I might be a little tardy to the party, but welder here, graduated from a "nicer" trade school, and I'd like to clear some things up. Welding is a great career IF:

1: You're in the right area for it. Theres plenty of places in the US for it, but theres also a lot of places that have nothing for it. And I mean absolutely NOTHING.

2: You're willing to work long hours. Theres a lot of jobs that are still going to be hourly. Salaried welder isnt really an option, paid for overtime vs. Needing overtime is a serious debate.

3: You dont go to trade school. I cant stress this enough. Currently $22k in debt for 7 months of my life, working alongside people who went to community college for a fraction of that. Dont.

4: You're safe. It's an effort you have to put in every day. It gets even harder when your deadlines or numbers come in conflict with being safe. You will get hurt. You will lose skin. You will get burned, sometimes pretty badly. I've been on fire a couple of times. Not even because I was being unsafe, but more so because I wasnt being as safe as possible. PPE, observation communication etc.

5: You specialize. TIG is where it's at right now. So is pipe. MIG is fun because it's easy, but know that a blind monkey with one arm can run a mig machine. Find a specialty, and kick ass at it.

I am a welder, AMA