Eddie Foster’s lifelong love may be high school football, but the Mont Belvieu native describes how the lovesick blues set him on a path into welding, or what he calls the “best job.”
As department chair of industrial technology at San Jacinto College, Foster now guides students along a path that has changed from on-the-job training to formal education.
What jumpstarted your career in welding?
“After graduating from Barbers Hill High School, I attended Lamar University to pursue studies in kinesiology, to one day be a high school football coach. After my first semester, I got the lovesick blues and came home and got married.
“I went to work as a laborer, lining up pipes that were going to be installed for Raymond Piling and Cementing. After a few months, I eventually went to work for Brown & Root as a pipefitter’s helper. At that time, we had our two children. I wanted better pay and transferred over to Mobay Chemical Corporation to work as an operator and then back to pipefitting.
“That is when I decided to try welding, because I was exposed to welders on the job, and both my father and brother were welders as well.”
After you found your niche for welding, what were your next steps?
“During that time, in the late 1970s, welding was really the fastest way to earn craftsmen money. I trained for welding on the job at Brown & Root, based at what was at the time Gulf Chemical Plant at Cedar Bayou. After almost two decades, I went back to school, this time Lee College to pick up studies again in kinesiology. A counselor suggested I go ahead and finish an associate degree plan in welding technology.”
How did you become an educator?
“I heard about a welding instructor position here at San Jacinto College and began teaching noncredit courses in 1997. I later became full time and then department chair a few years later. This is truly the best job I have ever had. It is also very rewarding, especially when you hear back from former students who have gone on to have great welding careers with excellent pay and great benefits.”
What is the job outlook
for welders?
“Welding is a craft you can take anywhere in the world. Somebody who has learned this skill is in high demand now. There were a lot of older workers nearing retirement and very few young workers. Now, the need is very much there.”
How has welding changed over the years?
“The industry itself hasn’t drastically changed, but now you may see more robotics and automated welding in the shops. You still need people to work those machines, and you need people to weld in the factories and refineries. Currently, the hot industries now for welders are oil, maintenance, and construction. Also, more and more people are learning to weld as a hobby or for art.”
Do you weld outside of the classroom now?
“People do ask me a lot if I have a welding machine at home or if I built myself a barbecue pit. Nope, but I do have my TV to watch my college and high school football.
Of course, the Longhorns is my college football team, and my favorite high school team will always be Barbers Hill.”
Jeannie Peng-Armao
For information about the San Jacinto College welding program, visit www.sanjac.edu.