Welding Tips and Tricks

My story is like many others I've seen on the internet already : I enjoy welding and I want to pursue it as a career by enrolling in formal education. I've done just enough research on the topic to get myself thoroughly confused so here goes...

Lincoln Electric offers an 18 week course for about $5,000 dollars. Hobart offers a combination welding program that is 36 weeks and is $14,000.

I would like to go to one of these two Ohio schools and my questions are these :

1. What kind of job(s) could I realistically hope to get entering the workforce as a fresh graduate of either of these training programs? I'm interested in TIG welding and pipe welding but since I've never done either of these I clearly don't even know what I don't know yet.

2. Entering the workforce, would there be a decided advantage in either job opportunity or pay rate as a graduate of the Hobart program that would justify the additional training time / tuition expense vs. the Lincoln school?

I know that the answers to these questions will probably depend on all kinds of things and may be hard to answer with complete certainty.. but even some general advice would be very helpful as I try to understand all the angles and make the best choice for what will be a very a big decision in my life. Thanks for your help and responses!

I would look into a comunity college. I started a month ago and its been great. 400.00 for 16 weeks. Its only 2 nights a week at 3 1/2 hrs. I didn't know shit at the start and am really getting comfortable even though I have a long way to go.

I don't know what that guy is talking about .. you're basically wasting your time and money at a community college. You get second rate instructors with sub par carriculum. Lincoln is a nice school if you are looking for a fast track course on general basics of welding. Hobart offers about the same thing with their 5 month structural program. But learning pipe greatly opens your career possibilities. Hobart carries a big name in the welding industry, which aids in getting your foot in the door for job interviews. As far as how much money you can make leaving school it has a good bit of variables. Being certified in anything really helps getting a job but your going to have to re certify if they chose to employ you either way. Your years of experience around welding even if you have one year helps a good bit. And where you choose to work, south west ohio... your pretty much out of luck maybe 13 an hour mig welding if you can find a job. You can try ship yards they'll start you around 20 but re-locating is pretty much key. I try not to sound to biased on hobart trust me I'm not that huge a fan but I am about to graduate from their 9 month program in a month or so here and i do feel comfortable w my skills welding knowledge and what not.

bwebsie wrote:I don't know what that guy is talking about .. you're basically wasting your time and money at a community college. You get second rate instructors with sub par carriculum.

You shouldn't make a blanket statement like that. Of course many community colleges do have poor instruction and curriculum, especially if it's just a few days a week on nights. But i know for a fact that my community college has a great welding program. It's about $1500 per quarter, a 6 quarter program, 12 weeks per quarter, everyday 7:30-12 and additional shop time if you choose to come in during the scheduled night classes. The instructor is also an AWS CWI. The final quarter consists of certification. I would say to at least check out the program at the local college and see what the curriculum is. It's up to you to decide whether or not the training is relevant. My instructor insists on only teaching pertinent relevant information to prepare us for the future and to work in industry. Many of the assignments are don on large pieces of heavy steel that the student must prep and rig up for welding on their own. Just check out this video walk through. I must warn you it is a 30 minute video (3 ten minute clips)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md2JD3aZ ... playnext=1

bwebsie wrote:I don't know what that guy is talking about .. you're basically wasting your time and money at a community college. You get second rate instructors with sub par carriculum. Lincoln is a nice school if you are looking for a fast track course on general basics of welding.

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I personally graduated from of those "second rate" tech colleges with plate,pipe, and ornamental work experience
ALL processes ,and all popular metals.
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the instructor at my school is a veteran (not a has-been) boilermaker ....i believe the proper
term is "code marine welder" ..
I learned the basics about each process , and have polished these skills with real world PAID time.
if you can afford to be out of a day job, you should look into daytime schooling.
the G.I. bill and adult education grants are universally available, the expensive schools
offer "student Financing" if you Qualify for a credit line.....

Okay, I realize that this is now over a year after the original post, but thought I would throw my 2 cents at it!

I am currently 1/2 way through my program here at Lincoln Electric Welding school. Originally, I signed on for a 6 week Basic Plate and Sheet Metal Program. As I got into that, I decided to stay on for the 4 week Pipe Class as well.
Now my situation is a lot different than the young guy starting out on a career. I am 51 years old and spent my whole working life in the Refrigeration trade. After 27 years in the field, I took a full time teaching position with our UA Local union. I have been teaching part time and full time for a combined 17 years. The last 3 1/2 being full time.

Our local wanted to provide better training in welding for our Apprentices which have to complete a 6,000 hour program. They spend at least 2 terms in school during that time of 8 weeks at a time full time days. The remainder of their training is "supposed" to be provided by the employers. At the end of these 6,000 hours, the Apprentices write their Government C of Q (Certificate of Qualification) exams and must also pass specific practical tests. The majority,if not all of our pipe welding is done F3/F4 on pipe using 6010 root/ 7018 fill and cap.

I have always been involved with Oxy-Fuel Brazing, welding, and cutting over the years and taught all of those to our Apprentices. I considered myself a "shade tree" welder when it came to SMAW, GTAW, and GMAW. I taught a bit of "general interest" welding for our members who were curious, but did not weld for a living.

When this position came up to be our "Welding Instructor", I took on the challenge. I went out to a couple of contractors to shadow their welders and was fortunate enough to spend a couple of weeks with a sister UA local to learn from them. We decided that if I was going to be any good at this, I needed to learn from the Pro's on a full time basis.

We called Lincoln Welding school here in Cleveland and they were willing to fit me into their program. I'm lucky to get this!
I'm enjoying the training thoroughly and would recommend this school to anyone. We do about an hour or so in the classroom each morning to cover off some theory. In my opinion, a good welder needs more theory to fully grasp the terminology, metallurgy,theory of heat treatment, electrode selection, machine set-up, and so on, but for me, I had already studied a lot in this area so I'm not as worried as I would had I not had this schooling first.

Every day, we spend a full 5 to 6 hours a day in a booth practicing. Each segment starts with an Instructor showing a demo of the days welds and then you practice, practice, practice! There are plenty of good Instructional staff around to guide you, critique you, and assist with any problems you are experiencing. The amount of booth time is incredible, but a little hard on these old bones! Hey, it's definitely a younger mans game! Like I said, I'm loving it and learning a ton of new techniques to do things properly. This is what I will need to pass onto my students. I'm not only learning myself, but taking note of how they teach it.

Their comprehensive program runs a total of 16 weeks and would be ideal. Most of my class is taking the full program. In my case, i just cannot be away from home and other responsibilities for any longer. I will certainly be back next year to take on MIG and TIG though! They are 1 week modules each. There are also segments on Plasma, Alloys, etc. to round things out.

In my opinion, any person taking these classes will be well prepared to get hired on with any contractor upon completion of this program. They are doing everything possible to get the class certified while they are here to AWS D1.1 with their 3G and 4G on Plate. I don't know yet what we will end up with in Pipe class, but I know you can stay on for certifications if you don't get there during class time.

Lincoln is fortunate to have their manufacturing facilities right on site as a source of practice plates and sheet metal. They also manufacture the rods here too! This makes it easier for them to supply all the consumables and electrodes etc. and still keep the course fees reasonable. The value you get for the fees paid are without a question, extraordinary!

In summary, I cannot speak for or against other schools, but this one is first rate all the way! Sorry for the long winded post, but I thought it was a good place to give my review as I read through all the posts here on WeldingTipsandTricks.com forums. This in another phenomenal resource to learn from. The weekly tips from Jody are always a welcome sight in my Inbox!

Good luck with your careers guys! There is nothing like the sense of pride you get from doing quality work at a craft you love!

I'm chiming in MONTHS after tha last post, but I'll do so and hope for some input anyway.

My son is soon to be 22, going to community college part time (in very slow motion) for general studies. He is very interested in welding, but it needs to lead to a Real Job. He currently works in the minimum wage food prep area with occassional deliveries (which he prefers).

I'd prefer to hear from GRADUATES of one of these schools. If you were looking for this to help you find a welding job, did it work?

I'd hate for him to go down a path that gets him nowhere and delays him another year or 2 from finding his thing. However, if a welding job is a viable possibility, I'd like to help him out. We are in Cleveland, BTW, with Lincoln Electric and CCC being options.

Long ago, I went to a 10 month technical school for computers. I graduated extremely high in my class and landed a job instantly. 90%+ of my fellow students did not, and that was in a decent economy.

So, my question is simple: If someone does well in a welding training program, do they have realistic employment opportunities??

Thanks in advance for any replies,

Nick

Hi Nick,
First things first. I live in Australia, not the US so i don't know about or understand the system. How ever I am a Qualified Welder/ Fabricator, That's what were called here after a 4 year apprenticeship. What I do understand is the importance and value of training and schooling. Especially in welding and related trades. A course in welding will be an advantage to anyone looking for a job. Here we learn on the job, but if you cant get a job without a course, then don't give up. Just take the course that you can afford, the above posts talked about some very good community colleges. If a course involves certification at the end, all the better. And hey, if your son is just starting out, ANY kind of structured training will be a benefit. Its all about he uses what is available. Any I believe that an employer will look favourably upon a young person who has been prepared to get of their backside and give the training a red hot go, wouldn't you? I would take someone who was willing to learn before the people who are just in it for a pay check.

PS: There is a welding school some where in the US that has ZERO fees, you pay back the costs after the course by working at a reduced wage. And for a young guy with only himself to worry about what could be better than that? And if he has got nothing tying him down, it doesn't really matter if he has to travel, right?


I hope my two cents worth helps,
Good Luck and Kind Regards
Mick.