And so it begins

Friday was my last day of work at my first professional welding job after finishing my degree. Today is my first at my second.

A couple weeks ago I emailed one of my former instructors and told him I was ready to move on from my employer and attached my resume asking him to give it the once over. We had some back and forth about my resume and then a couple weeks later he told me that the other instructor wanted to see me.

I showed up at the college’s metal fabrication shop and spoke with him there. Essentially, another one of his former students was working at a small, private fab shop, but he had recently earned his pipe welding certification and wanted to move into that part of the industry. The guy had left a message with this instructor to send folks who could do fab work his way so that he didn’t leave his current boss hanging too badly.

I called his number and then met him the next afternoon at that shop. We talked for a 30 minutes or so and did some TIG welding for him. He asked me to come back and spend a goodly portion of the next day with him at the shop and interview with the owner.

I did that and locked the job down by midday. They wanted me to start the following day, but I didn’t want to burn the bridge I’d spent 14 months building. So I put in 1 week notice instead of two and I start at the new job this morning.

No names will be revealed as yet, but the shop mostly does exterior and interior design of commercial spaces, but also some higher end residential design. Once I get up to speed at the shop, hopefully in 2-3 weeks, the other guy will bow out and it’ll be me doing all the fabrication work. The owner and I agreed that after 90 days we’ll review where I began and where I’m at then, and see where we’re at. The better I do, the more of a raise I’ll get. I lateraled my current pay rate to him. That’s how happy I am to be getting this job.

The best part of this is that he wants to sell more metal in his designs, but he hasn’t had anyone with my skill-set come to work for him. He has had welders working there, but not fabricators. They can cut and weld, but none of them has had full-on fab experience and he has had to hold their hands through each project.

He is as excited for to work with me as I am to work with him. This is the job I wanted when I left school, but wasn’t ready for. I’m pretty sure I’m ready for it now. During the interview, he asked about my tables. Apparently, my former instructor had mentioned them to the guy who currently has the job to help him remember me. I showed him the pics of them that I had on my phone and his eyes got huge. So, if he can sell that to a customer, you all could soon be seeing that under your plates while you’re eating.

Anyway, wish me luck. I’m hoping that this will be very exciting.