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Faces behind the mask:
Katja Vironen, Finland
Welding gave Katja a
new life
For Katja Vironen, welding is not just a job – it has a much
deeper meaning. She believes it has changed her life and
given her the confidence to realise her dreams. In fact,
welding also features in one of her biggest dreams.
When Katja
Vironen first
picked up a
welding gun
eleven years
ago, she realised
that she had at last found what she’d
been looking for. A lot of people tried to
discourage her, but she wasn’t put off.
‘I noticed that I could learn quickly
and easily. It made welding fun and got
me wanting to learn more,’ says Katja,
34, of Riihimäki, Finland.
‘It’s a field where there’s infinite scope
to develop your skills. I find there’s always
something new, a material or method, for
example, that I don’t know yet.’
However, Katja admits with a laugh
that she didn’t exactly volunteer when
she started training to be a welder.
A career that started at its peak
When she was growing up, Katja enjoyed
looking after the horses, sheep and dogs
that her family kept at their home in Koria.
30 Kemppi ProNews 2011
With her love of animals, it was only
natural that she started an apprenticeship
to train as a stable groom when she left
school.
Unfortunately, the employment
situation in that field was already poor and
she couldn’t find a permanent job. She
couldn’t think of anything else she wanted
to do, either.
‘I’ve always been more interested in
doing things with my hands than reading,
so I didn’t want to study.’
As time went on she almost
completely lost her initiative and selfconfidence.
Life was hard without a wage
and the days were long because all her
friends of the same age were studying or
working.
Things changed during a visit to the
job centre, when a vocational psychologist
more or less forced Katja to take a basic
course in welding. Katja, who was then
23, decided she would stick out the fourmonth
course to the end.
After a couple of days of theory Katja
had the chance to try welding in practice
and found her future.
Four months turned into more than
a year of studies. After the basic course
Katja wanted to learn more and more
about welding, and she did MIG/MAG,
MMA, and TIG courses. Her hard work
and good level of skills paid off when
Kouvola based Steka Oy selected six
people from numerous applicants to train
as high pressure welders. Katja was one
of the successful applicants.
‘I managed to start my career right at
the top.’
The job was by no means the easiest
way for a beginner to start:
‘TIG welding is a challenge because
you have to be able to work with both
hands at the same time. In addition to that,
as a high pressure welder I had to work
in difficult places and uncomfortable
positions.’
Monitoring also made the work
more demanding. The quality of the
weld seams was continuously inspected,
both visually and by means of X-ray
photography and ultrasound.
‘Sometimes I thought I’d go home
and not come back.’