The CWB Association Welding Podcast
The CWB Association brings you a weekly podcast that covers what’s happening in the world of Welding. We speak to people passionate about the world of Welding and fabrication. Get the right tips and industry information to stay on top of what’s happening in the Welding industry.
The CWB Association Welding Podcast
Episode 258: Trade School Teach with Nathanial Aldrich
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The CWB Association brings you a weekly podcast that connects to welding professionals around the world to share their passion and give you the right tips to stay on top of what’s happening in the welding industry. Subscribe, listen, and stay connected to the people who keep the world welded together
Welding doesn’t just build projects, it builds people, and Nathanial Aldrich’s story proves it. From a low-paying first shop job to welding locomotives, leading teams, and now teaching at Ivy Tech while building the Trade School Teach community online, Nathan shares what it really takes to build a career in welding. We talk about starting at the bottom, why early experience matters, welding education and certifications, and what pursuing CWI learning taught him about the industry.
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Welcome And Meet Nathan
SPEAKER_02Welcome to the CWB Association Welding Podcast. I'm your host, Kevin Hawaii. Let's flip up the lid and spark some conversation. Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of the CWB Association Welding Podcast. As always, I'm your host, Kevin, and tonight I have a very special guest, Nathan Aldrich. So, Nathan, how you doing, man?
SPEAKER_03Uh, pretty good. I'm actually, I was hoping you would say your last name because I know I shouted you out in a video on Instagram and I said it wrong. I'm like, I'm so American, I couldn't even fathom it being something else.
SPEAKER_02Okay, Kevin Hua. So very, very French name. It's gotta come from the back of your throat. Hua. Yeah, that's good. Good enough, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. Do you know where your last name is from? What's your heritage? Um, I'm Irish and German. I'm just a mix of everything, really. Everything, you know. Irish and German is my main two. Yeah. So where are you from right now? Where do you uh where do you live? I live in Indiana in the Midwest, central Indiana.
SPEAKER_02Cool. Is uh is welding pretty uh pretty prevalent there? There's a lot of industry around.
SPEAKER_03Um it's getting better. It's getting better. There for a while. It was everyone thinks of welding and they think of traveling down to Texas and pipe welding and stuff, but there's structural welding everywhere. I mean, uh we have a pretty big locomotive plant here that um wages are going up there, they're ramping up business. Uh it's going pretty good here.
SPEAKER_02That's good. That's good. So tell me a little bit about how you got into welding, or when was the first time that you uh you saw welding as as kind of your career path?
SPEAKER_03Um, okay. I could make it long or short. I don't really know how to put it. Um it's a I was eight years old in the garage, you know, things like that. No, no, not even that long ago. So I I was always like kind of mechanically inclined. Uh grew up with a single father who he was the type when we wanted a new bike, we were like building a bike together. Um, so that kind of thing. And uh I actually it's funny because I teach school and I actually dropped out of high school and got my GED, like your equivalent. I don't know if they have it there. Um, got it at 16 and started working construction traveling away. Got into the partying a little more than I should have, probably at a young age. As one does, yeah. Yes. And then uh, I guess to make a long story short, I ended up leaving where I was from and decided I needed a fresh start. This was my early 20s. Uh hopped on a train from New York to Indiana with a backpack of clothes and $50. And when I got here, I literally Googled, I'll paraphrase what I Googled by Googled uh fresh starts for someone who's messed up their life. Like good careers for someone who's messed up their life. And welding was like crazy. Yeah, it was like roofing, uh construction, and welding. And uh yeah, I took the leap into welding. I actually kind of got pushed into it. So I met a girl here, I don't want to rant, but met a girl here, a good
A Fresh Start Through Welding
SPEAKER_03girl, which I mean, for any men out there listening, young men, it helps to have a good one, right? And she had her head on straight, and I wanted to have my head on straight. So she taught me into going to school, and that's when I really Googled it. And so I took a class, fell in love. Uh, I was a natural at it. I mean, I'm not the best there ever was, but I just picked it up very fast, fell in love with it, and that was that. I got a job after that working at a very bad, small, family-owned. I don't want to shout them out and hurt their business, but um got a job at a fad shop, which I will say I'm glad it was my first start. It was very low money. I think I started at $11 an hour.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I started at $12.50 an hour, right? And that's Canadian money, right?
SPEAKER_03So what's that? I don't know. Who knows? In a couple of years, that might be 20 here.
SPEAKER_02Man, I'd love to get into that mom and pop welding shop, but I want to know since you you just kind of left where you were at and you had a backpack on your back and 50 bucks, like how how did you get into school? How were you able to pay for school? How'd that go?
SPEAKER_03Well, my mother always lived here, so my stepdad actually um bless his heart was like, Hey, come here. If you get a job within a week, I'll give you six months. So I came here, got a job smoking meat at a place down the road from his house. Uh, and I did that, and that's how I had the uh I guess stability to do it. And then after a couple months doing that, um, I got with my lady and uh we ended up moving in together, and then that's kind of how that happened.
SPEAKER_02Okay, very cool, man. So this mom and pop welding shop making 11 bucks an hour. What what kind of stuff were you working on?
SPEAKER_03Uh, well, we were making these things mainly, it was like big shrouds for fans, massive shrouds to hold industrial fans. That was one thing. Uh, another thing that we did a ton of the guy had like he said it was his invention. I didn't look into it, it probably was um, like a stand for like policemen and firefighters to when they get home, they it's next to their bed and they like put their uh bulletproof vest on it and their gun in it and all that. So it was a lot of just putting stuff in a jig, MIG welding, MIG welding. And I'm talking 10-foot high ceilings. Uh, I was not ready for how rough it was, actually. This was a serious shot. You had to work for your money. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, what made you want to kind of leave that place? Where did you go next?
SPEAKER_03Uh, money, really. I mean, got a chance to world. Yeah, it rules the world, unfortunately. And uh, the beauty of welding is you can find it if you look for it. Uh, so yeah, I was there for a while. The conditions weren't great. I don't want to harp on it, but the my first week there, no mask or anything, which you should wear a mask if you're gonna be in a shop like that with no ventilation. I remember I went on break, did this to my nose, and it was just started bleeding because it was MIG welding. And so that and money. Uh, and there was a place everyone talked about that built locomotives here called Progress Rail. And I think they might have some in Canada too, or at least they used to. Everyone was trying to get in there because it was like one of the only big factories around here. And um once I got six months, no, maybe six months to a year in at that spot, I could actually put on my resume welding experience because that's really why you take the low money at first. That it's a resume building job, kind of.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, actually, very good point is a lot of people are very, I don't know, judgmental about their first job, or you know, they don't want to go work at the at the production shop, right? But the biggest thing you need out there is experience, right? People want experience. So, how how do you go about getting that without taking that job?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and my my welding teacher at the time that he recommended the job to me, and he said, Listen, I know because it was actually a pay cut from cooking the meat at the time, but he's like, the end goal, just because I wasn't planning on moving out of my area, was the locomotive plant to weld there. It was the best money for a welder in the area, and he's like, They're never gonna hire you, they get 100 applicants a week. You they're not gonna hire you with zero welding experience. He's like, I promise you, take this, suffer for a while, and you'll have a shot. And I did, and that's the funny thing about my students, too. My students all the time, they think and it's kind of like a myth the internet does for welders. They like to tell everyone, oh, you start welding 60 bucks an hour and a hundred dollars per deal. Like, yeah, well, it doesn't always work like that in the beginning.
SPEAKER_02Eventually, yeah, eventually, yeah. That's actually, you're absolutely right. That is a huge lie that's being sold online right now about welders and and getting your weld education. It's just you don't just drop out of school and make a hundred thousand dollars a year or whatever, like that's right, you have to put in your dues.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, they expect to just drop out, have a big dually with a nice welder in the back, which hey, that's the dream. And if it is your dream, you just got to work up to it, really. Yeah, and you just have to know that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you don't need you don't need that right off the bat, that's for sure, right? Like $200,000 in debt, and you have not worked your first job yet. Right. You're crazy.
SPEAKER_03And and I think they don't understand the best, because I I mean, not toot my own horn, and it's the same with my students. The best student in your welding class isn't gonna be the best guy on the job site. You're gonna be one of the worst ones at first if you're in a good job.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. I, you know, I went through welding school myself, and I did very well also top of my class. And, you know, I get on my first job, and uh, you know, like I'm judging the guy. It's like, hey, you're not supposed to, you know, manipulate that 7018. Like you he's like, man, I gotta jump this gap. You just open your eyes, open your ears, you keep your mouth shut. Like, all right.
unknownYep.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, I forgot. You know things.
SPEAKER_02I don't yeah, yeah, real real life experiences. So yeah, we're we're talking about your students. We never really got into it, but you are a wealth educator. So where do you teach? What do you do?
SPEAKER_03Um, I teach at a place called Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana, and just to throw out there, it is not associated with my social media at all.
SPEAKER_02Yep, gotta keep it.
SPEAKER_03I like to say that because some uh I mean it's really not, and sometimes they respond to haters on there. So uh yeah, so I teach at a uh small school in central Indiana. Actually, we have a bunch of them uh throughout the state. Uh high school age all the way up to I've had six-year-old students, and uh, you can get anywhere from your technical certificate, um, all the way up to associate's degree there.
SPEAKER_02So, how does this work? Like as a Canadian, we have an apprenticeship program. I do my level one, level two, level three, then I go get my journeyman certificate. How is it different in the States?
SPEAKER_03Well, so Journeyman here is like pretty much you got to go union to get that. Um, here you can get a non-union job, like the place I was talking about. I I'm I've gotten a lot of my students' jobs over there. That's non-union, but it pays really well. Um,
First Shop Reality And Paying Dues
SPEAKER_03here you can come get your technical certificate, which is just learning how to make weld, take weld, and stick weld, right? And then, you know, put that on your resume, get a job somewhere. And if you're working non-union, you're never gonna be a journeyman. You could be 20 years into the field and not a journeyman, but you could have several certifications. Um, or usually it's qualifications, but um people don't really know the difference. Um, but it's it's the same exact test, just one's got paperwork and one doesn't. Uh okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_02No, but that's that's that's good to get into too, right? Because you know, doing a qualifying test for a certain job, yeah, you qualified for that job, but having your certificate is different where you can take that certificate everywhere you go, right?
SPEAKER_03Right, exactly. And uh my first job I had to get qualified on. I thought I was getting certified on, and uh I was qualified, so I had um what three make, three stick, two pipe, so what, eight certs? And then when I left, I had zero cert. I'm like, oh yeah, I'm clueless. Whoops, I forgot about that. Uh but back to your question. Sorry, I do tend to ramble. No, that's okay. A journeyman here would be like you get into the union and they put you through like their separate school. Now, we do have one union that comes to our school, but most of them build their own little thing. So you're working and going to school, and after five years, uh you can become a journeyman. Uh, that's how we do it here, anyways.
SPEAKER_02Now, is there a benefit to being a journeyman? Is it like having that that golden piece of paper that says you're better than anybody else?
SPEAKER_03Uh, a lot of people think that, yeah. You know, a lot of people think that, and not not only do the people with the journeyman car, but so do people like say you branch up on your own, and um customers will think that, right? I'm a journeyman welder, that does sound better. You know, it's just like it's why people emphasize certified welder so much. You know, kind of the same thing. Uh yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't know. I've met some bad journeyman, I've met some good ones.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I always say, you know, like you prove that you could do it once, right? Like you pass that test, right? But it's what you do out there in the field that makes you different, right? Like, I've I've had journeymen come through the shop that had a hard time reading a tape measure. So, you know, like, yeah, you got the ticket, but can you do the work?
SPEAKER_03Right. Well, that kind of I had a similar experience. There was this older guy who came on. I was welding restricted pipe for the locomotives, and that's pretty much you got your sidewalls and a bunch of pipes in there, and you got to bend your rod and put a mirror in all different ways and weld the pipes. Well, he was a journeyman pipe welder, but he had always just welded open pipes. He had net, and he could not do it for the life of him. He would be so mad, and then he'd be he'd be like mad at us because he came in talking all the smack, and of course, we're talking it back. I'm like, oh man.
SPEAKER_02All right, so let's go back then. So you got the job at the locomotive place, um, welding restricted pipe, like you're just saying, like, what other kind of fabrication was there happening at that place?
SPEAKER_03Well, they there wasn't a ton of different stuff besides actually building a locomotive, but they built it from the ground, or they still do build it from the ground up. You just it starts out with a big 60-foot or two 30-foot sheets of metal, about two inches thick, beveled off, and um, that's how it starts. It's pieced together piece by piece, all there. So I guess every little section is a type of fabrication where they run off 3D uh models and blueprints. Um, and when the computer's down, you do not want to pull out one of those blueprints. It is the length of my garage.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god, yeah, I can't imagine.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and every once in a while there was little jobs to be done, like making jigs for the work to be done easier, like stuff like that. But nothing really besides the building locomotives. I say that, but that is a massive job that takes months to do. Um yeah, it was uh it was a learning experience for sure.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so where did you where did you go from there? Like when when did you decide to go the teaching route?
SPEAKER_03Um, okay. So I became a team lead there in the piping department. And what a team lead pretty much is is they give you an extra dollar and you get this much, say, which the people who can't see practically zero, say, over five other guys, right? You just tell them where to work that day. Uh so I did that for a while, and I actually almost didn't take the teaching job because of that. Uh, not to go on a rant a different direction, I will get back to that, but uh, that was my first time being a leader, and I was kind of a c one. Uh I I took a lot of pride in my work, and then being over five people, sometimes people didn't, right? And then learning that that job actually eventually in the years of doing that probably helped me be a teacher because the first two years I was doing that, I was just a hard. Um, I was just on top of them. Come on, why aren't you trying your best? Why aren't you doing better? All this stuff. Uh just kind of being rude to people now that I look back. And then I uh talk to another team lead, which people did still like and respect me, but this is just self-reflection, right? Yeah, I talked to another team lead, and he's like, Man, you know, some of those guys, uh, you may respond well when your boss yells at you, but some people just don't. He might not take as much pride as you, but maybe he would if you encouraged him instead of asking him why he sucks so bad.
SPEAKER_02Right? That is that is huge, man. That's something I had to learn becoming foreman at my shop, is not everyone learns the same way, not everyone responds the same way to you know what you have to say. Like I got myself in trouble once. I thought I was being funny, right? You know, we all rib on each other, but I ended up in the office because you know, someone felt I was bullying them, which was
Certificates Qualifications And Journeyman Talk
SPEAKER_02the complete opposite. I thought we were boys, but whatever.
SPEAKER_01Move on, right?
SPEAKER_02But you know, exactly. Like some people I think would you know be able to do a job like I would be, right? Something that's simple to me, well, is not simple to them. So we gotta break it down, we gotta spend some time together and do some training. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I've been in HR once or twice. Beat both cases, though. So hey, uh both were warranted, okay? Yes. Um, so, anyways, that happened, and I actually got asked to uh do an adjunct teaching role um while I was the team lead there. I and the only reason I brought back the team lead thing is because that's that's what gave me the confidence and the teaching. I finally learned, like, I started actually training the people instead of yelling at them to do better and things like that. Um, I got asked to do a night class because I guess the guy quit, and the teacher who wasn't my teacher, he just was a teacher there, knew who I was. So he's like, Would you be willing to do it? It was like a basic MIG class, I think. No, it was a stick class because he knew I stick welded every day. Um, he asked me to adjunct, and I loved it. So I did that part-time, worked all day during the week, and then from five to ten o'clock at night, two days a week, I would go in and adjunct a stick class, and then after that, it became you know whatever class they needed. I did that for probably close to a year. Um and that that will burn you out. I'll tell you that.
SPEAKER_02Like you were doing it for the love of it, or did they give you like uh was there an incentive, a bonus, or were you just like trying to build people up?
SPEAKER_03Uh oh, well, I worked at the one job and I adjunct taught at a different job. Oh, okay. Yeah, my bad. I did love it, but yeah, it was for money. Okay, money makes the world go around.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, yeah, so they did that, and then um there, the guy who was full-time there just randomly quit. And at that point, I was I had the most experience as an adjunct. So it's not that I was guaranteed the job, but I was kind of first in line. And me and another adjunct who I happened to work with, it's it's just so crazy, both applied and went through a series of interviews, and I ended up getting the job. It was super awkward when we came back to work because I put in my two weeks and he comes up, shakes my hand. Hey, congratulations. I'm like, all right, no hard feelings, dude. It's just I did good in the interview.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Uh so then it became full-time, and I've been full-time for about three years now.
SPEAKER_02Well, so three three years and a little bit as a teacher.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02So, how was how was how is the switch like I can only imagine what your first class was like. Like, you must have been stressed out.
SPEAKER_03Uh, yeah. My first see it and it was a lot more stressful being an actual full-time teacher rather than an adjunct, because when you're an adjunct, you're working 60 hours a week at a plant, and then you go there, you could almost be the fall guy. Sorry, he's an adjunct, right? You're just the part-time guy, you know, and that now it's serious business. Uh it was it took a lot of getting used to, I guess, uh preparing for your day instead of showing up to work. Right? Like I'm used to just you show up, what you're told to do is what you're doing, and you clock out, you go home. That's it. And now I gotta prepare. And not that it's a ton of preparing. I'm not an English teacher or nothing, but um yeah, I was a little rocky at first, and I'm but I'm constantly trying to get better at it. I really am. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So now that you're teaching welding, what has changed about your perception about welding? Like you just mentioned you're you know, you show up to a job, you do the job. Like, what what's different about the trade now than when you were in it? Now that you're teaching it.
SPEAKER_03There's just so much to it. There is so much to it. Um, and some of the stuff people don't care about, but they should. It's just I've learned so much, not only from teaching, um Ivy Tech, they gave me the option to become a CWI. And when I went to CWI school, I learned a ton. And I'm constantly learning from it. There's just so much that was happening that I didn't know was happening. Um, and there's just so much that I wasn't doing because I didn't know, right? If that makes any sense.
SPEAKER_02Oh, absolutely. Yeah, like they they say if you want to know something, you want to know a subject, teach it, right? Yeah, but yeah, this this uh you know, CWI certified welding inspector, what kind of stuff did you learn? What kind of stuff is there that the welders out there aren't doing, aren't paying attention to?
SPEAKER_03Oh man. Uh that's actually a tough question. Technical words, things like that, which don't really matter to most folks. Uh a little bit of metallurgy, like people don't know why sometimes not to quench. And I'm not gonna act like I am just some smart guy who knows everything. Just and also people don't know where to learn things. And they that's one thing they teach you in the CW CWI school how to find something, how to research what you're doing, things like that. That um I don't know, that's a tough question. Now I feel stupid.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm good at putting people on the spot. I find, you know, like it all depends where you work too or what kind of you know experience you've had coming up. Because like I will argue with people online, and I say argue very loosely, you know, like I come from my knowledge base and they come from theirs, so it's right, it's it's hard to get there. But like, you know, talking material prep, talking like, oh, if you're gonna quench like mild steel, is it gonna crack and like things like that? And people just go off, right?
SPEAKER_03I'm glad you you actually just rung a bell. Um, so one thing people don't realize, and I guess I didn't either, there's so many different niches in welding, and I think I argue with people, um, I don't even use the term loosely online all the time. Actually, they argue with me, matter of fact. No, but uh, there's so many different niches in welding, and someone could be doing something for 20 years, and they are an absolute professional at what they do, however, someone could be welding, same exact trade, and be doing something completely different, and then there's always a clash between this is wrong and that's right. And it's like you both can be right at doing your thing, right? Um, I just learned so much about the different kinds of welding, how much there was types of welding I've never even thought of doing, right? And someone's doing that every single day. So um, I guess it gave me more of an open mind, and that's a hard thing with welders because I don't know if it's the helmets, the fumes, something's going on with our heads. Uh, where you try to talk to someone and say, This is my experience, and they literally will say, No, it's not. I'm like, Yeah, okay, I guess it's not, buddy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I've had that same situation where it even like gets beyond you know, comments, uh like it's in the DMs now, and it's like, man, where does your hate come from? Like, who who was mean to you as a kid? Like, what's happening? And then eventually we get to the root of things, and then okay, like you follow me, I follow
Becoming A Teacher Without Burning Out
SPEAKER_02you. Now we're like boys, like we're good, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, oh yeah. I mean, if we're divulging into the internet thing, it gets kind of crazy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, let's actually let's get into that too, because uh, you know, trade school teach definitely has a bit of a following now.
SPEAKER_03Hey, yeah, it's yeah, it's uh it's pulling together. Um man, sometimes I do take a weekend off and I regret it because it gets it gains traction, it slows down and gains traction. Uh it's wild. I wouldn't say I was ever like an internet personality type, but it's just working. It's almost become like a second job doing that, and not in a bad way. Um, I think a lot of people don't have the money for school or are just thinking about it, or they're beginning welders wanting to learn. And uh that's really why I do it. So I get questions like crazy or how can I fix my weld? And I'll be honest, it's hard to tell people. It seems like I've been given good advice because they'll respond back in my DMs like, hey, that really helped me. Thank you. But at the time, I'm like, man, it's so hard to judge from a picture what you should do next, right? And it, I don't know, I don't know if your piece is over your head, I don't know if you got it at your ankles. Like, so that's mainly where I start with these guys. But yeah, the internet thing's going good. It's hard to meet.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, sorry, what made you decide to do this? Did you fall into it, or was it like consciously like this is what I'm gonna do?
SPEAKER_03Um, I think I just love the teaching, man. Uh yeah, I just love the teaching. And I back when I started, like weldmonger videos were out there, things like that. I watched videos when I was learning to weld, and uh, I don't know. I just started as very basic knowledge, and that's still what I do. Uh, just very basic knowledge for people. I'm not trying to get too ahead of myself or too behind myself. Uh yeah, so that's how it started. I did a couple. Oh, it's funny how it blew up, too. So I had a well a welding video, like showing someone how to do something, and then one of my students' fathers sent it to him. He didn't know who I was, it was like a high school student, and he's he's he told me a story. He's like, I came running down the stairs and I said, This is my teacher. What the heck? Because it's like for some people, I think it was on TikTok, um, maybe like I'm like almost a 40-year-old man on TikTok. So I was like, What the heck's this guy doing? Uh but I guess that's the way it is now. Uh, so he got a kick out of it and sent it to everybody, it sent it to like everybody in the class. So sent it to like five, and then so it got like 40 shares in like an hour because they were all like, What the look at look at Nate? Uh, and then it ended up uh making its way over to my old work and they had like 500 welders there. And I'm not gonna pretend I was quiet while I was there, so people knew me, right? Yeah, and uh they started sharing it, and then it just blew up. Like I had one video get a couple million, and then I did a video on like a horrible weld um when I first started out where the weld it kind of just like fell out of this L bracket, and uh yeah, yeah, people hated that. People acts absolutely hated it. They were full of it.
SPEAKER_02I don't think I remember that, yeah, because like people were saying you you faked it, right? Like you must have cut it off of the thing, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, they thought I either cut it off or they thought I welded it in brass or aluminum, which or copper, which are all good guesses. Um, but I didn't. That that has been there for that happened actually before I got there. Um, but it's like a big thing at my school because it's like we show everybody, and I know the teacher in the class, I mean he wouldn't lie to me about it. Yeah, I mean, maybe he would, but why wouldn't he? But I've tried I've tried to replicate that with brass, I've tried aluminum. I'm just trying to show people, like, yeah, to fill a gap, you would use that type of stuff, but to weld out a two and a half inch thick by two and a half inch thick, it's just too hot. Um, I still don't know why.
SPEAKER_01You know, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02And I think they're like, Yeah, I think a lot of people have tried to recreate that. I mean, there's a guy up here in Canada who recreated it, but like it's uh your settings are wrong, man. Like, yeah, yeah, there's MIG could look good, it could look like a perfect weld, but it is not tied in whatsoever.
SPEAKER_03Like, oh, thank you for saying that. People don't understand it when I say something. Of course, I could word it better, but I'll just wing it off the top of my head. MIG is the easiest one to pass the visual, and the hardest one to pass the test if you're doing a bend test. Because sometimes you won't even see the prosty underneath, or something like that. You bend it. Oh, we found it. We found it. Yeah, people like that. I don't know. You you weld every day, you tell me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's the old adage, right? Like, you're just a MiG monkey, right? You just turn the machine on and just you know, squirt squirt, right? It's not that, like, you have to find your perfect settings, you know, your voltage has to be good, wire speed has to be good, gas has to be good, you know, plates got to be clean, all this stuff, right? You're not just uh an unskilled welder when you're MIG'.
SPEAKER_03Oh, plates gotta be clean. People that's another thing. Oh, I argue that so much. Oh, I I had a guy who he probably made 20 comments on my Facebook about how those plates don't need to be clean, you can weld through mud and grease and all that. I'm like, first off, sir, this is a TIG welding certification. If you're not cleaning your plates, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_02Like, uh, like, sure, you can weld over all that stuff, but why would you want to? Yeah, I I I don't understand it. Um, yeah, I always say, too, like the up here, so we have CWB tests, which I know you did some because I got a couple tags in your videos there. Like the Yeah, where I called you Kevin Roy. Yeah, I'll take it. So the MiG flat test, you know, the your GMAW flat position is one of the hardest tests to pass. It is one of the most failed tests, and you would think it's MiG, it's flat, it's easy. But like I've seen people go seven, eight times not being able to pass that, and that is that's a qualifier for your next position, so you gotta go through it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think some of it is they're just slightly too long of an arc length, or their settings are just a little too off, and they're not taking the time to figure that out before they take the test, or a lot of people, too. It's just nerves, you have to get past one, which I love. I've been actually, I guess not lately, but I was, and I will do another CWB test. Uh, I was researching it, and some awesome dude named Larry Bauer, who he does CWB and AWS, sent me this nice long thing, so I was doing it right. Um, I love how you guys do it. The half in the past one to get to the next one is awesome. And also the two root stops with Ben's love that. Um and no grinder, right? No grinder is a big one, and you can use grinders in the field, obviously, right? Or else, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, I would expect you to use a grinder out there. Yeah, you better be using it. You gotta show that you can do it without.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's beautiful. I love your guys' tests. I like them a lot more than AWS, which I just recently
CWI Lessons And Welding Niches
SPEAKER_03got on the D11 committee. Not that I can make any waves or changes, uh, but I'm trying to bring up to as many people as I can. Like, look how awesome this is. Yeah, because for us, if you do I mean, my book's right there, I don't want to go through it, but unless they change it in 2025, if you get your 3G, it counts as uh one and two as well. So really, you could be the worst horizontal welder there was. But if you can go upwards, you're good, buddy.
SPEAKER_02You know, yeah, one and done. Yeah. So we have, yeah, we do have here, like you, you know, you get your flat, your horizontal, your vertical, then your overhead, right? Now that you've got your all position, every two years when you re-certify, you have to do a check test. So it's a combination of positions and starts and stops that certifies you again for all position.
SPEAKER_03Really? So what you you do like one weld in one position and then you move it to another, or am I crazy? No, that's that's exactly it.
SPEAKER_02Like, let's let's talk about SMAW, some stick welding. Uh, my check test is I do a vertical up route with a start stop, then I take that coupon and I put it overhead, I do an overhead start stop, and I finish filling it up overhead, and then we go bend it.
SPEAKER_03Oh man, we might have to talk about this more off the off the podcast sometime, so I can tire that. Uh yeah, that's super cool. I love that. Uh it's funny. Whenever I make a CWB video, oh man, Americans hate it. And Canadians hate like talking about American welders. They're in there like, what the heck would I care about a Canadian weld? I don't know, because it's welding and it's cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean haters, man. Haters bring engagement, the conversation's gotta get going, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'm learning that. Every once in a while I'll make a video on them. It's just blunt. They better not hate and show their welds on my page.
SPEAKER_02That's for sure. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I I just like I put out a video. I so I spent some time with THG Automation. They're in the States, they're also up here in Canada. Uh, they use Fronius power sources and you know, robotic arms, cobots. And I remember a Fronius demo night where they came in and they welded two pieces of 10 gauge aluminum plate one inch apart. And with their cold metal transfer, you were able to basically work your way along that gap and fill a one-inch gap with MiG, right? And that always stuck with me. So now I'm at THG automation and I'm working with this cobot and I'm testing it out. I made it pour beer, like yeah, I saw that, right? So, this one-inch gap, I wanted to see well, can this robot spit this one-inch gap? That was specifically for me. That was something that I wanted to try that, you know, like it could be cool. What if we can do it? Right, and like that video brought a ton of haters, like, you know, like screw your one-inch gap, or the people that are all like, Oh, I spit one inch gaps every day. So I like, well, why? Why is your fit up like that?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, first off, no, you don't, and second off, you suck at fitting it up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so the same question comes up like, well, show me the proof, man. Like, send me a picture. You can actually comment with your picture, show me your gap.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. I'm not afraid to tell you if you if you show the picture and you're the man, cool. You are the man, great. Yeah, you did it. Can we all get a little slice of that on the man pie, though? That was pretty cool. I actually did a little robot welding, and I'll probably not much, I don't want to get too much in the topic. I'll sound stupid, but uh, I think it was yaks, how do you pronounce it? I could probably look it up, yakasawa or something. Uh, we had them to do like big long 10-foot pieces, and it was MIG welding. I think it was uh metal core, and I wasn't like training this thing, only with my handheld, I would, but um, very boring job once it got trained. You just held the held the buttons and try not to fall asleep. Uh I'll tell you those things save a ton of work, but when they mess up, oh boy, you're art gouging out, it's about a quarter inch deep, and you gotta art gouge that out.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's another subject that you know it's people are talking about it more and more. Like these these cobots and all the automation that's coming through. Like, what's your take on that? Like, obviously, there still needs to be an operator, but are people talking about it at school?
SPEAKER_03Uh, yeah, people are talking about it at school, and we're actually uh our we already do like a little robot program, nothing crazy, and we're trying to get welding onto there. It's just the way it's going. Um, I don't think it's anything threatening for your average everyday welder, right? Um, especially if you're in a fab shop, I would not worry about it taking over. You still have to cut, think, put it together, um, things like that. Uh people seem nervous about it. I don't think there is. And what I say to those people, if you're nervous that uh like these robots are gonna take over your job, be the guy that fixes the robot, then be the guy that runs the robot, you know what I mean? Uh I don't think they'll ever get where man can get, though. And I I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think you're right. Like, I'm I'm all for technology. I'm all for if you don't look into it, if you don't study it, if you don't even care about it, you're gonna get rolled over. Like you have to be aware that this stuff is out there. But you're right, like for these fabricators or the guys in the ditch, or you know, like ironworking, like there's no way that a robot is going to do your job. Not yet, maybe a like 20, 30, 40 years from now, but like there's no way. But then I look at the other side. I went to a a conference, and um, these these very smart engineers, um, now they have a machine that watches the weld, not just with a camera, but it takes certain levels, like it'll literally analyze how the machine is welding and make changes to that weld from those you know set parameters using AI. So now we're like, oh boy, we're right there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we're getting a little closer. And uh man, I I don't want to go, I don't want to jump back, but that did give me a thought. Maybe you'll have to remind me later. Um well gave me a thought about teaching. The hardest part about teaching at first is kind of like you're talking about how that robot um analyzes as it welds and changes things. So do you when you're welding, right? So do I. I'll you know, eat something as slight as angle change, pushing a rod harder, long arcing for a second, things like that. That when I first started teaching, um it was hard to realize I was even doing those things because I had just done them for so long. And then the students would look at me and they'd look like how what? So that I really had to reprogram my brain to be like, oh yeah, I'm analyzing the world as I go, and I'm you know, compensating for that as I go up or wherever, whatever I'm doing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, very good point.
SPEAKER_03Just kind of remind me of that, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Cause uh even I'll show guys at work, like you know, I'm decent at TIG welding, like you. I am not the world's best TIG welder, but I'm good at it, right? Right. So I'll be showing someone something, right? But you know, they can't really watch, you know, the amp control on my thumb, or they can't watch me use that pedal. All they can see is me feeding wire into the arc. That's all they can see.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, oh, that looks easy.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Yeah, like you make that look easy, then they jump in and they're like, Oh my god, like what is going on here, right? But you can't because I'm constantly adjusting the amperage. I notice something in the puddle, like, oh, it's getting a little wide, a little deep, oh, too hot. Okay, back off, or add more filler, chill that puddle, right? These are things that you learn, but uh, if you're not explaining them, they're they're not real.
Trade School Teach And Internet Weld Wars
SPEAKER_03And I think sometimes you don't even realize you have learned them. Especially if you picked it up yourself, like no one's telling you. So you're that's why I tell my students all the time be mindful of everything you do. I don't care if you laid down 10 welds in a row, at least know what it felt like to lay them welds so you can feel something different next time. Uh, but with the TIG welding thing, one thing that seems to help my students, I tell them when I'm doing a demo, is watch the brightness. If I come off the pedal a little, it'll be a subtle adjustment on the cone and the brightness. And if I don't tell you to look for it, you're never gonna see it. But now that I told you, pay attention to it, and I'll try to yell to you what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. But it's that's always tough. Always tough, yeah, especially when you have like, you know, how many students do you have in your class? Let's start with that.
SPEAKER_03Um, well, it depends on if it's summer, spring, or fall, but roughly 15. And then the summer is usually like five, but like right now, the beginning of the semester, we have a class with 20 high schoolers. That's a rough one.
SPEAKER_02Uh most of the it's tough to get like 15 people looking at one guy welding, right? Like, how do you how do you tackle that?
SPEAKER_03What I normally do is I take them out in the open and I do one, and without feel, I will have to say, come on, because they'll all stand 10 feet back. And I'm like, no one's gonna bite you. And if they do, tell me we'll bite them back or something.
SPEAKER_01I don't know.
SPEAKER_03Uh so I I usually try to do like, let's just say I'm doing something simple like a lap joint. I'll do the lap joint and I'll notice five people paying attention. And then I have the ones in the back, I just kind of force them to be part of the group because if some people are just shy, and if you let them shy away, they will. And then throughout the night, like I'll get them to their booth and then see how they're doing right off their first wells. I can tell if they paid attention or not. And sometimes I don't think they pay attention at all. Because they're like, wait, what gas were you using? Dude, this was five minutes ago.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I know yeah, polarity is tough, but you're in the wrong one.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, if it's going that's AC, buddy. Uh yeah, but then I I'll do individual demos and I try to tell my students because let's say a class of ten, there's gonna be three, probably really good ones, that will ask for my attention all night, which that's fine. And then there's gonna be three that want to be good and are too scared to ask. So that's a hard thing about teaching is um making sure you're giving everyone the same amount of time or even backing off from somebody, right? Because some people don't learn well when you're breathing on their neck, you know, and and maybe they're too nervous to try something new because you're watching, and I don't know. It it's a hard thing to get, but I think I've been getting better at it. I'll do the demo and then I'll just walk around, I'll peek in their booths, watch them without them knowing. Well, half the time, if I don't jump scare jump scare them out of their booth. Um, I kind of just watch them if they're doing good, I slowly creep out, and if they're doing bad, I say, hey, let me hop in there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's uh I mean that's a great mentality, and and it's good that you're aware of that right now. Like you're still early in your teaching career, right? Like, yeah, it's you're still learning on the job.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I really well every day, every day in this is learning. Uh not only about the welding, because actually some of your welding can fall off coming into this position, uh, because I'm just teaching people the basics or how to pass a test, you know. So it's like, well, it's been three years since I've actually bent a rod three different ways and used the mirror. Sometimes I have to force myself to go in there, use your restricted restriction plate, and actually weld something so I can feel it again, you know? Um but just the learning people, especially the high schoolers. Um like I said, I I uh I left school very young and then went back to it, got my associates as an adult, but I was an honorary student. Uh, especially in high school, and I have a lot of honorary students, but they're not even bad kids. And I'm a I'm a hard ass on them. I uh I let them know I don't I don't let them mess around. I do let them joke, right, and have fun. Yeah. Uh but they always know when I'm serious. I'll st I'll shut the fans down and call the entire class over. Let's go. Now we're going through it. And I some of them thrive off that. Some of them that still DM me, even though I haven't taught them in two years, and they show me what they're doing for work. Those are those kids who were like struggling, but their English teacher isn't gonna say, get over here, you little bleep. I want to talk to you. You you know, we're cutting that out. Uh I'd like to think of it as the father figure, but it's more like an uncle figure. Yeah, unless you know some of them call you unk, I'm I'm guaranteeing. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I almost got a hat that said it. I actually take it as a compliment, man. You're not chopped yet. You're you're doing the good unknown.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, there you go.
unknownAll right.
SPEAKER_02So so listen, obviously, most of your students know that you have this social media presence. So how does how does that tie into it? Do they learn from your social media? Is does it become a distraction? What is it?
SPEAKER_03Um, I I don't pull it up during class, and I don't allow them to pull it up during class, even if they're just wanting to talk smack, which at first it would. Oh, that's part of the story. So the reason I found out they knew is because I walked into class and all 20 of the high schoolers were there and they were playing my video out loud. And I was like, oh man. But I I cut that out and I'm like, it's very cool. If you want to follow me, you can. Don't feel obligated, you know what I mean? Uh, but let's just keep this to learning, and you can learn from that. Um, if you have a question, is you know what I mean? I just don't want it to turn into like a circus, you know, because it's especially the high schoolers want to be in the videos. Like, okay, we should we should do this little dance, and I'm like, I don't know, are you even 18? Are you 17? Uh it's like a it's a fine line, you know what I mean? Yeah, that's definitely something you got to think about. And and uh yeah, but there is a lot of learning, and they do learn. They bring they do bring up my videos if it's a valuable video. Um, like my blueprint reading ones help a lot of people, uh, things like that. I've actually gone to since we have multiple factions, so I CWI for other campuses. So I'll drive out there, and um, I've gone to a campus two hours away, and as soon as I walked in, two of the people were like, What? I follow you on Instagram, and I was like, Wow, that's crazy. Awesome. And we talk about it for like five, ten minutes. I'm not a total buzzkill, you know. And then I'm like, All right, well, now you're gonna see who I really am, right? Because it's not like a sham, it's all your authentic self, but it's like I think about what I say there. Now I'm off the cuff, and yeah, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, there's a job to do, right? Like there's right, it's two different sides of that. So, how does someone determine what they're viewing online as good information, bad information, or just like misinformed? We were talking how like everyone does something a different type of way, but like what how do you where do you find the good information? How do you know it's good?
SPEAKER_03Man, this is actually a great question, and it's like a two-parter. It I can I'm gonna try not to rant off into people who already welded with the bad information, right? So I guess as a beginner, you really don't know. You have you have to find a trusted source.
CWB Testing Details That Surprise People
SPEAKER_03How do you find a trusted source? I kind of back my stuff up, and if I'm wrong, I admit it. I I do admit it, I've been wrong on some of my videos. I have some very smart people that follow me, especially on Facebook. Um, this is Kevin Guy on Instagram. I wouldn't listen to him. No, uh I need more haters. Yeah, come on, bring it. Uh but I have a lot of smart people who will back me up or correct me. But the thing is, I'll just pull out the book. I put right in my profile. This is D11. And when they think, I'll just snapshot the book. Listen, I'm telling you the truth. Or I'll show you the weld, or I'll do this. I think it's very hard for someone in the beginning to know whether they're getting it from the right source or not. Um, I wish I had the best way. I guess if you follow me and you follow you, that that's that's the best way to get the good information, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. I never I'll never steer a guy wrong. And if I don't know, I'm like you. If I don't know, I'll do some research. Like, I want to help a guy out, and or pass them off to somebody who does know.
SPEAKER_03Right. And people, so I do the weld quiz videos. People hate those, or not a lot of people love them, a couple people hate them, and it seems like they'll do this thing where they'll try to quiz me on this very niche question that, like, only one percent of the welding population would ever know. And they're like, Well, how about this guy? And I'll I'm like, Well, dude, I don't know, but the difference between me and you is I'll just look it up. Like, a bunch of you guys won't look it up, and uh part of the two-part answer to your question, how do they know they're getting reliable information? I think ethics comes into a lot of the CWI that you're testing under, right? And it's probably the same with uh CWB. Like a lot of people don't know that the first in D11, because there is a code that says it doesn't matter, in D11, the first half inch and the last half inch, a lot of welders will say, Well, that doesn't matter, they're cutting it off. But the fact is, it does matter, it's the entire thing, so then they'll be trashing on other people. I've got 20 certs, and then they'll send a picture of their cert, and I'm like, Well, that fails. Your CWI threw you a bone. What are you talking about? Yeah, yeah. So it's hard because even some welders with a lot of experience, they don't even always have all the right information, and neither do I, but I'm willing to tell you, oh, that's wrong, or oh, let me find it. I know smart people, a lot smarter than me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, it's true, like with so many things available now, and a lot of things, too, is you know, like these sponsorships, people get sponsored. Like, I've had a few partnerships myself, but like some of these guys out here, like they get a welding machine, and it's the best welding machine ever. It's like the best. Oh man, like I'm gonna this is the most amazing thing, beats all the other welding machines out there, but they're like getting paid to say so, right? Like, yeah, I like to I like to keep it real. Like, I'll tell you, if it sucks, it sucks, or what I like or don't like about it, right?
SPEAKER_03It's I can show you my emails back and forth to these people.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, it's it's hard to trust somebody, I want to say it's hard to trust someone who's getting paid to say something about something.
SPEAKER_03I think if there's multiple reputable people saying it's decent and saying it in a way that makes sense. So I guess the only the only thing I've made uh I made the videos on the on the uh art captain and I straight up tell them listen, I'm talking about for $350, I recommend this for $350. If you told me I had six grand to invest, I would probably recommend this this machine, right? But people are like, oh, you're just saying that. No, I'm saying because I've used multiple 300 and under welders that suck, and this one doesn't suck. I can pass a test with it. Are the are the amps slightly off? Of course, it's three hundred dollars. Are the leads only this big around? Yes, it's three hundred dollars.
SPEAKER_02So I too, I too have made our captain videos. Um, and same thing, you know. Like I put it straight up like this machine here, this particular model cannot weld a cellulose rod, like it cannot burn a 6010, right? It just goes crazy, just can't do it, right? You know what?
SPEAKER_03I don't think Lincoln SquareWave can either, but that just means try to add out.
SPEAKER_02Um, yeah, so and another thing, they sent me a plasma cutter too, and like I I told them straight up like, hey, this feels this feels cheap, like this nut on the back for the air separator, like the water separator, like I feel like I'm breaking it, just putting it together, right? So they took that input and they made the next model better. They put a steel nut instead of a plastic nut. And I think that's where you know, like these these videos or people trying out these machines is good. I also like the fact that their consumables are double-sided, like you wreck one side, you flip it.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02I think I think the big guys should be paying attention to that instead of these $70, $80 cartridges.
SPEAKER_03I think sometimes the big guys forget that they should still be listening to us. Right? We use it every day, but like our captain, since we're talking about them, they're they're just trying to throw their name in the hat. So of course they will, because they want us to say something good. And I have never been paid for the video, and I would tell them if it sucks. I did the video, I I welded the stick handle right off that machine, and it was still welding. Uh and then I said, Hey, uh, is this electrode holder cheap? Yeah. You know, if you want a $300 welder, costs gotta be cut. If it's in the lead, cool, get it get a new lead, get a better lead. And I those are for like the someone at home, you know, so or someone trying to learn, things like that. People don't understand that. Like they're out people in the field welding on these massive generator welders, and it's like that doesn't compare to this.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because yours is worth like sixty thousand dollars.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it makes me scratch my head, but I do think they're good. I I'm sure you've gotten messages. Uh yes, welder messages me quite a bit. Um but I don't know, recently I probably I don't know, I probably shouldn't even say it, but they were trying to send me like a hundred dollar welder, and I was like, I emailed them back, I said, listen, I'll do the test, but I'm just letting you know for a hundred dollar welder, I I'm going to assume it's gonna be like not up to the par with the other cheap welders I've done, and I just I'm not gonna lie about it. So if you decide to send it to me, just know if it works, great, yeah, I will say that. But if it sucks, I'm also going to say that. I'm not gonna be like, uh yeah, please buy this because people do they are it feels like they are starting to depend on what I'm saying. So if I say it's good, I'm just ripping a bunch of people off that I want to respect my opinion, really.
SPEAKER_02Yep, absolutely. Like, there's you gotta have integrity out there, and some people don't. Some people, you know, just about the dollar sign, you know, they got the best machine this week, and then next week, it's the next best machine, and then the next best machine, like it's just you know, brands.
SPEAKER_03You know, and I'm not calling yes, well, they're either. I don't know. I've never used one of their top line machines. I'm just saying that's what I tell them, and then they didn't end up sending it to me. So I'm like, cool, that that makes us both happy then. Yeah, pretty easy, yeah. Pretty easy there. I want Aesob to send me one, by the way.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, when this uh episode gets released, maybe we'll uh we'll point them in your direction. But it's cool though, like, yeah. How do you find now that you're you know you've got a social media presence and and it's going off like big? Like, do you get approached by the bigger guys? And if you did, you know, like is that something you want to do personally? You want to bring them to the school? Does your school need help? Like, where where does that stand?
SPEAKER_03Uh I wouldn't say the school needs help. Um, they got a lot more money than me. Um,
Automation Integrity And Avoiding Predatory Schools
SPEAKER_03but it is a community college, and man, I'm bad about going off on tangents. That's one thing. Our school is very, very cheap. That's one thing I argue with people online about. A lot of people are coming there virtually free. So I think just like people with brands can be predatory, I think some schools online are predatory. And now, because of social media, that's what all of our trade schools look like. Don't go there because I had a guy out of this school, and it's really like a $60,000 course for like four months, and he sucked. And it's like, man, mine's like a couple thousand dollars that you're gonna make back your second week at work, actually, because it's only a couple thousand dollars.
SPEAKER_02Um I'm really glad you brought that up because you're you're absolutely right. There are predatory welding schools, and you know, like it's state to state, right? Like, not everyone teaches the same, not all criteria is the same, and they just I don't know, it's like a diploma mill. They just want to get people in, get the money, see you later.
SPEAKER_03Um, yeah, exactly. Exactly. They and they get a lot of money. But to the actual question, I don't know if I would try to bring it to the school because one, my social media is separate from the school. I try to keep it like that. And one of the main reasons, so I can have my own opinion, right? Although if you work at a school, everything you do inside and out is representing the school. I also want to represent myself, if that makes sense. Um, and the thing about schools too, companies could I don't want a company to just only want to work with me so they can get into the school, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03If they want to work with me, I want them to work with me. And man, it would be awesome. If I got in with a good one and could give young welders like actual good welders, man, that'd be awesome. I've tried it with boots and stuff. My main goal, I give away a lot of my stuff to students. Um, so that's probably what I would do if big brands tried to work with me. Obviously, I'd like a nice Miller in my garage, but um, I take the first one. You know?
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's good, man. Like you got a good you got a good heart, you got a you know, a right mentality for where you're at right now. So it's it's great that a person like you is out there training the next generation of welders.
SPEAKER_03Thank you. And sorry, sorry if I'm not even answering your questions, man. I kind of am going off on tangents when you ask me one.
SPEAKER_02No, these are the best kinds of episodes because usually I forget what I asked you because I'm also like, oh, I like what he said there. Let's touch on this, let's go there. So it's uh it's good.
SPEAKER_03A couple times we've done that, and like five minutes later, I'm like, I did not answer his question.
SPEAKER_02Oh, it's all good, man. So listen, what is what is your biggest memory or your biggest like success in your career, or your like the coolest welding story that that sticks with you?
SPEAKER_03The coolest welding story or what you're most proud of. Um well I was I don't I'd have to think about that. I should you know, I should have thought about this before I came on here. I should have known there was gonna be a question like this. Um, well, my proudest of how I did when I first got into my pipe welding job, I had never welded a pipe at all. So in the booth while I was training to get onto the floor, I did good enough in stick where they allowed me to try the pipe test, and somehow I passed it. And then I learned really on the floor how to pipe weld, which could lead me on another tangent about how school is just to get people to weld the guys on the floor need to be bringing the kids up instead of saying they suck. Of course they do. They just learned how to weld in 3G on a test plate. Show them how to do it, but uh without doing that again. Um, and then after a while, I I think I went at least a year, maybe longer, without a single leak once I learned how to do it. And man, I could talk smack to anybody on the floor, man. Because there's some people that just make welded, and there's nothing wrong with that, even though it gets a lot of hate. But some people that just did this, I could do it all because I you can't do this. So I uh talk a lot of smack. But the thing I'm most proud of, I guess, is um I've turned into a decent enough human to where my students think about me when they're gone. And that sounds corny. That sounds corny and like a thing someone would just say, but it's the truth. Like I even make videos about him sometimes. Like when a student shows me pitches at his job or he's in the union, like I got one in the pipe fitters union, and he's absolutely killing the game, and I'm the one he's thinking of. It it's so flattering, right? Because a lot of students, or just people in general, will just take all the credit for themselves, and I'm not even trying to take the credit, they're just like giving it to me, and I'm trying to give it back. You know what I mean? I'm like, no, it was you, oh, it was you. It's just that's probably what I'm proud of, though. It's just very flattering. Like, I've become that type of person.
SPEAKER_02Man, that is that is super cool. Like, man, it's super heartwarming. I'm sitting here, like, man, I'm not gonna cry, but like that is very heartwarming.
SPEAKER_03I thought about it. If there was a Pixar movie in the back and I told that story, I'd be bald.
SPEAKER_02So, Nathan, as we wrap this up here, what would you tell a young person out there that's interested in the trades but doesn't know how to get started?
SPEAKER_03I would say do your research. And by that I mean number one, know what kind of welding you want to do. Because I don't even recommend everyone to my school, right? If if they're wanting to do something that's not in our local area, I say, yeah, we can get the basics, but this school, you know, in Ohio will do this. So do your research. Go to the school you want to go to. Like, show up and go in their class. Like, if you email me saying, Hey, I'm thinking about going to your school for welding, um, can I come in? I'd say, Yeah, I'm actually teaching a class from this time to this time. Come shadow the class. You know, obviously come prepared. Um, whenever you show up, stop wearing sweatpants, stop wearing slides. Uh, but do your research, figure out what you want to do, and don't be nervous, man. A lot of people are just too nervous to do it. I remember being, and man, I was I was already over 20, and I was like just nervous about trying to do something. I had never welded before. And what am I gonna do? Don't be nervous. And then if you do luck into just getting a job, uh just like you were saying, with you know, how do they pick the information that's good on the internet and not, do the same thing at your job. You know, there might be a guy there giving you all the information in the world. When he's not looking, take a peek at his weld,
Pride In Students And Final Advice
SPEAKER_03right? And that'll tell you whether to listen to him and find the one that's welding real good and ask him for advice. But just don't be nervous, don't take everything to heart and just take the leap. If you think about it, take the leap. Welding saved my life, and I mean that. I mean, I mean that.
SPEAKER_02Well, thanks very much, Nathan, for being my guest tonight, everyone. Nathan Aldrich. Here, why don't you just tell them all the tags right now, just so I don't mess them up?
SPEAKER_03All right, yeah. Um, trade school teach on Instagram and trade school teach on TikTok, and then on Instagram I have like that link treat thing that'll send you everywhere and anywhere else. I do have a YouTube, but I don't really post on it. You can follow me though if you want, that'd be sweet.
SPEAKER_02Right up. Well, thanks everyone. Yeah, go ahead. Thank you for having me, man. I appreciate it. Oh, absolutely. You've been a great guest. We got on so many different topics, got a little off track, but those that's the best, man. So thank you everyone for listening to another episode of the CWB Association Welding Podcast. Make sure you like, follow, subscribe, find us everywhere, and uh send this episode to uh someone you love.
SPEAKER_00Thank you.org to learn more. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions on what you'd like to learn about in the future. Please subscribe and thank you for listening.