Pipe Welding: What About You Attending U University (The School Where You Teach Yourself, And Fast)

Self education is almost a lost art in our society.

We are so into institutions for everything we do, we have forgotten that we used to teach ourselves nearly everything. Conversely, my grandfather who was born in 1893, taught himself how to build radios at age 12, and was a radio operator on a ship traveling the world, at age 18.

There are modern examples of self education.

We don't think of these examples as self education. We think of them as special gifted people who popped into this world with amazing talent, period. I'm talking about people like rock stars, race car drivers, concert violinist, and famous sports figures. The simple truth is, in virtually every case, these people have spent many thousands of hours involved in critical practice - practicing hard, pushing past their previous practice high points, to make progress with each session.

You can find future stars everywhere in every field.

They are the kids that seem intensely tuned-in spending almost all their time focused on one thing. Unfortunately, you'll also find kids intensely tuned-in with video games, putting in thousands of hours of practice that probably won't end with any star status, professional status, or even a good job with great pay.

Be Careful, children driven by the dreams and aspirations of their parents can (and often do) end up with problems born of following someone else's dream.

You may be reading this, and you may be tempted to make your 12-year-old a pipe welder. You can do that, and it would be a gift that would ensure he or she will never wash dishes, but it has to be their vision, or you'll pay a price on the other end.

Here's the good news.

At almost any age, the vast majority of us can gain a valuable skill which will at least provide a good income, IF (and it is a big if) we simply practice that skill with critical practice at the edge of our ability, for 300 to 500 hours. We can become world-class, at almost anything, with thousands of hours of practice.

In the case of 6G pipe welding, the conventional institutions (welding schools) require so much baloney before you can actually weld a 6G practice joint, you can literally spend two years in welding school before you weld your first joint. Next, you'll sit in pipe welding classes where they teach you some book learning about pipe welding. Next, you'll get to weld a joint, and it's back to the classroom.

"All in all, you're just another brick in the wall," to quote an old rock song and show my age.

So, after two years of school, as another brick in the wall, and then 6 months in pipe welding school, you have welded maybe 25 pipe joints in the 6G position. You may just have one slim chance of passing a bend test to certify. 25 joints just isn't enough, but they don't tell you that. They tell you, "you just don't got it."

It is so sad, but true. Ask a pipe welding school that puts say, 40 students through a 3 month, $12,000 program how many students certify at the end of 3 months. They'll tell you, 12 or 14. Do they blame the fact that they are not getting these student enough critical practice? No! The students who can't certify, "just don't got it," according to the instructor or school owner.

I don't know about you, but if the entire point of school was to learn to weld pipe, why didn't you weld more?

Many old time welders will tell you, you just have to burn a lot of rod. That is particularly true of 6G welding. There isn't a lot more to it, after you understand to how to cut the pipe, prepare the test joint, and get it set up at 45 degrees, it is time to burn rod. Yes, you need a great video, a fantastic welding book, and your own good old determination to put the hours in, just like you did when you got so good at "World of War Craft."

Once you know how to set up and proceed, practice is all that's left, hours and hours of critical practice.

Let's say you could set up your first joint tomorrow and start welding, and you could weld up 3 or 4 joints a day, for the next 60 days. Do you think you could do more than pass your certification test? Yes! You would ready to become one of the cream of pipe welding, after some field experience - just 60 days from now. Rig welders are out in the shale oil fields making $70 an hour, right now.

Warning!

The world will constantly tell you what you can't do. Only YOU can tell you what you can do. Please seriously consider finding the right welding book, the right welder, rod, pipe, video, and written instructions to teach you. Attend U University, because it is the best, most caring and fastest school in the world - you teaching you.