evac72•3mo ago

That welding cert I laughed at actually made me better

I always thought CWI certification was a waste of paper for us field guys. But last month a inspector showed me how my root pass was actually too cold by looking at the fusion line under a magnifying glass. That one detail from his cert training saved me from having to grind out a whole tube sheet job. Has anyone else had a cert change how they actually work?

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shane_nguyen3mo ago

Man, it's funny how we dig in our heels about stuff like that. I've seen the same thing happen with guys who swear by old school methods for everything. It's like once you get a piece of paper that says you know something, you start looking for ways to prove it matters. But really, the cert just gave you a new set of eyes for something you were already doing. The trick is, you gotta be willing to let that training show you where you were wrong. Most people won't do that, they just wanna prove the cert is useless.

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gonzalez.wesley3mo ago

@shane_nguyen nailed it man. I had the same thing happen with my AWS D1.1 cert. I used to just lay down welds and hope they looked good, but after going through the training I started actually checking my bevel angles and fit-up before striking an arc. Now I catch stuff like excessive reinforcement before it even becomes a problem. Saves me so much rework when I'm doing structural stuff. That piece of paper really does change how you see things once you let it.

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