Graduate Connections – Meet Noah Mendieta

Noah, 21, was born in Madrid, Spain, but moved to the U.S. with his family as a young child. Noah completed the seven-month Professional Welder program at Tulsa Welding School in April 2024.

Thanks for your time, Noah. Where did your family move to when you arrived from Spain? 

Tulsa is home now. We moved around a lot. It was Florida for a while, and then I grew up in Arlington, Virginia. When I moved to Tulsa for college, my family thought they’d tag along!

So, it wasn’t welding school that brought you to Tulsa originally?

I graduated high school in Virginia in 2021 and I came to Tulsa because I got accepted at Oral Roberts University, which is a college here; I wanted to study philosophy. They didn’t have it, but they had theology and I thought they’re similar. I did my freshman and sophomore year, but I wasn’t doing too well. I just really wasn’t ready for college life. It was fun but I missed a lot of classes. Then in the summer of 2023, I worked as a kids’ counselor at a summer camp called Camp War Eagle in Arkansas. You live there while you’re working. I was there for 11 weeks and for the first time in my life I got to do hands-on things. I got to build those pinewood derby cars. That was the first time in my life that I’d done work with my hands.

So, where did the idea of welding school come from?

When I came back from camp, I had an email telling me I was suspended from ORU because my GPA just wasn’t there. That really sucked, but then I realized it meant I could do anything. I enrolled in Tulsa Community College for a couple of general chemistry courses. But my mom had always said I should pick up a trade, and I’d heard of welding. So, I Googled welding and Tulsa Welding School popped up. I thought, “It’s only seven months, I might as well try it out!” That’s how I got to TWS.

That’s quite the educational journey. So, did you take the chemistry classes at TCC?

I did. I took them while I was at Tulsa Welding School. I took General Chemistry 1 for the first semester, and then Chemistry II for the second semester. Chemistry is sort of hands-on, as well as a bit of thinking. I have a good feeling about it. I’ve got a lot more courses to take, but I’m going to keep pursuing chemistry. 

So, you had no welding experience at all going to TWS?

Literally going in on my first day, I’d never seen anyone weld. I’d heard of it, but I had no idea what it was. Just seeing that first demonstration, how intense it was, with how bright the fire is and all the sparks flying, and this huge plume of smoke coming from this one guy, I just thought that it was really cool. 

What did you enjoy most about your time at TWS? 

What’s really cool is that you get your own space to just figure it out. You get to just mess around with it in your booth. You can really just have fun; if you screw it up, it’ll spark, it’ll do whatever, but you’ve got the right PPE – personal protection equipment – so you’re good. You get to enjoy the fireworks, as they say. You learn from your mistakes, and as long as your welds pass the tests, you can move forward.

How was the welding program? Were there days when you thought, what am I doing here? 

Yeah, there were days when I didn’t understand a few things, but I just kept asking instructors to show me, and then it would finally click. I never thought about quitting, I was mostly just frustrated. There was this guy who’d always show me his perfect welds. That never helped. If you go through the program, you’re going to get a guy like that, and he’s going to be really obnoxious about it. My advice is don’t pay attention to him. The only thing to compare your own welds to are the welds you did yesterday, or the week before. Are you getting better? It’s weird, but if you keep doing it, eventually you will be better.

Did you get involved with the school? Or just show up and take your classes?

I got involved. I mean I was asking for the job that I have now for at least five months; I must have been in that Career Services booth maybe 50 times! I thought this job was really cool. It’s like you get to weld together the frame for a nuclear reactor.

Let’s move on to that then, where are you working?

BWX Technologies in Mount Vernon, Indiana. I mean, I’m not working there yet, but I got the job confirmed last week. My start date is in late July after the background checks and stuff go through.

How did you get the job?

Danielle in Career Services has a list of companies that the school partners with. It’s a really good list. I grabbed the list in January, and I looked each of the companies up. They’re all really good but doing the chemistry course that I mentioned meant I’d just learned about nuclear reactions, and then I saw BWXT. They pretty much do everything to do with nuclear material. I saw that they have chemistry positions there too. So, I might become a chemist there in the future – that would be cool. So, it just felt like a connection. I immediately asked Danielle if she could tell them about me. But she really doesn’t like people asking that far ahead of graduation. She kind of made it kind of a rule not to ask too early; it’s better to wait until you’re in or around your final phase. I don’t think it hurts to look at the list of companies, but it makes sense to wait until you’re closer to graduation to apply. You have to make sure you’re going to graduate! 

So, you waited…

Danielle put me on their radar, but I finished up my phases and after that, I just practiced the specific welds that BWXT were going to test on. Even after you graduate at TWS, you can come in any day and practice. You still get access to all the equipment & material they have for free. So, that’s pretty good. 

It’s been a long process.

I finished class April 26, and got the job offer June 21; I’ll start July 25. It has been a bit of a long process, but it’s because I was specifically pinning my hopes on this job. There are so many people hiring welders. You could be welding anything from school buses to nuclear reactors. You can weld anything people want to pay you for. But because I wanted this particular job, I had to wait for them to come here to test.

You haven’t started yet, but are you excited about the money potential? 

It’s kind of a jackpot for me, at least. They have a $2,000 sign-on bonus and they have a $5,000 relocation package. I can get half of it after my background check is cleared, so I’ll get $2,500 just to get the initial move over to Indiana. Then I’ll get $4,500 extra on my first paycheck. I’m starting at $30 an hour, plus great benefits. They’ve got a 401k; they’ve even got pet insurance! I’ll be working 4x12s, so there’s eight hours of overtime a week. They also have a system to upgrade your paycheck; if you can you pass each specific weld test, there are seven levels, I think you get $1.50 more per level. In their brochure they say that within three to five years you could have a six-figure salary.

So, what is your ultimate career goal, Noah? 

Well, I really hope to keep growing. Having a good salary is great, but if you just stagnate at my age, you haven’t really learned much and you’re not really a well-rounded person. So, what I’m really excited about is that I feel like I’m going to learn so much in the field of welding. Apparently BWXT have every type of welding, even robotic welding. I also really want to make sure that I’m also still pursuing college, even if I never do chemistry as a job. I just want to keep on growing, and in a little town like Mount Vernon, I don’t think there’ll be much else for me to do. 

What do you enjoy most about your new trade?

Welding is the most frustrating thing when it’s not going right. You might throw your plate on the floor, but it’s just one little tip here, one little trick there, and the metal flows. When you get it right, it’s extremely satisfying. When you’re done, you flip up your hood and it looks like perfect, it’s very satisfying. 

Did you make some connections at school or were you a loner? 

I was a loner, but people were so nice, they just came up to me and wouldn’t leave me alone! I have some of their numbers; there’s definitely a lot of great people there. Everybody is so kind. It’s a great experience. 

What advice do you have for someone to be successful at Tulsa Welding School? 

Whenever you mess up, it’s not the metal’s fault, it’s your fault. That’s the hardest obstacle to overcome. So, whenever you do something wrong, and you don’t know what you did wrong, immediately run up to your instructor and ask. You’re just a dumb kid that doesn’t know anything because you really don’t know anything about welding. So, you just walk up to them with your plate, and ask, “What did I do wrong?” If what they tell you doesn’t seem right, just ask them to watch you weld and then tell you what you’re doing wrong. Play dumb. Sometimes you’ve got to be really stupid to be successful!

If you’re a TWS graduate and would like to share your success and be an inspiration to others, please email [email protected] to be considered for a Graduate Connection interview. Please include details such as your graduation date (month/year), program, and campus name (Tulsa/Jacksonville/Houston/Dallas).