Got my AAS in welding last month or so.
Please heap your limitless praise on me

7/3/2016 12:29:54 AM

neat

7/3/2016 12:32:13 AM

Yay you win

7/3/2016 1:59:28 PM

Congrats.

As a CWI, I am impressed by the way you tenderly heat up the butt joint and then deliver excellent penetration into the heat affected zone. Next time, try to keep the spatter at a minimum though.

7/3/2016 2:15:24 PM

How does one get this?

7/4/2016 7:51:10 AM

Congrats, man

7/4/2016 9:27:40 AM

As a CWI who doesn't know how to weld, congratulations.

7/4/2016 9:47:30 AM

my bro is starting welding school this fall. good luck finding a jerb.

7/4/2016 2:11:28 PM

Tons of work out there for good welders who can pass the tests. It may require travel and it may be seasonal, but a smart guy could make a decent living and only have to work 6-9 months of the year.

7/4/2016 4:41:45 PM

ytmnd

7/4/2016 4:56:35 PM

Quote :

" As a CWI who doesn't know how to weld, congratulations."

Lolwut

7/4/2016 10:44:02 PM

It's a purely academic test, with no coverage of practical welding knowledge. Take the course, memorize the sticking points, read the material they give you, and boom I got a CWI.

Only got it because my previous employer's ham-fisted attempts at solving problems involved throwing money at said problem and hoping it goes away forever.

I use it now to improve structural engineers' knowledge of general welding practices and how to use (and not use) welds on your projects. I've seen so many garbage weld designs by this point that I am anxious to think about just what kind of crap is holding up half the buildings out there. Maybe the welders all know when the engineer is crap on a project and just over-build the shit out of everything.

7/5/2016 8:51:27 AM

ytmnd

7/5/2016 12:20:37 PM

justinh524 and Mindstorm: Tell me about it.

It's "mostly" useless to blame the welder. They've got deadlines and pissed off customers too. I think the real problems arise when the subject delves into physical metallurgy: An extremely "branchy" branch of engineering and instead of calling a materials engineer everyone just blames the WPS and draftsmen.

A slobbery stitch weld did more for any project than a double sided full length edge weld with the wrong filler ever did.
I think the best thing I learned (outside of how to hold a short arc while on fire) was that I don't know everything and working in a group environment assuming anything else absolutely will get you unemployed, defriended and likely sleepless from the lives you've endangered.

Glad to see other metal heads amongst you terrible people whom I love very much.

Feel free to discuss any welding gripes or groans in this thread.
I don't think i'll ever be smart enough to debate much, but I can at least interlope and thread strafe Kappa

7/15/2016 12:11:47 AM

Thanks for the wishes everyone!
I long for your approval.

7/15/2016 12:12:21 AM

^^ CWI's and welders can definitely get in each other's way and butt heads, but when they use common sense and both have experience, things usually go well.

The thing to remember is that the American Welding Society invented the CWI certification so they could make tons of money training and testing people. As long as a weld isn't overly cracked, undersized, or in the wrong place, it will usually pass.

7/15/2016 10:32:37 AM

gg format!

7/15/2016 11:04:25 AM

I want to learn how to weld purely for use in artistic sculpture. Can i take classes in this shit at State in order to accomplish this particular goal?

7/15/2016 11:47:08 AM

I am a CWI as well. I can confirm that the test is a money grab that just teaches you how to be a dick to welders. They give you no training on how to weld or improve poor welds just basic information about welding and visually inspecting. Anybody bust out to ruler to count total pore diameters in the field? Yeah i didnt think so.

7/16/2016 9:23:04 PM

I actually knew that "CWI" can only be attained through AWS, but somehow missed the prospect of it being INVENTED by them.
And YES. Compared to any other standardization group, they are the fucking MAFIA.
Right on their "FAQ" page:
Q:"I missed my cert renewal date, can I reschedule?"
A: "Why did you let your certs expire? Very simple! Just don't let them expire. You have plenty of time to prepare!"

Expired certs on even lifetime members of AWS must start from SCRATCH. Imagine getting your degree and having to start over because you missed a loan payment deadline. And these full spec tests are NOT CHEAP.
ANSI provides their personell with short re-fresh courses for researchers who've spent time away working. ASME does pretty much the same by offering an immediate crash-test for it's researchers.

7/22/2016 8:19:13 PM

My cousin welds at Altec, he did say they were looking at one point not too long ago. He was hired as a contractor and was about 2 years before he went perm.

Looks like they got a welding position open right now.

https://careers.altec.com/psc/P91HALT_APP/APPLICANT/HRMS/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_CE.GBL?nocrumbs=yes

[Edited on July 23, 2016 at 9:05 AM. Reason : /]

7/23/2016 8:59:08 AM

Altec is a great place to work. I've been there a few times but it's just too far for me at this juncture.
It's clean and their QC is effective without being counter-productive.
I love their finished products. especially crane truck turrets and ladders. works of art man.

Thanks for the suggestion but till i get a vehicle i can trust to drive that far without exploding and gets better than 12mpg, it's quite literally outside my range.

7/23/2016 3:20:49 PM

No problem bruh.

7/23/2016 4:46:16 PM