Just trying my hand at some metalwork. That glowing bit is my first attempt at heating metal. How'd I do?

I have been struggling with welding. This is my second day trying to weld I’ve been messing with the amps and my speed and no matter what I do it just doesn’t turn out how I’d like it. I’ve been running 7018 at 115 for the most part. Looking for some tips/advice!

Im taking classes at a local tech school and have no high school experience. Funnily enough- this is one of my better plate of beads. Sometimes it feels like im getting worse but then i remember my first day in the stand I couldn’t even get a crappy bead just splatter.

I'm having a really hard time with a few things. Not leaving a crater at the end of the weld, especially on the little blobs that I'm doing (I'm practicing starting he arc without he electrode sticking to the plate). Burning through the plate is another problem, though I'm getting better at avoiding that.

I'm also not used to running 3/32 rods. I've mostly used 1/8 rods on thicker metal, I'm not sure how big the weld bead is supposed to be. They look super small to me and my brain says to slow down and the the weld wet out, of course if I go to slow I just burn through the metal. If anyone could give me an idea of the proper 3/32 bead size I'd greatly appreciate it.

I definitely need to focus on, everything I guess, my travel speed and arc length isn't consistent.

Any help and pointers are greatly appreciated.

I just started flux-core welding about a week ago, and I’m honestly having a lot of fun learning it. One thing I’ve noticed is that I’m getting quite a bit of spatter around my weld zone. Am I traveling too fast or too slow, or could it be my settings, stickout, or technique? I’d really appreciate any criticism, advice, or tips on what I can improve!

3/8" mild steel | 22.5V | 225 WFS

I’m in the boilermaker boot camp (week 2) and we have 3 weeks left until we see the dreaded welding inspector. I want to be as good as I can get and would like some advice. Please