One nonwelder’s advice to a new welder

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My nephew DJ asked for and received a little welding power source for Christmas. I don’t know much about it except that it’s a Hobart Brothers MIG machine. To my knowledge, DJ has never welded before, but he does have interest in working with his hands and possibly going to tech school after graduation. He’s only a freshman in high school, so a lot can change in three and a half years, but DJ is a hard worker and likes building, fixing, and tinkering.

When I was made aware of his interest, I started to think about what advice I would share with him, based on my limited knowledge of welding.

I didn’t have to look beyond the latest content from The WELDER to come up with a few things.

Working with your hands leads to self-reliance. My dad was the type who could build, fix, or navigate anything that allowed him to use his hands. He was a plumber by trade, but he was also a woodworker, an artist who made beautiful stained-glass pictures, and a general Mr. Fix It. I didn’t appreciate this quality about him until I was much older, but now I wish I had so that he could teach me how to change a tire, unclog a drain, or other simple tasks. One of the things Jason Hoynash of Blue Barn, the subject of The WELDER's January-February cover story, mentioned is how wonderful it is to get to teach his young daughter the value of self-reliance. He wants her to develop the confidence to be able to do things on her own and not rely on someone else.

Make mistakes. Learn from them. Repeat. You’re going to mess up in the beginning. A lot. And, if you’re doing it right, you’re going to keep messing up, just on different things. Be OK with it. Easier said than done, I know. Being perfect is far less important than being a hard worker who’s willing to learn and has a love of the craft.

On a related note, don’t feel like you need to be a polished, finished product right away. Believe it or not, there are individuals out there who will want to hire you even if you don’t come out of high school, tech school, or college knowing everything. In fact, some prefer you to be green because you have fewer bad habits to break.

Quality beats pretty. In an age where we feel the need to share everything we do on social channels, don’t forget that quality work always wins. Gina Cutts discusses this in more detail in this month’s Aluminum Etc. column. Pretty welds, particularly TIG welds, are cool, but so are welds that are structurally sound. Just because something looks good, that doesn’t necessarily mean it is.

Be open to change. In a recent welder profile, we were introduced to Stacy Sour Martinez, who was thrown into welding at a previous job. After navigating through the initial shock and terror of this change, Sour Martinez really took to it and has used it as a tool to start her own business making metal components for wood and metal furniture, fabricating architectural items, and dabbling in metal art. While this was a change she wasn’t expecting, it’s turned out to be great for her both personally and professionally.

No matter what DJ decides to do with his life, I’m pretty excited to see where this welding journey will take him. Stay tuned.