playnext.fm

Arc Junkies · Jason Becker

Weld Wednesday with AWS | National Welding Month Special

·1 hr 6 min·5 clips
A pipeline welder, an underwater diving instructor, and a drift race car builder reveal how welding opened three wildly different career doors.
April gets the AWS spotlight here. Jason Becker opens by tying National Welding Month to 1996, the American Welding Society, and the push to show what welding does beyond the booth. The 30-year mark gives the episode room to salute tradespeople, educators, inspectors, engineers, and leaders without making it feel stiff. Then the hood drops lower. The best shop-floor texture arrives when the talk turns to underwater welding and the guest explains how strange it feels at first. Electricity meets water. Somehow, that is the job. The guest says underwater work asks welders to lean away from what they learned up top, because the puddle gets hard to read once the arc and bubbles take over. You weld by feel. Angle and travel speed start to matter even more, and the rod has to stay in steady contact with the metal. Visibility falls apart fast. Becker latches onto that surprise, expecting at least some version of a puddle before the arc and bubbles wipe out the usual cues. Touch takes over. The guest keeps it practical: underwater work often means fillet lap welds, repairs, and staying in the groove once you find it. Gloves change things too. Rubber over welding gloves helps insulate in the water, but it takes away some of the dexterity a topside welder expects. The art is still there, just translated through the hands. Becker closes wide again with plain career advice: research the trade, contact a school, talk to someone already in the industry, and use AWS for education, certifications, scholarships, and membership paths.

As heard by us

A focused trade special that treats welding as education, infrastructure, and skilled labor.

Jason Becker uses National Welding Month as a practical frame for a trade-focused hour, linking welding to education, inspection, engineering, and the work that keeps major systems in place.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

If you want a National Welding Month special that frames welding as infrastructure, work, and a career path, this goes straight there.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
Listen to the show on
Apple PodcastsSpotify
Play clips from this episodeMore from Arc Junkies