Welding training a hot ticket to in-demand jobs

As job seekers shift their ambitions in response to the Great Recession, many have turned to the trades and to training at Wake Technical Community College.

Posted 5:42 p.m. Mar 27, 2015 — Updated 5:42 p.m. Mar 27, 2015

As job seekers shift their ambitions in response to the Great Recession, many have turned to the trades and to training at Wake Technical Community College.

One field that is red hot is welding. Christopher Githens, associate professor at Wake Tech, said he has a waiting list 80 students long for the semester that begins in the fall.

The job market for good welders has always been strong.

Skilled welders can make between $20 and $30 per hour, according to Bill Morris, president of Morris and Associates in Garner, where workers make industrial refrigeration vessels, often used to in food production.

"Some of our technicians have welding as part of their skills, and they make up to six figures," Morris said. "That sounds like a career to me."

Clayton Banbeck agrees. He is a student in the Wake Tech program, about half way finished his two-year associate's degree program.

"I could use my hands and make a lot of money," he said.

"Welding is an art as well as a science," Morris said, and demand is only increasing.

"As different metal alloys are introduced, all those require different kinds of welding. You're basically melting metal together, and that's pretty difficult to do," he said.

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