Knowing a lot of welders and a few pipefitters over my lifetime, most of
the welders are not college material. Good pay as a pipefitter. Big
shortage these days. The local Chevron Refinery has $500mm in upgrades
required. They are short welders. Good job for a lot of people. One of
the major errors in education these days, is the concept that all should go
to college. Maybe 20% of the people, but the education establishment 20-30
years ago, decided that college prep and not any industrial courses were the
norm. At least in California. I do art welding as a hobby and the local
Junior College has a great welding program. they are in the running for the
National Science Foundation grants to increase the female representation in
welding and automotive areas. A big percentage of the people in the welding
certification program are never going to be qualified to be engineers. They
will be great welders, but not the degreed designers.