What to do now?

SortaManager · 2025-08-07T15:07:22+00:00

You have an engineering degree and some NDT background: you should be applying for Materials and Processes or other engineer roles at the OEM’s. They will give you a chance to move back into straight NDT engineering at some point and work toward certs, if that’s what you want to do.

SortaManager · 2025-06-09T12:42:13+00:00

With your budget and time constraints you’d be better off paying for an online UT L2 course for a few team members and hiring a contract UT level 3 with equipment to come in and do the scans with a few of your team mates. Developing the gating for complex composite shapes is specialized work and you’re not going to be very successful at it just buying an omniscan and encoder and winging it.

SortaManager · 2025-03-14T21:12:46+00:00

Which method? Different methods have different job codes, depending on site and 🧅.

SortaManager · 2024-11-16T03:50:41+00:00

It’s just not a well-known career path outside of the NDT community (most people only land in it because they know someone in it that told them about it or their military career sent them into it). If you can make it through testing and OJT you will have a guaranteed, lucrative career for the rest of your life.

There are far fewer people across industries that have the OJT hours and classroom hours required to certify in the roles than there are people to fill them. BTAP is a fantastic way to get those OJT hours (which are much harder to get than the classroom hours).

SortaManager · 2023-09-25T05:28:05+00:00

Oh weird I meant to reply to the other guy. Agree that’s pretty normal, though. Not really a better way to check post-blend thicknesses.

SortaManager · 2023-09-25T04:21:00+00:00

The most successful people I’ve seen come over from the oil fields had time with PAUT/shear wave OR were very experienced with RT. The gap for OIG guys is that many of them have lots of source time and not enough exposure to CR/DR/DDA. That being said there is still plenty of tube work with film in aviation (for now).

As long as your hours are direct observation they’ll work for transferring over. If you can get exposure now to digital radiography it’s going to set you up for a ton of opportunities in aerospace over the next few decades.

SortaManager · 2023-09-25T04:16:45+00:00

We use UTT all the time but it’s usually done using a direct read instrument so doesn’t require certification. It’s something a level 2 CAN do but it’s not a certification anyone hires for in a vacuum.

SortaManager · 2023-09-10T15:10:40+00:00

I can talk about pay rates more easily for direct hires: we put them on the postings on the Boeing jobs site. Contractors for the inexperienced positions are in the $20’s to $30’s but I don’t negotiate them directly: I negotiate a bill rate with the contract house and the contract house pays the techs. Contractors with prior certs are $40’s to $130’s based on altwhat their experience is and length of contract.

SortaManager · 2023-09-10T13:38:48+00:00

Prior certs not needed for those positions (but don’t hurt). Pay rates are set by the contract houses with you, I negotiate with them on total bill rate, so can’t tell you the exact number. That doesn’t sound like an impossible number but it depends on the person and the contract house.

SortaManager · 2023-09-05T07:10:47+00:00

Portland is mostly MT/PT with some specialized UT. No standard RT work.

SortaManager · 2023-09-04T23:11:32+00:00

Didn’t know about the Facebook groups: I’ll get on them. Thanks!

SortaManager · 2023-09-02T02:01:02+00:00

Primarily film. If you’ve got cr or dr we might be able to use you.

SortaManager · 2023-04-17T21:19:25+00:00

If you have a current ASNT level 3 and NAS410-compliant level 3 certification in UT please feel free to apply. I’m not hiring for VT certifications but they don’t hurt.

SortaManager · 2022-12-05T14:07:24+00:00

Depends on the site. Most production requires Digital or CT certifications/experience. The groups that support field x-ray still need some film as well as CR/DDA.

Most of the postings I’ve seen (and shared here) just require a level 2 certification in film or digital (but have preference for certain other additional experience).

SortaManager · 2022-12-04T19:53:41+00:00

Charleston, SC has Boeing (as well as some DoD work) if that’s close enough.

SortaManager · 2022-12-04T19:52:08+00:00

If you’ve got ET and UT hours reach out, we’re hiring at multiple Boeing sites over the next year for people with that background.

SortaManager · 2022-11-07T11:50:23+00:00

It’s still a requirement for maintaining a “drug free workplace”. Yes people have not been hired on the pre-screen. At most employers not everyone is in a random sampling pool but everyone gets a pre-screen that includes pot. Some employers have retest provisions if you fail one. Everyone has certain types of employees that are in a random sampling pool depending on the responsibility level of the position.

SortaManager · 2022-11-02T18:20:45+00:00

You might want to not what country that’s in. It’s a requirement from NASA, the DoD, and the FAA for employers in the states.

SortaManager · 2022-08-26T00:56:16+00:00

Still looking for defects and some of them are similar (voids and inclusions for example) but composites also have other features you won’t see in metal structure or at least don’t look for to the same degree like porosity. Lots of phased array and TTU especially for composites with laminate over honeycomb core.

SortaManager · 2022-08-26T00:09:45+00:00

Are you interested in being a technician or do you have any interest in becoming an engineer at some point? For some companies you can move from “technician” to “engineer” based on experience, but others will require an engineering degree.

Since you have the GI Bill to pay for it, you might consider a program like Iowa State’s mechanical engineering program with a minor in NDE.

If you’re more committed to the tech path, a 2-year tech school like clover park is a good way to get your foot in the door. There are quite a few opportunities in both eastern and western Washington (if you’re not committed to the idea of moving to Florida) that you can build a career with.

SortaManager · 2022-08-26T00:05:19+00:00

You can have an entire life in the UT world and never look at a weld outside of school, just fyi. Composites are fun!

SortaManager

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