Thursday, October 04, 2012

Blog #5 Corey Sitton

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/business/24jobs.html?pagewanted=all

I am a welder. I have worked in a machining and fabricating shop since I was 14, and have ran every machine in the building. In high school I learned to weld through our FFA program, and was trained as a shop welder at my job when I turned 19. Only two years later, I am now the manager of the welding department supervising one other welder, a 50 year old man with no welding experience until now. I don't like to be cocky, but I am good at what I do, and I am paid very well for my age and status as a college student. I know other welders who I graduated high school with that are making over 80 thousand dollars a year welding. I don't do that well, but I am still in college.
With that being said, I fell into the group of kids that felt the pressure to go to a four year school and get a bachelors degree. This is a great option for many people, and I highly value my nearly complete education. My major is English, and when I graduate in less than a year, I will go right to work as a welder and stick my diploma in my back pocket for later if necessary.
This article focuses on jobs in high demand. Even with the rough condition of the economy, certain skilled jobs such as welding are in demand so highly right now, and there are not enough people to fill the positions needed. The article speaks of many different professions in demand now, suitable for men and women alike. I think that skilled labor will soon be a thing of the past. Another article I read spoke of how robots are taking over the industry. Robotic welders are highly popular in assembly plants, and can weld much faster than a human. They don't need a coffee break or health insurance, and the run three shifts a day, 365 days a year, without complaining or going on strike. It is what our industry is coming to. I also program robotic welders at my job. I just set up a job that I used to do with my hands on the robot today. Now, an employee who gets paid half of my job will press the start button on the robot while I get paid more to figure out how to save more time and effort and money on other jobs with the robot. Our industry is growing technologically  and with that we are surpassing things that humans can do on an average work day.  Now, people with skill are needed to figure out how to save money. A company can pay one man $40 dollars an hour to have a robot do the work that 40 people making 7.25 an hour could do. You do the math. This saves money, yes...however, it also cuts jobs. I'm not sure how the economy will be effected by this growing trend, but it could be a problem. However, I want to be that man making $40 dollars an hour with a job. Everybody does. But as the world is growing, things are being built. English teachers can only fill so many positions in the schools. They are needed, but there is a demand for much more opportunistic jobs elsewhere in the industries of the world.


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