One-on-One With “Inspirer” Jason Becker: Welder, Educator and Podcaster

Jason Becker said that one of the things he has learned during his welding career of more than 26 years is that the more he learns about welding, the more he realizes he knows nothing about welding.

In his multifaceted career, Becker has learned something new about welding every day. “I know that I’ll never know it all,” Becker said. “But through the networks that I’ve developed through AWS section meetings, conferences and seminars — between the people on my phone and myself — we have a good understanding of everything when it comes to welding. I just have to know the right person to call when I get stuck on something.”

Becker began his career in welding while in the Marine Corps. After he left the service in 2005, he started doing structural steel fabrication and installation. He worked in structural steel ironworking for about 10 years before being encouraged to consider becoming a welding instructor by one of his instructors. Becker accepted the challenge and built the welding program from the ground up at Seminole State College in Sanford, Fla. Later, he was a full-time instructor at Valencia College in Orlando, Fla.

“I thought I would try it for one term and if I don’t like it, I’ll go right back to doing iron work,” Becker said. “I got into education and I fell in love with it. Watching the students learn a craft that I was truly passionate about and seeing that ‘Eureka moment’ when it finally clicks — they get it. They can finally see the puddle and things are going their way and they finally start to understand it. That is the really cool part about education and teaching welding.”

Becker also spent 2019-2020 making instructional videos for Weld.com’s YouTube channel on topics such as oxyfuel cutting, grinder safety, D1.1 test plates, processes and positions, and fundamentals of welding.

Becker is dedicated to expanding the welding industry by educating and training welders; advocating for the industry as a member of the American Welding Society (AWS), standing up a Central Florida chapter; and opening the WeldWorks Training Center and UnderGround Metal Works in July 2023 in Orlando, Fla., which offers AWS accredited training and certifications. (Becker purchased UnderGround Metal Works from welding industry veteran Stephanie Hoffman and moved the school from New Jersey to Florida.)

Becker is also an AWS Certified Welding Inspector, Certified Welding Educator, and Certified Welder Performance Qualifier (CWI/CWE/WPQ1).

On top of these initiatives, Becker also produces a weekly episode of the Arc Junkies podcast, dedicated to helping, educating, and inspiring the next generation of welders. As of the last week in March, Arc Junkies was on its 363^rd episode. Becker is also the host of the monthly Weld Wednesday podcast for AWS. New episodes are uploaded on the first Wednesday of every month. He has recently signed on for another year hosting the podcast.

Becker took over the Arc Junkies podcast in 2020 from founder Jimmy McKnight, who was making a career change. McKnight had Becker in mind to take over the podcast. As an avid listener, Becker didn’t have knowledge of running a podcast but eventually agreed to take it on.

“I would rather take over the podcast then to see this resource for the welding community go away, or it going to somebody else’s hands who doesn’t have the passion and drive of sharing quality welding education and quality information,” Becker said. “I speak from a factual basis. So, I will interject my opinion sometimes, but I also include the facts — here it is according to this code or this standard. And here is why we do it.”

Becker pointed out that he doesn’t consider himself an influencer but rather he is an inspirer.

“I prefer the term inspirer,” Becker said. “I don’t want to influence — like I’m influencing you against like your better judgement to come do this. I would rather inspire somebody to say, ‘hey, I have an interest in that. You’ve inspired me to pursue it.’” 

Below, Becker shares insights into inspiring the next generation of fabricators.

Fabricating & Metalworking: You have said the Arc Junkies podcast is where welding industry veterans share their welding journeys to educate and inspire the next generation of welders. Highlight these experiences.

Jason Becker: The guests I have on the show run the gamut. I’ve had students that are fresh out of welding school to people that have been in the industry for 50 years. I’ve had certified welding engineers, certified welding inspectors, certified welding educators, and I’ve also had artists, small business owners, backyard fabricators, and people that work for various companies.

It is a diverse group of people that I speak with on the podcast. I did that intentionally because the welding industry is so broad. I didn’t want to focus on one aspect of the industry. I know ironwork. I know structural steel welding. I know fabrication or ornamental. But I don’t know anything about the pipeline industry or welding art.

I say the mission of the Arc Junkies podcast is to help educate and inspire the next generation of welders. I can’t do that if I have tunnel vision and say everybody needs to get into structural steel ironwork or everybody needs to get into welding and education. I want to show people what’s possible.

Everybody’s got a different route of how they got into the welding industry. I like to share people’s welding journeys. Why did you get into it? What type of work are you doing? What are some of the lessons learned you would like to share with others? If you could go back and do it all over again, would you do anything different?

I keep it diverse because you never know who’s going to listen to that episode and it’s going to inspire them to possibly get into that industry or that line of work or, you know, go out to the garage and grab that scrap metal and put it together and build a piece of artwork.

F&M: What advice and tips do you share when interacting with students and industry members?

Becker: Just show them its okay to work with your hands. People say, ‘don’t work with your hands, don’t get a blue collar job.’ I try to break down that stigma with people and say it’s okay to work with your hands and you can make a really good living. People are going to respect you for working with your hands.

I get to wake up every day and go play in essentially, you know, a giant toy box filled with toys and build whatever I want. I share that passion with other folks that have never been exposed to welding. Or tell people about all the cool projects that I’ve worked on. I helped build the vehicle assembly building for SpaceX before anybody knew what SpaceX was. I got to work at a theme park and rehab some of the major attractions throughout central Florida. You get to leave your legacy. The cool thing is when I take my family to the parks, I can point out a handrail, theming, a background or a set that I helped build. So, there’s a sense of pride with it because you can see the work that I’ve left behind. Twenty or 30 years from now, when I’m no longer in the industry, people are still going to be touching and seeing and feeling and interacting with things that I built throughout my career.

I also tell welders to learn as much as they can from as many people as they can. Sometimes, it is just as important to not know how to do something as it is to know how to do something.

Networking is also huge. Become involved with the local AWS section because these people are just like you. That is your tribe. They want more education. You might also find a mentor — someone that has been in the industry for 15 or 20 years and they can continuously teach you and put you on a good path, recommending classes, seminars and books.

F&M: Along the lines of continuous education, highlight the WeldWorks Training Center and UnderGround Metal Works.

Becker: Classes include a full week of MIG, TIG and Stick; Basic MIG weekends; Basic TIG weekends, and basic evening classes. Back in March 2024 we became an accredited testing facility through the AWS. I work with employers to not just certify their welders, but I walk into the shop to ask what they need to become certified. What are the standards they need to meet? I work with them on a one-on-one basis to bring them code compliant.

There’s a lot of people out there that own a welding shop. They’ve got a shop full of fabricators and the equipment and they’re bidding on different projects and they don’t understand the requirements. They get bid documents that require all welders shall be certified to D1.1. I bring them up to speed: here is what your guys need to certify in; here are the tests you need to have.

Many lack welding procedure specifications, so I help build them. For the ones that I can’t, we will do the testing in their shop and then I will outsource the destructive testing to other companies, depending on the requirements of the code.

F&M: What’s next for Jason Becker, your welding school and training center, and your podcast?

Becker: I will keep doing the podcast. I opened up a video segment of the podcast, posting them to YouTube to reach out to a different demographic of listeners.

When it comes to the school, I do want to expand some of our offerings. I’m in talks with one of my instructors right now to offer short-term pipe welding classes. That is not an area that I’ve ever excelled in. I can do all the testing and requirements for that, but I do have an instructor with the background.

I’m also in talks with people in my network to host different workshops at the school. I also know artists who would love to use this space and share their passion for metal artwork.

I also want to set up a program and offer a free five-hour introductory course in welding to veterans. Maybe do some artwork or something to that effect. One of the cool things about welding is once I put my hood down, everything else goes away. All the noise, the chitchat, the responsibilities — everything goes away. And I think that would be good for a lot of veterans; kind of like therapy.

Welding is for everybody. There is not a specific demographic for people to get into welding. I know people in this industry from all walks of life. Speaking of diversity, I mean, not everybody looks like me. Talks like me. Sounds like me. Has the same interests as me. Welding is the one thing that brings us together. I have great conversations with those individuals, even though we don’t see eye to eye on a lot of different things. We get along great because welding has that impact.

If you’re capable of doing the work. If you’re passionate about doing the work. If you’re willing to do the work, the welding industry needs you.

https://arcjunkies.com/

www.underground-metalworks.com

The post One-on-One With “Inspirer” Jason Becker: Welder, Educator and Podcaster appeared first on Fabricating & Metalworking.