"the Covell video makes it look super easy but I realise the guys a pro!"

It is sorta easy. It probably won't take you too long to turn out a good weld in something, but move over to the next coupon and it may be crap again. I have tought myself, and one gets the hang of it reasonably quickly, but it still will stiff me when I move to a different situation, and I have to redial. There is an old idea in science about only changing one variable at a time when doing experiments so one can tell what changes are leading to what results. If you move from 1/8" cold rolled, to .049 4130, you have changed, your base metal, your filler rod size, filler material, possibly your tungsten, you amperage, pulse, your gap, your flow rate, possibly your cup. Maybe you nail it right out of the blocks, and it's cool or maybe you just keep trying stuff for months and you never get it. Then it turns out the problem was the gas, or the way one metal reacted to background heat. Or maybe one needed a purge to keep the temp from fluctuating, or the sugaring under control, even though it worked in the thicker material without.

Now if you answer telephones at Bike Friday and they say you need to build a frame to keep your job. You will (I assume) walk into a shop where all that stuff has been worked out and they maybe watch you and give you a few tips, and if you slow down travelling on the tighter tubes, maybe someone reaches over and cools the amps. "Hey this is easy !"

I'm still hacking it up welding. I have made a few nice things, but I am still on the steep part of the learning curve. Welding is great though. Even a bad welder can get some payback. Just a few weeks back we really needed to mow the lawn before a storm, the mower wasn't working, and I pinned it down to a pipe brace that was held in place with one tack, and it had broken. I had to do the repair out of doors, so I used stick which is an alternative my TIG power source supports. I got it back together in a few minutes, and saved a 200 dollar reel mower.