Welding Simulator used to lure Sudents into Welding
Wallace Community College staff held a demonstration at the Westgate library that was attended by the local youth. They showed how welding can be a fruitful career for them. Joey Jackson, a welding instructor from the community college, set up a welding simulator that’s complete with helmet and mock welding torch. Wallace used it to provide an accurate representation of the technical skill.
The device simulated doing welding jobs as students see a video representation of the work they are doing. The program rates their work and they are graded how they held the torch and the accuracy of their weld.
Barbara Thompson, spokesperson of Wallace Community College, said that the simulator is an ideal tool because nothing is wasted in introducing welding to students. There is no metal used and yet the students are learning.
According to 2012 statistics, around 90 percent of graduates from Wallace Community College’s welding program landed jobs in the field and their starting salaries are between $16.50 and $22.50 an hour. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated that welding jobs will increase by 6 percent over the next decade.
For a detailed list of expected wages for welders, cutters solderers and brazers take a look here.
According to the US Department of Labor, women are just two percent of the total number of welders in the United States. But one of the participants of the demonstration was 13 year old Rosie Flippo. She said that she’s interested in things guys are into. She was impressed by the simulator and said that the device would appeal to the youth because it felt like a video game.
Another participant said that he grew up around welding and the simulator is a good representation of what welding is like when he sees his grandfather doing it on the farm. Most of the students who participated in the demonstration said they had fun.
