Welding Jobs *can* pay very well depending on what part of the country you are doing it in... AND what type AND your level of expertice we hear stories of guys that worked the Alaska Pipeline and came back bought a house and retired on the income from investing that money... right now in Canada (the really cold part of canada) there is a huge boom in the Oil industry... $125K/yr for simple laborers... imagine what they are paying skilled welders... Community Colleges are a great place to get certified and to then move into good welding gigs (they usually have job boards)... some types of welding *can* be dangerous and over time can take thier toll on you physically... Avoid the scam of *underwater welding schools* they are expensive and there are not really that much of a need for underwater welder's (The welder's out there that do it, are the ones that get called for the job... there are many, many certifed uderwater welder's that act as helpers... the ones that monitor the guy underwater that is doing the welding... they don't get paid as well as the guy underwater... you pay your dues for a long time in that field) Another option is to get your own truck mounted rig and do field work and repairs... out here (Los Angeles) they can charge $150/hr... minimum of two hours... a friend of mine has two rigs... and he pays his second rig guy $75/hr