I never meant to become a welder. If you would have told me 15 years ago that I’d be writing this column as a community college welding instructor to celebrate National Welding Month, I would have laughed in your face. I was an art kid. I never took a welding class; never took a single shop class in high school. I wasn’t one of “those guys.” I graduated high school with an academic scholarship — I was too smart to work in the trades — or so I thought.
Then one day I found myself working on the steel crew for a small construction company here in Marshalltown, and over the next couple years I embarked on a crash course in structural steel fabrication, erection and — coolest of all — welding. From my first day on the job, I quickly came to realize every opinion I had on trades work had been dead wrong.
The people I was working with were some of the smartest, most creative people I had ever met. It’s one thing for an architect to draw a building. It’s something else entirely to turn a drawing of a building into an actual building. How do I find this angle? How do I layout these bolt holes? How do I put one foot in front of the other to walk across this 6-inch beam 40 feet in the air? How do I weld?
So, I started my training and honed my skills gradually … and I loved it. I loved building things out of steel. Heavy things. Things people would someday walk around inside.
I continued in the field until a welding instructor position became open at Marshalltown Community College. I’m nearing the end of my second year as a welding instructor. And while I still go back out into the industry and work as a welder during the summer, I don’t get to weld as much as an instructor as one might think. So today, I’m not a welder. I’m a teacher and it’s really cool to be able to share my experience with the next generation. And as cool as I thought being able to stick two pieces of metal together with fire was, it’s even cooler to be able to show someone else how to do it; to give them the tools to step out of the classroom and directly into the workforce in a career where the only limits are the ones they place on themselves. (Yes, underwater welding is a thing. No, I haven’t done it.)
At MCC, a high school student can start taking classes in their junior year and graduate high school with a full AAS degree in Advanced Manufacturing. Debt free! There are all kinds of funding available for all kinds of students to take classes. Ask an advisor about the Last Dollar Scholar program. If you’re a hobbyist or just want to test the welding waters (they’re hot), you can come hang out with me in the evenings and take classes through MCC’s Continuing Ed Department. Keep an eye out for its course catalog Edventure for a complete listing of their course offerings.
Philosopher Herbert Spencer said, “There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all argument and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. This principle is contempt prior to investigation.” In layman’s terms, “Don’t knock it until you try it.” So, if you’re like me, and think that welding just isn’t for you, or maybe you’ve never thought about welding at all, come give it a try. Why not? Like me, you just might love it.
Joe Casey is a welding instructor at
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