Josh is a fierce supporter of the shop floor worker and is becoming an increasingly important voice in leading the conversation on the perceived skills gap versus the actual wage gap. His recently published article in The WELDER Magazine (Future welders: Enter the trade with both eyes open) stirred up some hot conversation on social media. Josh takes to the mic to make sure that his message on welding wages is clear. 

Episode 7: Eyes Wide Open (Welder Wages)

Blue-collar advocates, Josh and Darla Welton challenge the status quo when it comes to welding, cars, art, culture, Detroit, and more in this podcast presented by Brown Dog Welding LLC and the Still Building America Project. Whether you know Josh from his trendsetting metal work as Instagram’s @welderassassin, or through his regular written and video contributions to The Fabricator.com or The WELDER Magazine, you'll dig his storytelling and spicy takes on every subject. Darla is a writer, artist, content creator, and the yang to Josh's yin! Josh and Darla are co-founders of Brown Dog Welding LLC and the Still Building America project. The couple hosts welding workshops in their Detroit metal shop.&nbsp; https://www.browndogwelding.com/podcast/

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Josh and Darla ARE BACK! This video interview originally appeared in two parts on TheFabricator.com's blog and the YouTube page. However, we love this interview and thought our listeners might also enjoy it as a long-form podcast episode. We’ve been on hiatus from this personal podcast space for a while now, but we will continue to pop in every now and then with solid gold episodes like this one! 

 This interview features Anna Waldman-Brown, a PhD graduate in industrial policy and political economy from MIT. Anna discusses her research on emerging technologies, manufacturing systems, and inclusive job creation, particularly focusing on the adoption of welding robots in SMEs in the Midwest and Germany. This conversation explores the German vs. U.S. systems of welding education, the wage gap vs. skills gap debate, welder pay, automation and AI risk, why we frequently see factory robots up for resale around the U.S., whether or not human life is improving alongside technology improvements, ethical economics, manufacturing turnover comparisons, and so much more. 

Anna’s work is COMPELLING and reveals a shared passion for the future American workforce. Anna recently accepted a position at the White House Office of Management and Budget in the Made in America office. This new office works to strengthen the use of federal procurement to support American manufacturing. 

 We KNOW that you’ll enjoy this conversation as much as we did! Please also check it out with the video on TheFabricator.com (includes transcript) and give it a thumbs up on YouTube!

YouTube Part One
YouTube Part Two
OR
Part One with full transcript
Part Two with full transcript https://www.thefabricator.com/author/josh-welton
https://www.thefabricator.com/author/darla-welton
BROWNDOGWELDING.COM 


Episode 13: MIT Researcher Anna Waldman-Brown on the welder skills gap vs. pay gap debate

America used to love a good comeback story. However, in the age of social media we see people being destroyed over misunderstood incidents. Individuals are slaughtered for ignorant words spoken years ago, even if the person who spoke them expresses regret and has apologized. Do we still have the capacity to give others (and ourselves) the space to learn, heal, and grow from these failures? On this episode, Josh shares the story of how a lapse in judgement as an apprentice nearly cost him his future. Mistakes were made, but an apology and forgiveness granted him an opportunity for restoration and to find his way back up. We talk Johnny Cash, Charles Lindbergh, and Liam Neeson, too. 

Episode 12: Don't Call it a Comeback

Josh and Darla try a little experiment and discuss a topic that has become exceedingly important to them: how do humans coexist in a world with so many differences and polarizing ideas and opinions? The duo talks about the difference between them and how they manage to still love one another profoundly. Welding in space, prayer, aliens, and Jesus are up for discussion on this episode of Playing With Fire. Listen in. 

Episode 11: Coexist

Josh and Darla talk Intellectual Property on episode 10 of Playing With Fire. If you capture and share a photo or create a unique post online, do you own the copyright? Or is it free game/public domain? Let's talk about the history of copy/paste heroes and theft, intellectual property, and this generations' thoughts on influencers and original content. It's story time. And real talk.  

Episode 10: Intellectual Property Talk

Hosts Josh & Darla Welton sat down on New Year's Eve to share their Top Ten Moments from 2018! From Josh buying his Dodge Demon, to embarking on multiple road trips together, then Josh winning the 2018 AWS/WEMCO Award in Welding for media, leading important conversations about women in welding as well as the skilled workers wage gap, to launching the Still Building America initiative and this podcast together - it's been one heckuva year. Bring it on 2019! 

Episode 7: Eyes Wide Open (Welder Wages)

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