Is The Income From Pipeline Welding Jobs Worth It? Details Inside

Many large and small scale industrial projects require pipeline welding jobs, to be performed as part of the overall completion of the project. The income you can achieve from these types of jobs is pretty interesting. We will get to what these jobs have in store for you, and whether or not there is good income to be gained throughout the course of this article.

Pipeline welding jobs, like other welding jobs, have a level of danger involved. It requires you to be focused. Your welds on those pipes will be under scrutiny by welding inspectors, to ensure that your quality of work is worthy.

There are many areas and environments in which people do pipeline welding jobs. Oil refineries, chemical plants, power plants, tunnels, and in a variety of outdoor environments are just a few examples. Also, as a pipe welder, you will be exposed to varying weather conditions while you work in the field. This can make welding far more difficult if you have unforgiving weather to deal with. The hard work goes on, usually non-stop for many hours.

There are several welding processes that are utilized to facilitate the joining of metals. Not all welding processes can be used for any welding job. Pipe welders prefer the SMAW process or shielded metal-arc welding and TIG process or tungsten inert gas welding.

You also have what is referred to as positions with regard to pipe welding. You will only be allowed to weld in the positions, and to the specifications in which you are certified to weld. The positions in pipe welding, refer to the positions of the pipe, not the positions of the weld. There are four positions and these are 1G, 2G, 5G and 6G. Pipe welding omits the 3G and 4G positions since they don't exist for this kind of welding.

To further flesh out the details on the positions used for welding pipes for pipeline welding jobs. The 1G position has the pipe placed flatly and rolled. The 2G pipe position has the welding on the pipe done horizontally, however the pipe is placed vertically. Now in the 5G pipe position, the pipe is placed similarly to the 1G position, but it is fixed and not rolled or rotated during the welding operation. Lastly, the 6G position has the pipe on a fixed incline (usually 45 degrees) and is not moved during the welding operation.

When it comes to the income you can make from pipeline welding jobs, you stand to earn the most when you attain 6G certification. The income is far greater when you are a certified 6G welder than if you were only a certified 5G, 2G or 1G pipe welder. 6G welding combines all of the other four welding positions, which makes it the toughest to master. You will be able to weld in the 1G, 2G, and 5G pipe positions, if you can weld in the 6G pipe position. 6G welders have the ability to make six figures from doing pipeline welding jobs, annually.

Pipeline welding jobs as you can see, entails doing a lot of work. It is not a lazy man's job. Is it worth it? Once your welds can get past quality evaluation methods such as x-ray and you are generally a hard worker, you should have a bright financial future in this field. Pretty much anyone can do it, so why not give it a shot?