How did you know?

Over twenty years ago I started teaching students how to weld. My journey began with a Jeffus textbook, 10 years of industry experience coupled with 6 years of documented welding training. I would argue that on paper those credentials look good and would “qualify” a person to “teach” I learned quickly I had one welding process in my bag, and then I learned I only knew how to do one transfer mode. My early years were filled with challenges like most of my peers. I personally struggled with developing hands on labs. I was not confident that what I was teaching was “correct”. I truly believe that because I was honest with myself and having humility. It allowed me to explore alternatives.

Through discovery, I stated learning about welding data and how technology was capturing it. This interest started me down the path of asking questions about how this was being used in manual welding applications.

I would like to hear from the community if you had similar experiences.