Welding School: Daunting Task or Invaluable Experience?

By Melissa Lentz, Trish Koehler and Monica DeBrot
Insight Marketing, LLC

As three women who had only recently heard about MIG and TIG—and most definitely couldn’t tell you the difference between the two—we admit that we felt a bit of apprehension when confronted with the thought of going to welding school.  No, we felt a lot of apprehension.  But to write about something intelligently requires hands on experience and knowledge.  And that’s what we do for Miller Electric Mfg. Co., Hobart Brothers, Smith Equipment, Weldcraft and Bernard—we write.  We are part of Insight Marketing, LLC, their public relations agency and it is our job to promote these companies and their products through press releases, magazine articles and feature stories, making sure to find publications that will offer the most relevant visibility.  So in order to do our job well, we knew we had to get under the helmet.

Fortunately, being three women in a male dominated school was never intimidating.  Everyone treated us with respect (if not a bit of curiosity), wondering why we were learning to weld.  In the morning classes, the instructors offered us an overview in oxy-fuel, Stick, GTAW, GMAW and flux cored welding, as well as the safety procedures that accompany each process.  We then spent our afternoons in the lab trying each method.  Unfortunately, with our inexperience, we often forgot some of the more practical information we had learned in that morning’s class.  We all admit to sticking a few electrodes and dulling some tungsten and at least two of us had our first unfortunate encounter with arc flash…and our second.

Overall, the experience of welding school was invaluable because of the vast amount of background information we received, along with the opportunity we had to witness Miller power sources and Hobart Brothers electrodes and wires in action.  Everywhere we turned, there was a piece of equipment that we recognized, but had never seen up close.  And by no means had we ever realized the amount of study and dedication welders needed for their craft before trying it ourselves.

Although we were only in Troy for one week, we learned pretty quickly that welding requires great skill, patience and knowledge in order to excel.  We have a huge appreciation for the Hobart Institute of Welding Technology for giving us the skills to do our jobs better and for offering us the opportunity to serve our clients to the best of our abilities.