The Life of $140,000-a-Year Welder

choi

James A Hagerty, The Life of $140,000-a-Year Welder; Eschewing college for a different kind of career. Wall Street Journal, Jan 8, 2015.
www.wsj.com/articles/the-140-000-a-year-welding-job-1420659586

Quote:

"HOUSTON— Justin Friend ’s parents have doctoral degrees ['Kathryn Vaughan, his mother, a retired biology lecturer who spent part of her career at Texas A&M University * * * his father, Ted Friend, a professor of animal science at Texas A&M'] * * * Instead, he attended Texas State Technical College in Waco, and received a two-year degree in welding. In 2013, his first full year as a welder, his income was about $130,000, more than triple the average annual wages for welders in the US. In 2014, Mr Friend’s income rose to about $140,000.

"he risks of a mismatch between costly university degrees and job opportunities have become clearer in recent years. Anthony Carnevale, director of the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University, said nearly a third of people aged 22 through 26 with a Bachelor of Arts [NOT BS] degree either don’t have a job or are working at one that doesn’t require a university degree. The numbers are similar for young people with vocational degrees, but those lower-cost degrees don’t typically lead to heavy debts. * * * High school counselors, who once almost automatically steered smart kids toward four-year colleges, now are more aware of the job opportunities for those with technical skills, said Steve Schneider, a counselor in Sheboygan, Wis.

"Many welding jobs in the auto industry have been eliminated over the years by robots. But welders with advanced skills and experience can do very well, as Mr Friend has found. When he graduated from Texas State Technical College in 2012, Mr Friend quickly found a job at [Houston-based] Acute Technological Services [which hires him out to plants that makes subsea oil-production equipment; in 2013 he was dispatched to Ghana]

"Mr Friend, who is [24 and] single, typically works 72 hours a week, usually including at least one day of the weekend, often on an overnight shift. His base pay is more than $25 an hour, up from about $22 when he started in 2012. He gets overtime after 40 hours a week. Pay is doubled on Sundays and tripled on holidays. He receives health insurance, a 401k retirement plan and paid vacation. * * * He rents a one-bedroom apartment [presumably in or around Houston] for $1,080 a month in a building with a pool and gym.

growing up: "He showed an early inclination to make things. * * * Later, dyslexia made writing and math a struggle for him.

About his work: "After welding, he buffed the part with a wire brush. Colleagues would later X-ray the part to make sure the weld was flawless.

My comment:
(a) Why in general welders make about $40,000 (see quotation 1)? The answer may lie in quotation 4: "His base pay is more than $25 an hour" in 2014, his second year of welding career. In other words, his overtime accounts for his huge pay check--just like police officers.
(b) There is no need to read the rest.