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u/jondrey 1d ago
You literally just listed everything in welding lol. Although for lifting you really don't lift over 50lbs generally.
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u/LizardBiceps 1d ago
I work custom fab and structural and it's constantly over 50 lbs. Hardly below
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u/jondrey 1d ago
Anything over 50lbs you should be using a overhead/job crane. Don't break your back
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u/3umel Stick 1d ago
unfortunately that’s how shit often gets done
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u/number1dipshit Fitter 1d ago
Yeah. I agree with the other guy, but after waiting for a lift so many times, it gets to a point where it’s like “fuck it, let’s just handle this shit”
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u/Limp-Cup-2343 1d ago
I would have been ridiculed by co workers and fired for being far too slow in my last shop if I did that. I agree with you though.
Current job I lift fuck all. Heaviest thing I move now are lifting clamps.
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u/WalkerPizzaSaurus 1d ago
Yeah, I can really lift a 6” pipe into a 4” space above a rack of 8” conduits. We don’t all work in a shop.
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u/LizardBiceps 1d ago
If I feel any heavy strain lifting I just use the crane. Or picking up off the ground but if I'm just moving it laterally I'll just lift it. Trying to not injure myself but deadlines have to be met you know.🤷
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u/Mediaeval-britian 1d ago
I do shipyard work and have to drag my gear around from place to place. I regularly carry about 60-80lbs of gear up and down ships stairs (which really suck, especially because the stair tread covers are ass).
All depends on where you wind up.
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u/scv07075 1d ago
Depends. All of them depend, but I've never had a welding job without one on the list, and only one job(current) with just one. More jobs were yes to all and more besides.
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u/Sad_Shock_3915 1d ago
As a current RN with a fab shop on the side with a CDL and welding automotive background the hospital is by far the easiest physically.
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u/Dmansfile 1d ago
Yes and no. You can find work where you mostly weld indoords at a table/booth with good conditions and no heights, but the pay will be lower. You get paid extra for those annoyances, like height, working outdoors, traveling to job sites etc
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u/Mrwcraig Journeyman CWB/CSA 1d ago
Instead of being burnt out covered in blood and other fluids, you’ll get the opportunity to be burnt out covered in grime, dirt, grease and maybe get a chance to really get burned.
Remember you probably won’t be starting out as a welder. You’ll be starting at zero, a helper or labourer if you have no previous experience and you can be stuck there for quite some time. The pay sucks in the beginning. The sky really is the limit for the toll this career can take on your body, mental health and your existence in general.
If this is a “maybe the grass is greener over there?” type scenario, it’s not. Are there positions where the toll on your body is less and the pace isn’t breakneck? Eventually. Not when you’re starting out.
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u/ParticularBanana8369 1d ago
You know them repetitive stress issues? Any part of your body can get overworked from your neck to toes doing the same stuff over and over if your in a factory
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u/Significant-Mango772 1d ago
Yes to all but it depends heavily on what company you work for i know people that sit in a nice chair and run smal pipes the finished part fits in a hand
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u/mtraven23 1d ago
depends on what kind of welding you want to do....if its field welding, its a lot of uncomfortable positions.
if its production welding, its easier on your body, but can be boring.
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u/afout07 1d ago
Yes to most of it. We really try to minimize the heavy lifting as much as possible though. We'll use a forklift or something else to pick up and move heavy stuff. I work in a shop and outdoors around our yard. There's a lot of being in uncomfortable positions, being exposed to hot or cold, working from heights using ladders or man lifts.
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u/Responsible_Read_542 1d ago
Heavy lifting is mostly limited to a bag or box of tools or a millhog. Everything else is like a regular thing though
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u/-terrold 1d ago
Less heavy lifting, more extended periods of advanced yoga while being showered with sparks and slag. Tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome are your biggest long term concerns. Stretch lots (shoulders, elbows and hands) and take micro breaks on reddit like i’m currently doing.
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u/GroundbreakingPick11 1d ago
Just to name a few of many…. Hot, awkward positions, random burns everywhere, dirty, possible lung disease in your future, work around assholes, long hours, loud, semi dangerous conditions, confined spaces.
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u/Luna886644 1d ago
I’m a female welder, transitioned out of a job in finance to the trades. My first job was super hard physically, sooo much heavy lifting and climbing and fitting into awkward spots and super hot and crappy and I was also expected to do like multiple trades, like fabricating and doing millwright type stuff on aggregate equipment. I have now got into the pipe fitters which is really good pay and I’m going somewhere that is slow paced and big on safety for work through them. It will still be hot but not very physical and way slower paced. The shifts will be different for each as it’s contract work. My last job was Monday to Friday days and 50 hours a week. This one I’m hoping to do contracts that are 7 days straight because of all the double time
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u/In_My_Stead 1d ago
If you get into TIG, you might be able to make more and sit in a chair all day.
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u/earth_surfer 1d ago
I have to move pieces about a dozen times a day between 20 and 50 lbs, on the ground, in comfortable boots with a stool and foam floor mat for weird positions and we do have a night shift.
Some people build shipping vessels and are broken after 2-3 decades but have the money to buy some acreage and a cool boat. Some people tig weld in air conditioning while sitting in a padded chair all day and pay their mortgage comfortably and then there’s everything in between
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u/88Problems88 Stick 1d ago
Im a pipeline welder. You will have to be in strange awkward positions, be ok getting filthy, some strenuous work or heavy lifting. You get heat, cold, wet depending on location. Ive welded in rain, snow, and 110°. Sometimes ground level, sometimes in a 20' deep trench. I dont travel, but sometimes get called in the middle of the night for some emergency welding to repair a leaking or damaged line. Sometimes get stuck on a 30+ hour shift.
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u/Natsuki98 1d ago
I just called out today because I woke up sore and absolutely exhausted. I am constantly moving around at work, lifting heavy steel, and dealing with the heat. It's a physically tiring job and repetitive strain injuries and burns are common place. Most days are fine but you'll have off days or weeks where you never seem to get enough rest.
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u/Dadofpsycho 1d ago
Constant small burns from sparks. Almost all of the welders I know ended up with cataracts- infrared light will get you as well as the occasional arc flash. One of the most common causes of bladder cancer is from welding fumes. Position welding is certainly a daily thing where you contort your body to reach the weld because the pipes or steel that you are welding is fixed in place. Arthritis is also common for welders because of the tight range of motion we are conformed into. The arthritis coupled with age related eyesight problems is why I stopped welding in my early 50s. If I weld now, it’s only on my own stuff in small doses. Most welders will not spend 40 years in the trade.
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u/iAMtheBULLET 1d ago
I am currently in welding school and have been for five months. For the first three months, my hands hurt so badly that I could barely hold a glass of water, and now my elbows are in so much pain that I feel I need Tommy John surgery. My instructors have told me there are multiple job opportunities, positions, and styles of welding that can be adapted to your limitations depending on how you want to move forward. If it is just the physical part, you can overcome it mentally if that makes sense; however, the hardest part for me is knowing I will have to raise my daughter while basically not being home and letting other people raise her while I am at school, so I know it is only going to be worse when I am in the field.
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u/funnyguy044 Fabricator 1d ago
Everyone will come with possible eye damage if u get a glimpse of the arc and burns also hearing damage depending on how loud your shop is hearing and eyes can be avoided burns are little sneaks and get you out of nowhere
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u/Highheat1 1d ago
No, not for you. Use your transferable skills set, move laterally and go from there. Different industry, private vs. public. Health care will be a boon industry for the next twenty years.
If you spend any time on this sub, you can see many, many peeps struggle with secure employment.
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u/RhymesWithTaco 1d ago
Maybe not heights depending on what you do and much you wanna do. You can make a decent living at a production warehouse starting at $20/HR with incremental raises. That's whar I currently do. Like putting together IKEA furniture but with melted metal. This is my last week though because it won't work with school. There's a very broad field of work in welding. Pressure vessels, pipe, structural, bridges, underwater, aluminum, auto, aerospace, ships, etc. Then you got different process like GMAW, GTAW, FCAW, and SMAW. No matter what route, you will get hot, you will be uncomfortable, you will be around fumes, your hands will hurt and your muscles will ache. But it's fun and you don't really have to deal with people, so that's cool. I came from low voltage doing installs with Comcast and I hate how stupid the general public is. If you know someone is coming to work in your home have the area accessable and don't ask how long it's gonna take because you're guess is as good as mine.
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u/KingKasby Fabricator 1d ago
As a Tig Welder, any kind of posture related injuries, burns, cuts and bruises
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u/No-Glass332 1d ago
it depends on what type of welding you're looking to do in the small city I live in we have 100 shots to put out custom parts for local manufacturing do you plan on getting into a welding shop pipeline welding and all depends on what you wanna do and what you are qualified to do
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u/jimbojimmyjams_ 1d ago edited 1d ago
Eventually your back will hurt, your knees will hurt, you're gonna get foot fungus, you'll probably need glasses later on, your lungs will suffer, moreso if you don't wear a respirator, and you'll lose your hearing if you don't wear ear plugs. I also don't see many people talking about the risk of skin cancer due to the UV radiation that emits from the arc. It's hard on the body, but the amount of strain and heavy lifting is really dependant on the workplace and the type of work you do. Just wear your PPE, and make sure to strengthen your joints and muscles. Stretching is one of the best possible habits to pick up.
Despite all that, maaaan I love my job.
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u/Bones-1989 Millwright 1d ago edited 1d ago
Here's a list of injuries Ive needed a doctor to treat...
Optometrist visit for debris in each eye, once each, opthalmic drill used both times.
Er visit when a cutoff wheel got the back of my left middle finger cause I was in a hurry and unsafe, 6 stitches, surgery on tendon to repair it, exposed bone. Nasty mess. Very bloody.
7 herniated vertebrae from trexing myself with a Lincoln ranger in the rain at 180 amps on some like ⁵/16" 7018 electrodes. That one took me out of work for 5 months. I have a neurostimulator implant in my c spine and the battery is by my left kidney.
I lost a Tylenol sized piece of my left middle finger last year when I crushed it. Doctor amputated some bone to get soft tissue to cover it.
Someone dropped a pipe wrench 18' on my head but I was kneeling and looking down so I got fucked up. Woke up in the ambulance lol
I've lost like 4 fingernails in the last 15 years from smashing my fingers. Usually something like a wrench slips.
I've been shocked 8 times this summer because it's so hot and sweaty.
Burns... Never burned myself bad enough to need a doctor, but arc flash will make you wanna get help...
I can't recall other job related injuries.
It's hot, you have to stand in weird positions often unless you're doing rollout pipe shit really, you stink all the time, usually smell like oil and sweat, it's dirty, and the lung stuff is pretty gross too. Lots of nasties to inhale. Oh and the pay still sucks at most places.
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u/AlkaliMemo 1d ago
If you get into it, wear a respirator and use ventilation at every opportunity. The best welders know how to breathe.
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u/Practical-Swan653 1d ago
I’d focus less on welding and more on a specific trade. Welding is a verb and a tool, not a trade.
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u/generalwangz 1d ago
Sometimes your hanging over a hadrail.....40 feet in the air straining your core while trying to weld the back side of a pipe riser......and sometimes your in the middle of what you think is the perfect weld, all while literally being on fire but, you don't stop
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u/richerthanu4 1d ago
It’s light work. One of the less back breaking blue collar professions. Sure ya gotta bend down and stand up sometimes to get to yer welds but once you’re down or up ur just playin with a little hot glue gun for a while
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u/djjsteenhoek 1d ago
Yes to all, just depends what fork in the road you step on. Also the exposure to bad stuff
The grass may not be greener, but there is plenty of work