I’m 8 months into my apprenticeship and chasing more TIG time on 1/8” stainless after class; what’s worked for you to meet mentors and snag extra hood time? I’ve had luck showing up early, bringing donuts to the Thursday union practice, and asking to tack small brackets — people notice the hustle — but I want smarter ways to grow skills and my network without being a pest.
t AWS section nights; bring ‘1/8" stainless’ coupons for CWI feedback: Page Not Found - American Welding Society (AWS). No CWI? Ask an NDT tech.
Swap time with your lead: you handle fit-up, purge, and cleanup on their stainless after class, they block 30 minutes of TIG on 1/8” at shift end and write it on the board. If they balk, hit your gas supplier’s demo nights — reps let you burn coupons and you’ll meet mentors without bugging anyone, @anna_gar24.
Bring your own purge kit and be the ‘gas and coupons’ person — dual-flow meter, purge plugs, and ten 1/8 in stainless sets prepped and labeled; trade 5 minutes of TIG on each for handling all purge/setup and teardown. It makes you useful and gets quick, repeatable reps after class without bugging anyone. Anyone at the Thursday union practice open to that swap?
Ask the foreman to block a weekly stainless slot on the board and bring a little sign-off card — each mentor initials after 2–3 beads you run on coupons you prepped, so it feels structured, not needy. I jot a quick “heat/amps/filler/purge, what changed” and text a pic to them; @william31, that tiny paper trail got me more invites than donuts — want the card template?