According to information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American holds roughly 12 jobs from ages 18-48. In some of the highest cases, Americans held up to 15 or more jobs in their lifetime.
With increases in automation and globalization, more and more professionals are seeing their jobs outsourced elsewhere or their fields becoming obsolete.
As a result, it has become more important than ever for the American workforce to be flexible and to attain transferable skills in the event that their job is performed by a robot or computer program in the future.
As an NDT technician, you are granted access into a number of exciting different fields: aerospace, renewable energy, and infrastructure, to name a few.
What you may not have known, however, is that NDT certification not only prepares you for an exciting and dynamic career in the nondestructive testing field, but it also empowers you to develop skills that can help you navigate the ebb and flow of the global economy.
Whether a shift in career is out of necessity or just from the need for a change, nondestructive testing professionals can rest assured that their efforts are not for naught. Skills acquired while working as an ndt technician can transfer to most (if not all!) other fields.
Here’s what you need to know.
As previously mentioned, nondestructive testing technicians serve a number of different fields. This also means that ndt professionals must be flexible to fulfill their job’s function.
On any given day an NDT technician may go from a job in the nuclear industry to the renewable energy field to infrastructure. Along with this diversity of fields serviced comes the necessity to be familiar with the variety of needs and goals for each field.
It is not enough for an NDT professional to have skills in one particular sector supported by nondestructive testing. Each technician must have an acute awareness of the needs of every job they perform and the flexibility to perform a different function whenever it is necessary.
Flexibility is an essential skill for nearly every job. People and products alike are never perfectly predictable. Employers are always looking for individuals who can ride the most unexpected waves and always perform well.
When performing nondestructive testing, it is crucial to have sharp instincts. Nondestructive testing requires that each technician has an acute understanding of testing methods and the results that they yield.
On any given job, a technician must have the acute instincts to know just which testing method to perform and how to properly interpret the results from each inspection.
Being an NDT technician requires that a professional is familiar enough with their field to develop a strong gut to be able to make split-second decisions that benefit each client.
Precision is paramount for every NDT technician. When evaluating components and machines, generalizations and lazy accounting can be detrimental to the client’s entire business. During each test and inspection performed, ndt technicians must scrutinize results to ensure that they are performing a precise test.
Based on those precise results, each client is able to fully understand the real time appraisal of their assets’ health and determine what steps must be taken to prolong its life cycle, keep their business functional, and keep their employees safe.
Without precision, technicians run the risk of inaccurately evaluating the health of expensive and dangerous assets, putting countless people at risk.
As the world becomes increasingly automated and innovative technology is crucial to the development of the planet, nondestructive testing is more necessary than ever to support and sustain essential industries. Even so, the skills and strengths gained from nondestructive training will be beneficial, whether you are in the NDT field for five years or twenty.
At TXNDT, we make sure that each technician we train is fully prepared to enter the workforce. That training includes all of the most important methods, from magnetic particle testing, to liquid penetrant testing, and everything in between.
Since the requirements of an NDT technician can change from job to job, the expert instructors at TXNDT ensure that all prospective technicians are qualified to take on whatever their next job throws at them.
From introductory NDT courses to NDT level 3 certification, we take an active approach to educating all of our students and encourage all prospective technicians to take an active role in their own learning.
If you or your staff are looking for ways to expand your skills and broaden your career opportunities through nondestructive testing courses, consider NDT certification.
But don’t trust just any NDT school. If you’re looking for a top-tier experience, give us a call today at 281-231-0001 or check out our website for more information.
