I own a company that does quite a bit of welding, both manually and with a robot. Your comment "since low-end welds can be done by machines nowadays, there's mu

I own a company that does quite a bit of welding, both manually and with a robot. Your comment "since low-end welds can be done by machines nowadays, there's much less demand for a welder with <10 yrs experience than there used to be" is slightly off the mark, but not far. Our robot needs the skills of an experienced welder in order to set it up. It is extremely difficult to get it set up correctly if you don't know how to weld, set the wire feed, set the amperage, etc. Personally, I can't weld very well, nor am I good at setting up the robot. I rely heavily on my lead welder to get the settings right for the robot, and once it is setup properly (which can be a few hours or a few days, depending on complexity) only then can a less experienced non-welder type worker run the machine. SO my lead welder does the jig design, figures out torch angles and then an outside contractor comes in and does the programming (Windows CE, on a Panasonic arm). Since we manufacture many of the same parts day to day, we only need the contractor once a month or so. Jigs are designed for quick change, with pins to set them exactly in place. The robot is excellent at complex work, as well as "low end welds". Without a skilled and experienced welder for the setups, it is just a useless hunk of metal. You are correct if you think that a lower skilled worker can operate it on a daily basis however. The operator does not have to know how to weld at all (just how to push the emergency stop button and yell for help). The NY Times article is speaking about welders that doing some of the most difficult welds of all, and finding a person with those skills is about as rare as finding a really awesome iOS developer who is out of work. The people who can do that sort of welding are few and far between, since it has to be flawless.