And welding seems like a great job, you surely hear about someone's cousin making good money that does it. Everyone does, which is why there's a huge glut of talent at the entry level end struggling to find work. It is not the labor printer outsiders think it is. I guarantee you that at any given walmart you can find 3 employees there who own a welder and aren't awful with it.
Guess I won't be recommending that to anyone: I can't justify 20-30 years of lowered life expectancy for any job.