I got a new job

Today I became the topside welding instructor for the Diving Institute of Technology in Ballard.

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DIT trains scuba divers and underwater welders. I am just teaching the basic welding/cutting class. They have another guy to teach the underwater stuff. I am starting off at 2 weeks a month, 30-40 hours/week.

I will still be teaching evenings at South Seattle.

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The 2 jobs together allow me to get away from contracting, which has been getting progressively more and more annoying to me over the last year. This means I will have some off time to work on my fabled welding books and videos.

The best bit about this new job is FULL benefits. Comprehensive Medical and Dental.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler
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Congrats.

I graduated from Ocean Corporation Commercial Diving School in November,

1974.

The greatest quote I ever heard re: welding/diving is: It is easier to teach a welder to dive than a diver to weld.

The welding instruction part of my diving school was very short. Most experience was gained by actually doing it. But, it did lead me on to go to a Louisiana State welding school, and other courses that brought me up to speed. We worked a ton with pipeline laying, and I learned a lot about welding from those pros. Then, there was the actual experience gained as a steel erection contractor for nine years.

I look at it as the seed that produced *******. (The plant in the "Little Shop Of Horrors.) I can't bring up that name right now, but it seems descriptive and appropriate.

Was it Audrey?

Good luck.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

Many congratulations Sir, Well done!

All the best and enjoy it!

Rob

Fraser Competition Engines Chicago, IL. Long Beach, CA

Reply to
RDF

Super duper Sir !

Down in Lufkin Tx. using some sticks you shipped me. :-)

I'll be waiting with others for the fabled welding books and videos. :-)

Martin

Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH, NRA Life NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

Ernie Leimkuhler wrote:

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

--Glad to hear you're payin' the bills, but we're going to miss your visits to these parts! :-)

Reply to
steamer

Ernie Leimkuhler wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news1.west.earthlink.net:

FANGDANGTASTIK!!!

Reply to
RAM^3

Oh I am still going to be visiting the Bay Area. My parents, one sister, and one brother still live in Berkeley.

I have a bunch of stuff to finish on my sister's house before school starts. I will be driving down next week to install the back-splashes in the kitchen and the handrail down the main stairwell, both in bronze.

I also have the custom bronze venthood and of course the massive Corten steel awning that raps around the back of the house to complete as well. I had the awning cut, punched and bent by Farwest Steel here in Renton, and shipped down on a truck. It was cheaper by $2000 than the closest bid I could get in Northern California, including shipping.

The backsplash, venthood and railings are necessary to get there certificate of occupancy. The awning is not as critical.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

Yep. Audrey II, to be pedantic.

"Feed me, Seymour!" :)

Reply to
John Husvar

Way way way cool!!! Congratulations!!!!

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

Reply to
Gunner

Park your truck where you can see it..and pull the rotor at night.

gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

Reply to
Gunner

That's awesome Ernie, good luck with the new gig. I'll be waiting for the instructional video, save one for me.

walt ps. underwater welding... that just sounds silly :^)

Reply to
wallster

Reply to
John

Yeah.. very, very cool.

Reply to
JohnM

Congratulations!

That gets me thinking about the job of underwater welder as an alternate career.

What are the general physical criteria and what does such a course cost? My employer will pay for damn near any school I want to take (ding!) but there's still some expense I have to foot, I'm sure. Are all the classes during the day, or are there evening hours? How long is the overall course last and how is it broken up?

Reply to
carl mciver

I believe the full program at DIT costs around $10,000, but they have financial aid packages.

Underwater welders make a LOT of money by the hour so they can pay off the training cost over a few years.

Most of the instructor at DIT take a quarter off every once and a while to go work in the business. They have 2 guys on the North Slope of Alaska, and 3 guys in the gulf of Mexico.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler
10k Is not bad at all. My MCSE and Sun Solaris certifications were more than that with the class time before I got out of my job as a V.P. of technology at a bank here in Chicago. MY MBA and other stuff not covered by work got the bills paid by the V.A. Any one here could pull it off with all the grants and scholarships out here today. Seems like they want to educate us old farts just as much as the couch-potato X-box teens planted in front of the TV.. I hope you enjoy being home more, We are all waiting for your book so at least now you have the insurance, and a bit of more time to yourself. Lucky guy... I always thought working for myself was going to be a dream come true.... yea, I get a dummy stick for that one... Well Chief, get to work on that book now!!!

Rob

Fraser Competition Engines Chicago, IL. Long Beach, CA.

Ernie- You dive already or are you going to take it up?

Reply to
RDF

I have snorkeled, but never SCUBA.

The guys at DIT say everybody who works there eventually straps on some tanks and goes down, even the book-keepers and secretaries.

I am more interested in underwater welding than just SCUBA diving.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

I think that the thinking is that the old farts are more reliable and more likely to show up for work on time. By the time you become an old fart, whatever age range you are using, you have have gained some wisdom, common sense and have survived the youthful dumb mistakes.

But then again some never learn. The graves and prisons are full of those types.

. Any one here could pull it off with all the

Reply to
Dixon Ranch

80% of life is showing up. One guy who will come in every day is worth every primadonna you can pack in a 40' semi box.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

SCUBA is awesome. While I'm no longer in Seattle (I'm at MIT now), my dad and I did a lot of dives with Silent World Diving Systems. (they are not terribly cheap, though, since they specialize in more high-end gear -- up to and including closed-loop rebreathers.)

When you get a chance, go for it! And not just for the welding! Commercial divers can and do go down much, much deeper with far more exotic equipment than recreational divers. I suspect, though I don't know for sure, that it would be a very easy switch to go from commercial diving to recreational diving instruction.[1]

Point Hardy up in BC is apparently one of the best places in the Northwest to visit; it's a wall dive with more exotic sea life per square inch than anything you'll see again. Very cold water, so get used to wetsuit diving.

There is, if I remember correctly, at least one organization catering to divers that offers discounted packages if you want to see the Caribbean. Of course, they also offer tours to most other locales, but the Caribbean's warm water is my personal favorite.

[1] Dive instructors are always needed at resorts. Often people will go teach diving in Fiji or the Caymans or Bermuda or Hawaii for a year or so as an extended paid vacation...
Reply to
highfidelity

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