When you find out let me know!:laugh:

Seriously though, I would say the best state to be a welder in is the state you WANT to live in. You can weld anywhere you want to in LOTS of different industries. You are limited only by your imagination. Figure out where you want to live first, THEN figure out what you want to weld on.

 

^ Yep.

 

Why what state when the whole world is available to you?

Join the Navy young man...Go see the whole world expenses paid. Taste every food, see every site and breath every air and sleep with every nationality....Twice....

They will pay very well to shelter and feed and train you free the very best of the best in welding and many other crafts you never heard of...Go take an all expenses paid tour of this whole planet before you decide.

You owe that to you before you get some silly girl pregnant and locked in to a life of misery.

Unlike many young men, you sound willing to travel...you will be amazed at the adventure and surprises this world offers.

 

I was actually considering the Marines. I have lived in California for 17 years all my life I have seen what it has to offer i'd like to go see what other places offer for a while atleast. I'll consider the navy though I hear the food is better.

 

Forget the Marines, Air Force and Army if you truly want very high tech free training and desire to actually see the world....Go pizz your name at the North or South Pole-or both, and I promise if you go to sea you will see the whole frigging world eating very good food and drawing really decent pay and sucking up world class and recognized training....Go into electrical or mechanical engineering and be taught skills that will fund you for life and challenge you while there and you will never dodge a bullet unless you volunteer for it and are selected.

The US NAVY today is not just a decent paying job, it is also a true adventure that only brave young men should seek.

If you have a wife or girlfriend at home, then tell her goodbye because she will be history first time you enter a foreign port.

 

My dad raised me Army in all Europe after WWII. I was born in Nurenberg Germany and graduated High School in Heidelberg Germany. I saw and experienced all of Europe by aged 18...From there once back in Louisiana I enlisted in the Navy and left to see all the world yet unseen.

Peed my name in the ice at North Pole from the deck of a top class super secret nuclear fast attack submarine and attended the very best engineering schools on this planet all for free, and made really decent money the whole time and afterwards...Even got to swap bullets in places we never were and saw my buddies splattered only because I asked to be there...and worked very closely with the Seal team that doesn't exist and we did things I will never be able to reveal...All from a very top secret nuclear submarine that was never there, ever...but is there again today.

 

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You will be my age someday...Go where I've been and beyond..There is SO much more than I've seen and done, and I promise it will fascinate you.

I live for you young American men, because it is you that will carry all me and my dad and his dad did into your tomorrow...just you.

 

i could be biased BUT living in a very labor friendly town has got it's advantages. with loads of bridges and highrise buildings there is always work here at very good wages. pretty soon due to retirement the doc will have an opening for at least one welder. lots to do and see to fill your off shift hours as well.

 

If you can pass the medical the navy is the way to go. Hands down.

It's simple. get a mud motor. shoot ducks in the face.

 

wornoutoldwelder, “Peed my name in the ice at North Pole”

Wasn’t that around the year that the “global warming” talk heated up?

Sir: You made me want to go down and join up! However , at 61, the sub would have to make frequent stops and I may not be able to get out my whole name – just a couple initials.

You made my day!

 

LOL, you and me both! The Navy is for strong young men. After 20 years at 39 years old you retire feeling beat to death and old. But it is very rewarding the last few years when them young guys seek your guidance even if it is private.

At just 32 I had died twice and had grey hair starting bad, and absolutely NO patience with anyone that wasn't totally on their game 24/7....I have mellowed lots in the 23 years since I retired but still as strong and hard in my core when I need to be.

When first enlisted a few Chiefs beat me with their fists into submission, and I did likewise afterwards. I still call and chat with those still alive that beat me, and some I beat still call me.

Shipmates or shipwrecks. All for one and one for all. It is a very necessary survival life style in this old world that throws impossible seas at you. Sink or swim. When you sink, blame only yourself. Take full and sincere responsibility for yourself and your shipmates and insist they do too.

At sea you constantly fight your ship and if you win it fights the sea for you. The sea is your ultimate enemy, not the weapons of your enemies. Their weapons only allow the sea into your ship and the sea does the rest.

 

Drunk state.

 

Best move out of California, everyone in California has birth defects and reproductive harm. at least that's what they tell the rest of us

But seriously, depends on what kind of welding you want to do , anything from Aerospace to structural welding and everything in between.

As an aside, I heard Marco Rubio said something about welding apprentices being more valuable than philosophy majors LOL hahaha I agree with him on that

 

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New York has ok pay and relatively cheap houses but taxes are high. beware taxes and bank loan interest (house, car, education, etc) . you might find 70% of your pay is going to taxes and loan interest.......... oh watch the distances in Florida people bought cheap houses 50 miles away and when gas price went up they could not afford gas to go to city to work. gas price can go back up anytime. people had so little left over when gas price went up they could not afford spending $5000 / year more in gas and a addition $5000 more in buying new car more often (2 cars per 10 years one for wife and one for husband it adds up) or repairs when you easily put over 100,000 miles on it.
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when you live in walking distance in a big city with a subway it actually can save considerable money compared to having 2 cars and driving 100 miles each day. all it takes is doing the math

 

with property taxes not even 5 grand per annum and a mortgage rate less than 3% living is pretty reasonable around here.

 

Florida has cheap nice houses around pensacola, navy base close by, reason houses are cheap is because you have to get hurricane insurance which is high dollar.

It's simple. get a mud motor. shoot ducks in the face.

 

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Florida has no state income tax but average pay seems lower so it cancels out in the end

 

Sober, definately sober......

 

State of confusion works for me

 

The 51st state! Not to be confused with Area 51, though aliens in the White House have muddied the waters.

 

I often find myself welding in the great state of confusion where the pay sucks.

 

pretty accurate for me as well ...

 

I second the motion for the Navy young man. The recruiter is on his way over to your house now. Twist a buddies arm to go too and you can talk your way into a promotion to E-3 before you even start boot camp.

I don't remember how many times my dad said, "DAMN, I wish I would have just stayed in for the 20 years and now I would be cashing checks from 2 pensions!"
Navy get better food, you don't have to sleep in the mud, see the world not stuck in some mosquito infested barracks or giant sandbox, probably the BEST weld training programs around on some REAL EXPENSIVE hardware. You get to play with guns and not have to pay for the ammo and they have the BIGGEST guns (16" vs the Army's cute little 6" howitzer)

Yup, Go NAVY!

 

Steady long term work beats high pay every time. In years past there was a lot more work available and you could pick and choose which jobs you wanted to some extent.. Now the trick is find something will last but you do have to decide what type of welding you'd like to get into. See if you can get into a union like the Boilermakers and then you have better chance of staying employed if you're a good worker.

 

From what two different welding colleges have told me there will be over 300k welding jobs in 2020 that will need filling in the united states. Sounds like there will be some good picking job wise. Anyways to above^^ thanks for the recommendations on the Navy If I do go Navy it will probably be security forces. Engineering and such types of jobs don't interest me. The guys are the shop I work part time at are trying to get me to go navy as well as they just got out as nuclear engineers

 

my advice is be multi skilled and be a welder pipe fitter or welder millwright or welder sheetmetal worker
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when you get to be over 55 welding outside in the rain and the snow gets to be not so much fun. then when you get bad back, knees, hernia etc it really can be hard work, if you can retire in a welding booth inside out of the weather thats the way to go.
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i do not miss sitting on a steel beam over 20 feet up in the air thats covered in ice as boss does not want to wait to chip ice off. sitting on the steel beam to not fall off ice covered beam off course. then it is always fun when high winds catch welding helmet and it falls to the ground hopefully not breaking it.......... or it is fun when engineer decides to primer paint steel with glossy paint and just about impossible to climb a column without sliding back down.
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states down south having less snow sounds better to me

 

I would like to weld in the state of Bliss but Texas would be my second choice.

 

Texas in the winter, Alaska in the summer!

 

here's an incentive to make a move; the ironworkers union is accepting applications for it's apprenticeship school.

 

id like to be in florida if the welding work down was more busy, but yea multi skilled would be best.