Question for welders /fabbers

When I worked for a company tig welding I made $22 hour. This is about 9 years ago annd the company had so much work they started to turn work down. I too was not cert. but they saw I could weld and they paid me what I thought was a damn good hourly rate. This is in Mass. mind you . All I can say is dont low ball to much but dont push it either, remember right now nobody is safe in this economy . If you go too high it could back fire and have someone else making that dough! good luck !