[lozzadarwin]

I don’t think there is much any love. None in the trade school, none with the employer. The only love I find is on the internet from america. That’s cool. My dad was a self taught mechanic, and taught me to strike an arc.  It was an old welding machine, yellow with a fan on the side, 3 phase. It welded great.

But all of the technical stuff, weld amps for weld thickness, the need to put weld tap or gas atmosphere on the other side of a stainless steel weld, penetration, weld patterns, uniformity etc. all came from online.

So in truth, I think it would benefit most if you could find some trick of the trade that you know, that you struggled with make a video about it when you retire and tag it welding tip BLAH. Because chances are that the apprentice will have to know it before he even gets a job, as a formal apprentice.

That way you only have to say it once, too. You also only have to demonstrate it once. And you teach /reach a helluva lot more ‘prentices too.

[lozzadarwin]

I think your best shot would be to get a decent stick welder, maybe with tig (and pulse per second for thin metal) and practise.
Get onto youtube and watch the videos. Weldingtipsandtricks.com once you have the competency, you can get work and the other stuff like drawing interpretation and stuff can be learnt on the job. Invest in yourself, and practice.
Ring up and ask what material your local employers are welding with. Generally it is either Stick, Mig, or Tig, or spot welding machines, which are used for sheet metal.

Some people are natural born welders, they can hold the rod so steady and mimic the action so good that they only need showing once. I hate them, except when I am drunk, then I pick things up quite easily.

These people generally get a job cause they are good at sports, but stupid, and ace the test. They then spend a long time learning things through experience. Or they are bright but poor.

Other people just have a knack for it.

I spent 3 years working as a Trade Assistant in a Boilermaking company. In the first two years i was not even allowed to touch the Welder. Unless you have an in or just someone willing to go through the headfuck of teaching you to earn some cash, you aint gonna get shit. Its about what you bring to the table, and the ability to weld shit together good is rare and therefore valuable, and it is much cheaper to just pay the 35 -60 AUD for someone who will do the job, than invest the 6 months of time and energy on developing someone elses skill (because you can just leave).

So if you want to learn how to weld, go to BOC or WTIA or CIGWELD and buy a machine.
And then spend 900 or so hours. Or go to a TAFE and do a night course, or a cert 1 in welding. Whatever.
And a few books on welding theory might help too.

So to summarize
Invest in yourself
Tafe course
Own welding machine
welding theory
T/A job in a boilermaking firm would help as well.

You don’t usually just get an apprenticeship.
I took 3281 attempts.

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