WESTWEGO, La. —
At Delgado Community College’s River City Campus students are hard at world learning how to weld.
“In the beginning, you do get nervous because you’ve never done it before,” said student Tyrone Watson.
Watson used to be sandblaster and painter. He decided to switch because he kept seeing jobs listings looking for welders.
“When I would be out there looking for sand blasting and painting jobs that is all you’d see up and down the road, (signs) looking for welders and stuff,” said Watson.
According to American Welding Society, there will be a shortage of close to 400,000 professional welders by 2024. Many current welders are nearing retirement age, leaving less people to work on America’s bridges, highways, buildings, boats, you name it.
“We are trying to bridge the gap because a lot of people are retiring from this industry and some companies need to make up that gap,” said Delgado welding instructor Alcindo Frye.
Frye says proof of the demand can be seen at the end of nearly every 12-week program.
“We had a class that finished last week and we had three companies come in and make job offers to them.”
The welding route is a different career path than traditional four-year college degrees. Often times there is less debt involved and the pay can still be lucrative.
“I mean you can pretty much make anywhere in the $30 to $40 an hour range,” said Frye. “I try to tell our students not to think of those ranges just leaving out of school but once you learn this trade you can actually get up to that level.”
For Watson -- he is happy to have a new path and is hopeful for the future.
Where do you see yourself in the future,” asked WWLTV’s Paul Dudley. “Hopefully I’ll have a good job, working at a good place,” said Watson.