipe in welding school and work for it.
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