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My biggest issue with the story is that the writer decided to use a statistical outlier to highlight the welding trade as a career option. Mr. Friend is in the top 10% of welders on the pay scale @ 25 dollars an hour. Median wage for experienced welders is 18.50 per hour which is not bad but nowhere near 25.
I have nothing against any trade; as others have posted it sure beats going to a four year school to study something that is useless.
He will also potentially make more with more experience and get better hours. I'm in the same industry and make more than him and typically work 50 hrs a week. I'm also 26, so not that much older than he is. When I work 5 days a week I take home right around $2100/wk, every week. Plus I have 2 weeks vacation, full benefits, 401k, and i'm salary so I get my pay every single week, and if I do work Saturdays, I get paid extra.
And that's substantially more reasonable. But I don't think the individual in the article should be singled-out as as source of inspiration. Granted, he could call this "paying his dues" and that's fine. We all should. And I have no problem with the trades. There's good money there. A lot of people dismiss "blue collar" work as being beneath them and believe that college is the only means to a financially secure job - we all know that is not true.
My biggest issue with the story is that the writer decided to use a statistical outlier to highlight the welding trade as a career option. Mr. Friend is in the top 10% of welders on the pay scale @ 25 dollars an hour. Median wage for experienced welders is 18.50 per hour which is not bad but nowhere near 25.
I have nothing against any trade; as others have posted it sure beats going to a four year school to study something that is useless.
Coming from someone in the industry directly dealing with the hiring of welders, $18 will get you a bottom of the barrel welder. Like I said, we pay around 24-26 which I consider to be very low for a reasonably skilled welder.
Statistics for my "job title" are like 40k a year. Yet most in the oil and gas industry make 100k-200k without much difficulty.
Being a welder making trailers is FAR different than working at a gas plant doing maintenance work.
The trades are for real men. Teachers always looked down on the people who built their houses, wired buildings, or maintained cars. The sad reality is that the teacher has produced nothing of economic value to society.
Huh? Making things is all well and good but we moved past that a long time ago. Most goods are made by machines, very little is hand made. Even if it is made by hand automation reduces the amount of work. Sure you could extend a excavating job by using teaspoons but what's the point? Also remember that with cars once OBE II came out in the mid 1990's it became pretty much a computer. At no point are things ever going to be dumbed down. Building a house is fine but with millions of empty ones of them what specifically is the point?
I wouldn't say a teacher produces nothing of economic value because frankly a car always drops in value, a building has upfront costs to keep it maintained so it isn't really a true asset in the sense of say something more liquid. As for houses don't get me started as we went though a bubble. I know people personally that lost money even in the northeast. The learning process works on empirical knowledge. Otherwise you would be rejecting history and the scientific method. Learning from what other people has done prevents mistakes. I don't need to inject raw black tar heroin into my eye balls to know it is a bad idea Ph levels remain the same, gravity, density etc. Actual individual discoveries are rare because frankly they cannot always be budgeted.
"Back in the 70's welders were making $18.75 an hour welding the Alaska pipeline they were all union welders. For that time it was great money."
Funny you mention that because I know a person up there that took a photo of himself standing on the pipeline and smoking. It actually says in pretty bold print not to stand on or smoke.
There's still oil flowing but it isn't nearly what it was. Even if ANWAR opened up Texas and North Dakota would put it to shame.
Nuclear work can make more but of course the exposure can add up. Up here in Vermont the Yankee plant is closing. The average wage for an employee is 105,000. The place employs 550 people and the shut down will take five years. The economic impact is huge. For ever job there there's another 1.5 also in the region.
The other factor to consider is that well the energy industry was in a bubble. It's going to keep going down folks. Brent is almost as low as WTI. I used to work for a company that recycles oil as part of their business plan. Their stock is at a 4.5 year low and the founder/CEO had sold off much of it. HE now gets told what to do as a minority shareholder. In the 1980's they did well, the 1990's they were on life support and then boomed from 2003 onward.
The trades can be fine but it is largely feast and famine. I'd recommend something on the side when things slow down and to be able to move because these days if you can't you'll get let go in any work.
Coming from someone in the industry directly dealing with the hiring of welders, $18 will get you a bottom of the barrel welder. Like I said, we pay around 24-26 which I consider to be very low for a reasonably skilled welder.
Statistics for my "job title" are like 40k a year. Yet most in the oil and gas industry make 100k-200k without much difficulty.
Many of those people making 100k-200k in the oil industry will be making 0k if the price of oil stays low and there are mass layoffs.
I have relatives who had high paying oil and gas jobs in the 1980s and then got laid off and couldn't find work when oil crashed.
Even though I live in Houston and I know how much these jobs pay, I have stayed away from the oil and gas field. It's too cyclical.
As a side note, look at all of these kids rushing into petroleum engineering because it pays so well. What will they do when they graduate and none of the oil companies are hiring?
Many of those people making 100k-200k in the oil industry will be making 0k if the price of oil stays low and there are mass layoffs.
I have relatives who had high paying oil and gas jobs in the 1980s and then got laid off and couldn't find work when oil crashed.
Even though I live in Houston and I know how much these jobs pay, I have stayed away from the oil and gas field. It's too cyclical.
As a side note, look at all of these kids rushing into petroleum engineering because it pays so well. What will they do when they graduate and none of the oil companies are hiring?
You think "oil" is the only places paying these wages? Not even close. Natural gas/power plants are popping up all over the country as well. Chemical plants, nuclear facilities, all get built and require a TON of maintenance, additions, etc.
Last year I worked on a huge addition to a chemical plant making chemicals for planes. This year we're building a couple power plants, next year another Chem plant.. And these are just my projects, our company has tons more on the books and we are a small company of around 500ish people. Look at the huge companies like Zachary, CBI, and tons others, and you'll see its not just "oil" work, but industrial work in general.
People mention the cost of a barrel of oil, but if you had any idea how much these oil companies make you'd realize that as long as there's oil, they want it. I built a drilling platform for chevron and the amount of profit was unreal. They build these 500+ million platforms that last 20-30 years, and they pay themselves off in just a few years.
Many of the average wage statistics found on your basic Google search are often WAY off. I honestly don't know how they come up with them or how they come in so low
Do they try to shoehorn the basic pay skill into simple arithmetic like it's a typical salaried position?
Many high skilled trades don't adhere to the typical 9-5 or 40hr work week. Half their hours could very well be overtime, which mean 1.5 or double time. Hell, some guys work 6-10s even 7-12s hauling in six figures in under six months and take the rest of the year off! It is a different world.
Many guys I know are true money savers. The millionaire next door living in an unassuming 1400sqft rancher. There could be no work for years and they got money in the bank It's simply an adaption to the boom or bust lifestyle. Thing is, it is always booming somewhere. One always has a job if they want it.
Last edited by HansProof; 01-10-2015 at 03:15 PM..
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Ph levels remain the same, gravity, density etc. Actual individual discoveries are rare because frankly they cannot always be budgeted.
It's simply an adaption to the boom or bust lifestyle. Thing is, it is always booming somewhere. One always has a job if they want it.
