Brilliant speech about Vocational training

I saw this a couple of days ago , and Mike is dead on the money . Dirty hands built thiscountry ...

I liked it so well I signed up.

Ernie Leimkuhler wrote in sci.engr.joining.welding on Thu, 19 May 2011 01:10:11 -0700:

I'm on dial-up. : ( Can I get a summery?

--Winston

We are raising a crop of kids who are too smart to be able to fix a toilet. The "shovel ready jobs" are not being filled because of a lack of skilled labor.

That's in a nutshell.

Steve

(...)

Whoa, lets not over-complicate the problem.

Just let Industry know how many more workers to kill off so that productivity can increase.

--Winston

Plus, I guess a lot of people these days are so educated they know enough to stay away from any job with the word shovel attached.

Steve

Steve B wrote in sci.engr.joining.welding on Thu, 19 May 2011 16:17:43 -0700:

Thanks Steve.

Winston wrote in sci.engr.joining.welding on Thu, 19 May 2011 09:34:26 -0700:

Cool, thanks.

When I taught a 2 year two hour program in Electronics (not TV) in the 70's - the hew and cry was 'I want my kid to be a rocket scientist' - when the kid had a hard time to spell his name correct day to day. Love parents to death, but a good trade skill would do wonders for some kids. Assembly of parts to make assemblies... A lot of kids assemble robot cars, RC cars/trucks and the like - they can do a lot of this and make ends meet.

What I have seen in the recent years is a flood of once cheap labor that moved out the 'bottom feeder' society - dish washers, to lawn keepers and light construction, general workman. That money is going south in wire grams. And We are asked where did the jobs and money go ?

Mart> Steve B wrote in

On May 21, 12:25=A0pm, Martin Eastburn wrote:

Amen to all of the above... I'm a 29yr old who got into "skill trades" late in the game only to discover that holding a Tool and Diemaker's diploma wasn't really vehicle for a career since all that skill was of no use. Employers (at least those that I've worked for and interviewed at in this part of Ontario) only want semi-ignorant factory workers, part loading monkeys, rather than valued and respected indivduals who can innovate and improve efficiency. "we're competing with the Chinese, we have to cut corners, we cant afford to innovate, just do it this way and maybe we'll think about changing it up for the next run...etc, etc" Welding has been a hobby, but since I've been very disapointed with the type of machining work there is to be found here, and having been laid off I'm now taking advantage of the fact I have little to lose. I'm starting a fabrication and repair buisness, and already before I've recieved my new welding machine I've got jobs coming at me from all different directions. "I heard you're starting a business... I need this made/fixed/modified, oh and I've got a friend who needs something for his business too, can I give him your number" Machining was a 2nd choice, and the only option given that the college here dissolved its welding program almost 10 years ago. I like machining, but its funny how welding has come back around to land in my lap. I might also point out that the Machining program at the college is nearing collapse, with fewer and fewer students every year. There is some effort being made to encourage trades careers, but not enough. The overriding stigma of "dirty hand" jobs is keeping young people from even looking in that direction. Its like a societal blind spot where people don't even realize where their infrastructure and consumer goods, and even the backbone of their high tech products come from. Bah! sorry. I'll step off my soapbox now, and defer to you, the wiser and more eperienced contributors to this group. Just frustrating to see people everywhere who subscribe to this learned helplessness. Its not right when most people are so oblivious that it makes you want to smack your forehead, or them.

rant over. I appologize.

-mark

Amen to all of the above... I'm a 29yr old who got into "skill trades" late in the game only to discover that holding a Tool and Diemaker's diploma wasn't really vehicle for a career since all that skill was of no use. Employers (at least those that I've worked for and interviewed at in this part of Ontario) only want semi-ignorant factory workers, part loading monkeys, rather than valued and respected indivduals who can innovate and improve efficiency. "we're competing with the Chinese, we have to cut corners, we cant afford to innovate, just do it this way and maybe we'll think about changing it up for the next run...etc, etc" Welding has been a hobby, but since I've been very disapointed with the type of machining work there is to be found here, and having been laid off I'm now taking advantage of the fact I have little to lose. I'm starting a fabrication and repair buisness, and already before I've recieved my new welding machine I've got jobs coming at me from all different directions. "I heard you're starting a business... I need this made/fixed/modified, oh and I've got a friend who needs something for his business too, can I give him your number" Machining was a 2nd choice, and the only option given that the college here dissolved its welding program almost

10 years ago. I like machining, but its funny how welding has come back around to land in my lap. I might also point out that the Machining program at the college is nearing collapse, with fewer and fewer students every year. There is some effort being made to encourage trades careers, but not enough. The overriding stigma of "dirty hand" jobs is keeping young people from even looking in that direction. Its like a societal blind spot where people don't even realize where their infrastructure and consumer goods, and even the backbone of their high tech products come from. Bah! sorry. I'll step off my soapbox now, and defer to you, the wiser and more eperienced contributors to this group. Just frustrating to see people everywhere who subscribe to this learned helplessness. Its not right when most people are so oblivious that it makes you want to smack your forehead, or them.

rant over. I appologize.

-mark

You'll have an advantage knowing both machining and welding. ;>) Learn to tig aluminum and stainless too, eih? You won't regret it. Good luck to you, go for it!! phil k.

In the shipyard, we have several machines that can so sizable jobs for us, for instance, automatic CAC, auto FCAW, SAW, and auto GTAW.

What we don't have are machines that can fit and weld all these oddball parts together accurately while dealing with distortion and funky angles.

There are not really that many people who simply cannot learn to weld. In eight years, I've only met one person who just couldn't get it. He's a born bookworm, though, and landed a job in our technical library.

It seems that most anyone can learn to weld. Welding good enough is usually the problem I see. It's a mindset thing. I keep in mind the lives of the people that depend on my work, not the aches and pains I'm feeling while I do the work.

Besides, I want the last thing those terrorists to see are my beautiful welds on the sponson, which happens to be welded to the deckhouse I also helped build, which happens to have mounted to it a really big gun that just blew them away.