Welding

Becoming a boilermaker is a great way to set yourself up with a lifelong career. But to become a boilermaker, you’ll need some training. That’s why we’ve put together the top boilermaker schools and certification options so that you can figure out the right place to train for this career.

The Surehand Spotlight shares some of the many thousands of stories in the skilled industrial trades, shining a bright light on the hard-working tradesmen and women who build, operate, maintain, and ensure the safety of the world we live in. This month we shine the spotlight on Brandon Champion, Director of Sales and Development at Prime Pipeline Services. We spoke to Brandon about advancing in NDT, the future of the energy sector, and advice for anyone in the field.

Stainless steel is quite a popular metal and building material that is very well known for its resistance against corrosion and extraordinary durability. If you want to weld this costly and unique metal, you might face a lot of challenges. You must carefully consider these challenges before applying welding on stainless steel. We’ve gathered the best ways available for welding stainless steel.

The Surehand Spotlight shares some of the many thousands of stories in the skilled industrial trades, shining a bright light on the hard-working tradesmen and women who build, operate, maintain, and ensure the safety of the world we live in. This month we shine the spotlight on Caity Brown, owner of MadSkills, a specialty welding and inspection training company. We spoke to Caity about the future of welding, her perspective as a woman in the trades, and advice on getting started.

If you’re someone who enjoys working with tools and considers themselves manually-inclined, then you might even be interested in becoming a welder. But before you start investing time and energy into becoming a welder, it’s important to fully understand what you’re getting yourself into. That’s why we’ve put together a day in the life of an average welder.

For years, welding has been a boys club. But the number of women joining this trade has risen since the 80s. The landscape looks different today. Here’s a look at the history and current state of women in the welding world.

The Surehand Spotlight shares some of the many thousands of stories in the skilled industrial trades, shining a bright light on the hard-working tradesmen and women who build, operate, maintain, and ensure the safety of the world we live in. This month, we shine the spotlight on the two recipients of the Virginia Ship Repair Association’s Tradesperson of the Year award—Heng Hy and Danual Pearce—representing the best of the best in ship repair.

So you want to be a welder but you don’t want to pay for school. It’s understandable, considering the exorbitant cost of college and the crippling amount of student loan debt held by the average American. But is it actually doable? While enrolling in a formal training program may be the most straightforward path to becoming a welder, you CAN learn the trade without paying tuition. Here, we’ll explain how to do it and share some tips that will help you out along the way.

Some people don’t learn well in a traditional classroom setting, picking things up much more effectively when they’re able to learn by seeing and doing. Others find it stifling to sit at a desk doing the same thing day after day. For many, the cost of a traditional college education is impractical or downright out of the question. If you relate to one or more of these scenarios, you’re not alone. Whatever your reason for shying away from the conventional college path, we’ve got good news pertaining to your career options: welding is a reliable, well-paying field that welcomes professionals from all backgrounds, including those who haven’t studied it in school. 

The Surehand Spotlight shares some of the many thousands of stories in the skilled industrial trades, shining a bright light on the hard-working tradesmen and women who build, operate, maintain, and ensure the safety of the world we live in. This month, we shine the spotlight on Barbie The Welder, an American metal sculptor from Elmira, New York. Barbie realized her passion after seeing a metal sculptor at work in a major Hollywood movie. Scraping together tuition, she enrolled in welding courses and subsequently obtained a position with a custom metal fabrication shop. Today, she runs her own business as a full time metal sculptor.