There are a lot of misconceptions about welding such as what kind of work it is and what kind of people weld.
When Jennifer Simpson first came to Arc-Zone.com she knew little about the industry. “I didn’t even know much about welding– except maybe what I’d seen in movies. Flashdance comes to mind, of course,” she said.
The longer Jennifer worked at Arc-Zone, however, the more fascinated she became. “It’s not the actual work, per se, but rather what people do with metal that is amazing,” she said. As she learned more, she also became interested in the stories behind the people in the industry, and particularly the women in the industry, of which there are few. As of 2006 only 6% of welders were women according to Bureau of Labor Statistics, in spite of a projected shortage of welders, and the fact that there are good paying jobs out there.
With a hat tip to Rosie the Riveter, the iconic World War II factory worker, Jennifer developed a regular feature on the CarmenElectrode.com blog called “The New Rosies.” (/blog/carmenelectrode/category/the-new-rosie/)
Through this column she has profiled women who weld in a variety of industries, chipping away at some of the lingering stereotypes about women who weld and some of the misconceptions about what kind of work welding is. With the JoeWelder.com blog, Jennifer initiated a feature called “Show Me The Metal” (/blog/joewelder/category/show-me-the-metal/) to profile all kinds of interesting welders and a variety of welding applications.
Both of these endeavors have showcased the incredible people in our industry to well over 130,000 web views world wide in the past year alone.
What does this have to do with What Welding Looks like?
Well Jennifer has been honored with the Image of Welding award from the American Welding Society.
There is an official ceremony planned for the FabTech Welding Show in Chicago (November 15-18). Jennifer is unable to attend, but said, “I am honored to receive the award, especially since writing the columns and meeting welders is one of the best parts of my job!”
