Top Female Welder

CONTINUING EDUCATION STUDENT SELECTED AS A TOP FEMALE WELDER IN NATIONWIDE SEARCH

Once a year, a select group of female welders from across the United States and Canada are chosen by the Ironworkers Union to complete a pre-apprenticeship at the Ironworkers Training Center in the Bay Area. San Diego Continuing Education student Sharla Knight was among the 18 women selected for the prestigious program in a nationwide search. “I came to SDCE to pursue welding. I didn’t expect success this quick at all,” said Knight, 35, who earned a kinesiology degree at San Diego State University in 2009 on her way to becoming a high school teacher before changing paths by enrolling last fall in the welding program at Continuing Education. “There were plenty of deserving women in my class. I felt special that I was one of them.” This past March, Knight was chosen for the Ironworkers International Union Pre-Apprenticeship, a program designed to prepare more women to enter the rigorous

“I came to SDCE to pursue welding. I didn’t expect success this quick at all.”

— Sharla Knight, San Diego Continuing Education welding student

profession. Students receive training in basic ironworking, welding, rigging, fire watch, traffic flagger, OSHA 10, first aid, and CPR. She felt ready for the challenge. “The instructors/master welders at SDCE definitely prepared me for this,” she said. “I have the upper hand with my training. They set me up to be successful and to do very well at my career.” She was right. Knight placed near the top in academics and was the first one in her class during the pre-apprenticeship to get spot plug certified. When stay-at-home orders are lifted and worksites are safely operating, Knight will start an apprenticeship with the Ironworker Local 229 in San Diego with plans of advancing to a journeywoman welder. “The timing is unfortunate though we have a number of graduates working right now in the building and construction trades,” said Brad Dorschel, Master Welder and Continuing Education faculty member. “The important thing is that Sharla has a spot waiting for her with the local union.” The welding industry will face a shortage of about 400,000 welders by 2024, according to the American Welding Society. To meet the growing demand for welding personnel, unions around the world are recruiting women into the historically male space. Women like Knight. “It is a male-dominated field, but to me it’s art. We aren’t scared to get dirty and work hard,” she said. Free welding classes usually take place at Continuing Education’s Educational Cultural Complex, but when the campus closed in March due to COVID-19, students continued learning remotely with student welders studying blueprint reading, welding symbols, theory, and math — essential skills for graduates pursuing careers with local employer General Dynamics NASSCO, the world leader in shipbuilding and largest full-service shipyard on the West Coast. Welding provides relatively high average pay. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for Ironworkers was $52,770 per year in 2018.