Welder vs Labourer: Which Is the Better Career Choice in South Australia?

If you like hands-on work, becoming a labourer can be a great way to get started.

There are plenty of labouring jobs across South Australia, particularly in construction, manufacturing and industrial work. You can get onto a worksite, start earning money and gain useful experience without spending years training first.

But there’s another option worth considering.

What if you could take those practical skills and learn to weld?

Learning even basic welding skills can help turn a job into the start of a career.

Labouring Is a Good Place to Start

There’s nothing wrong with starting out as a labourer. In fact, it’s how plenty of people get their first experience in construction, engineering and manufacturing.

You’ll learn how worksites operate, use tools, work safely and become part of a team.

The problem is that if you stay as a general labourer, there can be a limit to where the job takes you.

That’s where learning an extra skill can really pay off.

Learning to Weld Gives You More Options

Welding is used almost everywhere things are built from steel.

Think about:

• Defence and shipbuilding
• Structural steel and construction
• Manufacturing
• Mining and resources
• Major infrastructure
• Engineering and maintenance
• Renewable energy
• Heavy fabrication

And South Australia is a particularly good place to be developing these skills.

With major defence and shipbuilding projects underway, along with ongoing infrastructure, manufacturing and engineering work, people with practical welding skills are likely to be needed for many years to come.

You Don’t Need to Be an Expert to Get Started

You don’t become a highly skilled welder overnight.

Like any practical skill, you start with the basics and build from there.

Being able to safely use welding equipment, prepare materials and produce basic welds can already make you more useful to an employer than someone who can only provide general labour.

That’s the thinking behind AWSCE’s Job Ready Welding Training.

The Job Ready programs are designed to help people build practical welding skills that can be used as a starting point for employment and further training.

Start With the Welding Skills Industry Uses

AWSCE offers Job Ready training across several of the welding processes you’ll find in Australian workplaces.

You don’t have to learn everything at once.

Start with the basics. Get good at them. Then keep building your skills.

Your First Welding Job Doesn’t Have to Be Your Last

This is where welding can really differ from general labouring.

Your first job might be doing relatively basic welding and fabrication work. As your experience grows, you can learn more processes, work with different materials and move into more demanding jobs.

Over time, the pathway could look something like:

What About the Money?

It’s easy to assume that becoming a welder automatically means you’ll earn more than a labourer.

That’s not always true — particularly when you’re starting out.

Some labourers working long hours, overtime or on major projects can earn very good money.

The bigger difference is where welding can take you over the next five, ten or twenty years.

As your welding skills, experience and qualifications grow, you can potentially move into specialised welding, defence work, supervision, inspection and other higher-level positions.

You’re building a career rather than simply relying on the number of hours you can work.

Already Working as a Labourer?

Then you’re actually in a great position to start.

You’ve already got worksite experience.

You know what it’s like to work with tools, follow safety procedures, work as part of a crew and get a job finished.

Learning welding simply adds another useful skill.

And that skill could help you move from general labouring into fabrication, manufacturing, structural steel or other skilled work.

South Australia Has a Big Opportunity Ahead

South Australia’s defence and shipbuilding industries are expanding, while construction, infrastructure, manufacturing and engineering businesses continue to need skilled workers.

These projects don’t just need people.

They need people who can do things.

Learning to weld is one way of making yourself more useful to employers and opening up more career opportunities.

More Than a Job. Build a Career.

If you’re happy working as a labourer, there are plenty of opportunities available.

But if you’re wondering what your next step could be, learning to weld is worth considering.

You don’t have to become an expert before you start.

Build the basic skills. Get some experience. Keep learning.

AWSCE’s Job Ready Welding Training is designed to help you take that first step, with practical training in MIG, Stick, TIG and Flux Cored Arc Welding.

Don’t just look for your next job. Start building a skill that could become your career.