Had an apprentice tell me my weld prep was sloppy 3 years back

I was working a job down at the Marathon refinery in Gary and this kid fresh out of trade school pointed out my bevel angles were off by about 5 degrees. He was right, I was rushing to get the job done and it caused a crack test failure on the first inspection. Ever since then I spend an extra 10 minutes measuring each joint before I strike an arc. Has anyone else had a younger guy call them out on something that actually made sense?

4 comments

4 Comments

robinp7213d ago

Man, @reesemoore put it well about staying humble - but did that apprentice end up sticking around long after that, or did they move on to another shop?

ruby_rivera7613d ago

That apprentice probably saved your ticket right there.

reesemoore13d ago

Did that apprentice end up getting a raise for catching that? I've seen plenty of green kids walk right past obvious problems because they're too nervous to speak up, but the ones who speak up usually end up saving someone's bacon. Good for Ruby that she had a sharp eye on her team. Though I bet the regular guys were pretty red in the face when they realized a rookie spotted something they missed. That's the kind of thing that keeps you humble in this line of work.

jennys7213d ago

Did your apprentice actually catch something the regular guys kept missing? That happened to me once with a new kid who spotted a bad weld the veterans walked right past.