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Second semester welding student Caryn Winclechter prepares to start work on a class project that involves constructing a hexagonal vessel that she has to measure, cut, weld and pressurize.
TSTC student Esther Garciapina, who got her first experience welding at the Greater Waco Advanced Manufacturing Academy, works with other students while cutting a pipe with a torch.
When Caryn Winclechter’s husband was stationed at Fort Hood in 2018, she took it as a sign to enroll in Texas State Technical College’s welding program nearby in Waco and pursue a longtime fascination.
She is working toward a certification in structural welding, at a time when TSTC officials and area employers say skilled welders are in particularly high demand.
“Welding is something I’ve always had an interest in,” Winclechter said. “I already have a college degree from back in the day. I took an art welding class through a branch campus of my alma mater and it was just really cool. I think working with metal is a great skill, because we have to be so much more conscious of our future and the way that we use materials.”
Winclechter said her favorite type of welding is the gas tungsten arc welding, even though it is the most challenging.
“I think it’s the most beautiful,” Winclechter said. “A pretty weld is satisfying to the eye no matter what, but TIG welding is just extremely beautiful and it’s very intricate and you can work on a lot thinner materials. I think that’s really interesting. That can translate to the aviation world, so airplane parts.”
Second semester welding student Caryn Winclechter works on constructing a hexagonal shape that she has to measure, cut, weld and pressurize.
Caryn Winclechter heads to class at TSTC's welding lab. The school has about 400 machines of various types for students' use.
Winclechter said her post-graduation dream job would be working with someone who restores vintage cars.
“I like that this kind of opens up doors of opportunities for different experiences,” she said. “You have a skill set that you could kind of bring into several kinds of situations.”
TSTC lead welding instructor Carl Wilmeth said welders are in high demand largely because they are required in such a broad range of industries. Starting pay varies widely based on specific concentration. Some local shops start at about $18 per hour, while jobs in the oil field offer upwards of $65 per hour, Wilmeth said.
“Everything has welding involved in it,” he said. “Building a building has to have welders that do the ironworks and piping for the air conditioning. … Especially here in Central Texas, there’s quite a bit of construction going on.”
Lone Star Ironworks owner Noah Smith said there are not enough qualified welders overall, and high oil prices are driving many to that industry.
“A lot of pipeline welders that we use on construction projects have gone back to West Texas or oil fields, because they can make more working 18-hour days in the oil field than they can on construction sites,” Smith said. “A lot of pipeline welders and oil field welders, when the oil field is slow, will pick up work in construction. Now that the price of oil has gone up and it’s picking back up, they are all booked for months and months out, getting all the equipment in the oil field up to par.”
To temporarily combat the shortage of welders, Smith’s company has increased pay and searches for welders willing to travel in from around the state.
“Traveling is how we are kind of filling the gaps, paying people per diem, wherever we can find them, to go to the projects,” Smith said.
Tyler Linderman, owner and lead welder at Two Rigs Welding, said he believes there are more jobs than there are qualified welders to fill them.
“It’s a difficult skill to master, and some of the welders we found were not good enough to stay,” Linderman said. “There are not enough people with a passion for welding, and it requires a lot of work.”
Wilmeth, the lead TSTC instructor, also said a good welder has to have a strong willingness to work.
“You’re going to have to want to bear down in the heat and get things going,” Wilmeth said. “If you ain’t motivated, welding is not for you.”
Wilmeth first earned a welding certificate in 1993 and has been working in the TSTC welding department for four years, even picking up an associate’s degree in that time, in 2020.
The welding department typically see about 200 new students each fall semester as it works to prepare skilled welders to fill a range of needs for a range of industries.
“I would say we are probably about 60% traditional, right out of high school, and the rest kind of changing plans,” Wilmeth said.
The welding department has a hybrid model, with three hours of online coursework and six hours of in-person lab work typical for a semester.
“Our first day, we hit the road running. We do a little safety spiel and then we’ll start welding the first day,” Wilmeth said. “We are designed as if they’ve never struck an arc or turned on a machine. If they come walking off the streets and they’ve never touched a welding machine, we start from the ground up and develop them all the way to the end.”
The welding department also is working on changing its curriculum schedule to better accommodate students who have a job that prevents them from being in class in a typical 8-to-5 window, Wilmeth said. The shift is tentatively scheduled for 2024.
TSTC’s welding facility has about 400 machines students can use to work on a variety of welding tasks.
TSTC student Francisco Torres said he left a job he had for six years and decided to pursue welding because of the advancement and income opportunities.
TSTC student Francisco Torres said he left a job he had for six years and decided to pursue welding because of the advancement and income opportunities in the field.
Waco native Francisco Torres said he had an interest in pursuing welding since he left high school in 2011 but did not have prior welding experience when he more recently started pursuing a TSTC associate’s degree in welding technology.
“I went into the workforce, and being in the workforce since I was like 17 or 18, I realized it wasn’t really what I wanted for me,” Torres said. “I decided to quit my job, which I was at for six years, to pursue welding. I know that there’s a lot of opportunity and advancement in welding, as well as money.”
Torres said his ultimate goal once he gets his degree is to move to the Houston area, where there are even more welding jobs available than other areas.
The physical aspect of welding can be difficult for some people, but for Torres that element is not a huge adjustment from his past job.
“I’ve done outside work for six years as a cable technician, so as far as that goes to me, it’s not much,” Torres said. “It is tough as far as the welding goes.”
TSTC student Esther Garciapina, holds up a rose she welded. She first started making metal roses from scrap pieces when she was learning welding at the Greater Waco Advanced Manufacturing Academy.
Welding student Esther Garciapina said she initially was hesitant about attending TSTC to study welding. Garciapina attended Waco Independent School District’s Greater Waco Advanced Manufacturing Academy before she graduated from high school in 2016.
She received a scholarship at McLennan Community College and decided against pursuing welding immediately. She attended MCC for two years, earning an associate’s degree in teaching. She was scheduled to transfer to Tarleton State University to continue on that course of study, but the pandemic and a knee surgery put a halt to that plan.
The switch to virtual classes early in the pandemic meant she would have been unable to get the hands-on teaching experience she wanted. And her surgery meant she had difficulties walking for about seven months.
Garciapina enrolled at TSTC last fall and was able to dive right into welding classes since she had already completed the basic college courses. Now, she is aiming to graduate at the end of the year with an associate’s degree in welding.
“When you learn a skill, it’s something that nobody can take from you,” Garciapina said. “I learned how to do this and there are so many doors and opportunities for women to do what they didn’t think they could do. That’s something I’ve always loved about welding. It’s like therapy for me. It’s not like an ‘oh I have to go to school and do this,’ I actually enjoy it.”
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Second semester welding student Caryn Winclechter prepares to start work on a class project that involves constructing a hexagonal vessel that she has to measure, cut, weld and pressurize.
TSTC student Francisco Torres said he left a job he had for six years and decided to pursue welding because of the advancement and income opportunities in the field.
TSTC student Esther Garciapina, holds up a rose she welded. She first started making metal roses from scrap pieces when she was learning welding at the Greater Waco Advanced Manufacturing Academy.
TSTC student Esther Garciapina, who got her first experience welding at the Greater Waco Advanced Manufacturing Academy, works with other students while cutting a pipe with a torch.
Second semester welding student Caryn Winclechter works on constructing a hexagonal shape that she has to measure, cut, weld and pressurize.
Caryn Winclechter heads to class at TSTC's welding lab. The school has about 400 machines of various types for students' use.
TSTC student Francisco Torres said he left a job he had for six years and decided to pursue welding because of the advancement and income opportunities.
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