Every day is a school day!

[CRVB91]

So, I informed my father that I wanted to go to night college in the new year - to learn how to weld and start getting my certification(s) to do so.. as someone who only ever tried it once when I was much younger and nearly burnt the shed down.. he said we could practice, so with some free time today I decided today was the day, and dad geared himself up for another shed fire. 

My first assignment was a T weld - I cleaned the metal up, set the welder up, did my health and safety checks - chucked the mask on and hoped for the best and to say I think I've found my "thing" is an understatement!! Me and dad had some awesome "Dad n daughter time" and I've spent the entire day smiling, what more can we ask for?

So here we have it - my first ever proper weld, first T weld, a burnt sleeve and hand - and a mighty proud dad, who messaged me to confirm I did the weld when I report back to the boss! Everyday is a school day folks, cant wait til next time 😁😁

[oleman]

I also have a Daughter, she never appeared to have any interest in anything I had any interest in or worked with. I did spend many worried hours watching her crash on the ice as she learned to ice skate.  

[mmi]

Never know what you can do or LIKE until tried many times.

Successful lives are built on failure and try again ,good luck.

15 x> years ago when this site had a "live conversation" page (?chat box).

We had a young LAdy professional welder from KY. Often wonder how her life progressed??

[Diesel Doctor]

Night college scared me?

Then I seen welding and thought Tech school.

Then I read further and found what you really meant.

I can hear the pride in these words.

These moments can never be taken from you.

Enjoy!

 

[ChrisNY]

Nice job! Good friend of mine runs a welding shop and his daughter helps him out frequently and is a very good welder. Watch the Youtube channel Farming, Fixing and Fabricating, it is a dairy farm not far from me and they build truck bodies in the winter. His 2 young daughters do most of the welding. 

[CRVB91]

Thanks all! I am really proud of the weld and my dad was super excited to see me do so well too. Good memories, have signed the weld and dated it, looking forward to putting one next to it in a years time to see the difference 😁 

*think I may have needed to turn the amp down a little, had some splatter which google tells me may be because it was too hot? Anyways, added better pic here, didn't realise those ones would be so small. 

[Powered by IH]

19 minutes ago, CRVB91 said:

Thanks all! I am really proud of the weld and my dad was super excited to see me do so well too. Good memories, have signed the weld and dated it, looking forward to putting one next to it in a years time to see the difference 😁 

*think I may have needed to turn the amp down a little, had some splatter which google tells me may be because it was too hot? Anyways, added better pic here, didn't realise those ones would be so small. 

Congrats! Most importantly your consistency is great.

The amps actually look like they need to be turned up a little so that the weld "flows" in better to the base metal. Doing small zigzags or circles would help a lot with that.

[int 504]

Leather welding gloves will fix the hand and arm issues. Keep up the good work.

[CRVB91]

4 hours ago, Diesel Doctor said:

Night college scared me?

Then I seen welding and thought Tech school.

Then I read further and found what you really meant.

I can hear the pride in these words.

These moments can never be taken from you.

Enjoy!

 

Thankyou! I often forget over here we refer to things a little different! 

- Night college is basically just college, but for adults, and we go in the evening instead of during the day, which is just fine with me - I have enough of my own teenagers without having to deal with everyone else's AND try to not burn the place down 😅 

[FoxrunFarms02]

Awsome job. One of my 1st jobs I was told by the oldest worker " if you don't learn something new each day, you didn't work hard enough" and I try to live by that.

I regret not taking a metals class in high-school, only took auto, woods, home repair, and video editing for extra non traditional classes. Out of high school I thought about night school for welding. The local tech college had an open house and I toured it. I talked with the instructor and he had a virtual reality welder. You put on the sheild and ran the gun across the block and he showed you on thr screen what you did right or wrong.......it was cool and saved materials but it wasn't " the real deal"

I have a little hobby farm and bought a lincoln stick welder for 100.00. I call it farm welding.....a pile of pennies, instead of a stack of dimes, but everything sticks and nothing a grinder can't fix.

I worked at a factory for 3 years. We werr constantly short handed and I got pulled into different departments to cover for call ins. One day a supervisor says " you're a farmer, you must know how to weld,  go into the welding department ". I met the welding supervisor, he tossed me a jacket and helmet and said " listen to the egg frying  that's all you need to do" the more I was in that department the better I got. Practice makes perfect.

I beleive welding is a great skill to have.  Even with robots, they can't do everything we can. Keep at it and great job going after what you want.

[farmall666]

On 12/14/2025 at 12:11 PM, ChrisNY said:

Nice job! Good friend of mine runs a welding shop and his daughter helps him out frequently and is a very good welder. Watch the Youtube channel Farming, Fixing and Fabricating, it is a dairy farm not far from me and they build truck bodies in the winter. His 2 young daughters do most of the welding. 

HANDY ANDY HAS GOOD KIDS. THE GIRLS ARE PRETTY ALSO. THOSE GIRLS CAN HADLE A TRUCK GOOD AS ANY GUY.

[ChrisNY]

6 minutes ago, farmall666 said:

HANDY ANDY HAS GOOD KIDS. THE GIRLS ARE PRETTY ALSO. THOSE GIRLS CAN HADLE A TRUCK GOOD AS ANY GUY.

Yes indeed

[CRVB91]

Little update for you all as its been a while! College is great, probably the best thing I've ever done, the guys there and my tutor have been amazing and have a wealth of knowledge. 

The past couple months have been hard outside of college, there has been a lot of loss, stress and heartache, my cat who I've had and loved dearly since I was 19 needing to be put to sleep has been the latest in a long line this week - but thus far, college has been a welcome distraction from everything.

Which is why I'm pleased to tell you that I am now halfway through my level 1, I've passed all the assignments so far with much praise and encouragement from my tutor. Today I got the news I have been accepted for not only my level 2, but also a progressive course alongside that, which will provide me with certificates for welding competence testing to BS4872 standards. My tutor says I can then do my level three and work towards BS EN ISO 9606 cert, alongside hopefully a welding apprenticeship of my choosing. 

It's mad how our life map changes in ways we had never thought of before but its a journey I am excited to find myself on. I have so much to learn and despite it sometimes being really stressful, I'm very grateful for the opportunity. 

 

 

[Diesel Doctor]

Life isn't always what you want, or need.

You need to roll with the punches and realize one thing.

Never forget, but you can't change history.

And life is changing daily.

Attack a problem with everything you have and life will be good to you.

How do you say it across the pond, "Keep a stiff upper lip?" 

[CRVB91]

1 hour ago, Diesel Doctor said:

Life isn't always what you want, or need.

You need to roll with the punches and realize one thing.

Never forget, but you can't change history.

And life is changing daily.

Attack a problem with everything you have and life will be good to you.

How do you say it across the pond, "Keep a stiff upper lip?" 

Keep a stiff upper lip, yes - or keep your chin* up!

(Chins up* if it's a close friend who understands British humor and isnt easily offended)

Keep calm and carry on, usually whilst sipping a nice cup of tea. 

[iowaboy1965]

I'm glad school is going well for you. I hope life's other stress eases up for you and things go more smoothly. 

[mike newman]

@CRVB91......good to see you  progressing with that particular skill...

Many years gone my Uncle brought one of the first Welders into our district....His initial efforts were beyond hideous.....as there were no 'tutors' around  anywhere in our area...In fact one of his friends used an interesting analogy in respect of  his first welding endeavours...this converting an old Oliver crawler into a tobacco picking machine.....This was the comment.....""Jacks welding is like sowing up a bull's arse with a snig chain...""

A few years later I went to a Caterpillar agency and ''learned '' to weld....By then my Uncle had taught me the basics ..(His welding had improved  by then  !!! )and thus it took no time at all to get all the NZ Certifications ,required at that time...circa  early 1960's...

This unlikely skill  has helped immeasurably ...built all my own tipping truck decks plus a myriad other things and it ultimately led me to three years in the British Turks and Caicos Islands   , doing welding tuition on a huge "Aman''  tourist project....   I only left because I decided that  I loved my serious outdoor life style in NZ...far more than the multitude of  tax free  US Dollars   that a few of us   'expat'  Kiwi's and Pom's were getting....

...and being one of the very odd Kiwi's that does not drink alcohol...I used to get sent to the US ,beautiful Eastern States to buy equipment for this massive tourist complex..every thing from Excavators down to motorised concrete mixers and generators....Fly into Charlotte, North Carolina..get a rental..and away  we go, checking out all the multitude of requirements for the first two stages of that 370 Million US Amanyara  Tourist project...

..all this because I held a few welding certifications.......

Only problem welding these  'daze' is vision...or specifically ...lack of it....need magnification on the Millar helmet !!

Go well with your welding !!

Mike

[CRVB91]

1 hour ago, mike newman said:

@CRVB91......good to see you  progressing with that particular skill...

Many years gone my Uncle brought one of the first Welders into our district....His initial efforts were beyond hideous.....as there were no 'tutors' around  anywhere in our area...In fact one of his friends used an interesting analogy in respect of  his first welding endeavours...this converting an old Oliver crawler into a tobacco picking machine.....This was the comment.....""Jacks welding is like sowing up a bull's arse with a snig chain...""

A few years later I went to a Caterpillar agency and ''learned '' to weld....By then my Uncle had taught me the basics ..(His welding had improved  by then  !!! )and thus it took no time at all to get all the NZ Certifications ,required at that time...circa  early 1960's...

This unlikely skill  has helped immeasurably ...built all my own tipping truck decks plus a myriad other things and it ultimately led me to three years in the British Turks and Caicos Islands   , doing welding tuition on a huge "Aman''  tourist project....   I only left because I decided that  I loved my serious outdoor life style in NZ...far more than the multitude of  tax free  US Dollars   that a few of us   'expat'  Kiwi's and Pom's were getting....

...and being one of the very odd Kiwi's that does not drink alcohol...I used to get sent to the US ,beautiful Eastern States to buy equipment for this massive tourist complex..every thing from Excavators down to motorised concrete mixers and generators....Fly into Charlotte, North Carolina..get a rental..and away  we go, checking out all the multitude of requirements for the first two stages of that 370 Million US Amanyara  Tourist project...

..all this because I held a few welding certifications.......

Only problem welding these  'daze' is vision...or specifically ...lack of it....need magnification on the Millar helmet !!

Go well with your welding !!

Mike

Wow Mike, it seems your welding took you places! I'd like to go to sea at some point and do some out there, although I think you need 6+ years experience on the job for that, so that would be quite a while off for me. 

Thankfully, my vision is fine, but funny story, the first time I welded with Dad, he swore til he was blue in the face that he had turned the mask on and couldn't understand why I was pacing around the garden blinded and immensely upset! He now says "she learnt early on to check her mask is working" 🤭🤣 

 

[CRVB91]

If I've done this correctly, then this is a link to a video that my son uploaded to his YouTube account, of me passing a second welding assessment in one evening 😁 

 

 

[Rawleigh99]

Great job! I'm glad to see you're sticking to it. It should be a great thing for you. A bit of an unconventional path for women, but more and more women are getting into it now and there's no reason they can't do the job just as well as men.

[acem]

Congratulations.

I have a niece who is a welder.

 

[CRVB91]

Absolutely! I'm really enjoying it! 

[Shell1066]

Congratulations!! The sound of  frying metal has a pleasing sound!! Good luck in your endevor.

[whweldit]

Stay with it.  Taught high school welding 33 years. Retired in 2007.   Had several girls in class thru the years.  Everyone of them could out weld the boys.  Eye hand coordination seemed much smoother with the girls. 

[Gearclash]

If you have the chance, try welding aluminum.  It is interesting to weld, kind of like welding pieces of ice together.