First female welder joins exclusive club | Hacker News Reader

First female welder joins exclusive club

maysville-online.com

18 pointsh2odragon31 comments

When I was getting my scuba cert my instructor was a dude who used to be a saturation diver doing underwater welding for offshore oil rigs. They basically live underwater for weeks inside a pressurized habitat. He was clearing something like $50k/month.

I mention it because it seems like this "club" is basically a "look how much money you can make" advertisement for prospective students. I dunno that welding of any sort is the type of career you do purely for the money... it seems like it's the sort of thing you need to actually enjoy if you want to make a career out of.

It doesn't just look like they, it is exactly that

I'd say you should always strive to enjoy some job if you are planning to make a career out of it. Welding is a bit of an art form too, so you need some passion to be good at it. It's a solid job and there is a chronic shortage of welders so it tends to be plenty of work. The downside is that the working conditions are not always great and it can be far more grueling than you would expect, hence the reason there are always jobs available.

Welding also has a very much higher risk profile than the white-collar jobs that I suspect the majority of the people here have.

(I've done some welding out of a need, but not professionally.)

I mean $100K in Kentucky is nothing to sneeze at. In Silicon Valley couples with a few years of work experience still live in tiny townhouses, I wonder what $100K/year in Kentucky would get you, probably a more decent place than that?

Making a lot of money sounds like a great reason to do a career. I am happy that I am in a career I enjoy and a field I am passionate about. But in general I think looking for passion or joy for your career is bad advice. Your career is to survive and support your family, full stop. Better advice is to learn how to find enjoyment in doing a good job and hard work.

It is a general truism that people who enjoy their work tend to make more money at it.

Welders in many fields can make upwards of $80/hr, so if you're skilled and professional you can likely make as much as a programmer in many cities.

"She said women may have to work twice as hard as men in this career field as women are simply built differently than men and it is highly demanding physically but if you love it then the work is worth it."

That's a very healthy attitude which is not found often, she is not claiming that everyone is super sexist all the time and that's the only reason while it's hard. Probably some are sexist, and many are trying to help, nobody knows how it balances out. Regardless, giving someone else responsibility for your success or failure is not good for your own well being.

My nephew told me about how he wrote his first "hello world" program in python recently. I patted him on the head and said, "well done". He smiled. It's not particularly difficult, lots of people have written hello world programs before, but he's a child so it's pretty impressive.

Sometimes my girlfriend does similar things and I don't know what to do. I pat her on the head too, but she doesn't like it and says it's patronising. She says I'm being sarcastic, but I agree with her and genuinely think it's impressive a women did something that typically only a man would do.

I can't give this women a pat on the head, but I can upvote. Very impressive.

I work with lots of welders, many of them women. my wife is a welder. this is not a special thing.

So then why does this exist?

BLS (https://www.bls.gov/ooh/production/welders-cutters-solderers...) says otherwise @ $47.5K/year

Does it?

    The median annual wage for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers was $47,540 in May 2022.

You understand that "median" is not "maximum" ?

It's not a hall of fame for welders that make median wage first year out.

Welding is the epitome of selling your future for money now... There's virtually old welders.

Why is that?

Welders are exposed to a heavy industrial environment on a daily basis... Harsh chemicals, metal fumes, grinding dust. None of these things are healthy to be around.

In these times usually welders work with fume extration systems.

From some statistics, it has been shown that the underwater welder’s life expectancy is about 35-40 years

We're going to need a source on that.

Maybe if you operate like a dumbshit. It's pretty easy to safely work with metal as long as you care to do so.

Hope she remembers to use a lead apron.

Why lead?

Welding greatly increases your lead exposure

That’s why you wear a PAPR, which decent employers provide.

Why would you wear a lead apron for welding? Doesn't seem like it would reduce lead exposure.

Lead aprons are typically used to reduce radiation exposure.

The only radiation a welding arc produces is in the uv, visible and infrared range. No lead needed to block that.

Yes, hence the question about why one would wear a lead apron for welding. UV, hot metal bits, and metal fumes are the primary dangers.

Welding exposes you to intense UV radiation, but a thick leather apron should be more than enough for that.

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