SHOULD YOU GET A WELDING DEGREE FROM COLLEGE?

Been asked this question a lot more than I would have thought it would come up so I wanted to talk about it a little bit!

[brendengoldman]

For someone like myself who had no prior welding skills, welding school is a good option to learn how to weld. School will make you a decent welder, but to be a great welder the learning never stops

[diegolerma]

A associate in welding is a thing . So basically you’re learning how to weld with actual hands on experience. Many people think a welding degree is just book knowledge and that’s not correct . A welding degree in a community college deals with actual hands on experience. I’m 19 years old and I’m going for my associates in welding. I will finish my degree in about a year . I can say that I’ve learned a lot . From general welding knowledge, to actual weld hands on experience. You basically have a lab in the college where there’s alot of welding machines and you get to weld . The associates in welding covers, Tig, mig, stick, oxyfuel welding and cutting, carbon arc, plasma arc cutting etc. I don’t get why people don’t know about an Associates in welding .

[gunchief]

Well for me getting certified at my local community college has helped me learn the skills tremendously. And as for the A.A. degree. For.me that's like a sense of accomplishment in the trade.. also it I ever decide to retire and then become an instructor the degree adds value for the resume'

[fordsrgay]

Welding school tends to be shop practice for a majority of the hours spent. As someone who went to school out of 2 years welding in a shipyard, I went to get certed and proficient in all 3 processes learning tig and getting better at some 6010 pipe stuff. Now I'm working in a nice dry shop, making 35 an hour stainless tigging. Trade school ain't the end all be all, but it can definitely get you a foot up in the knowledge and practice end. Of course u have to apply yourself.

[WeldingQueen]

I'm halfway through my 2-year welding degree and I had zero experience with welding or any type of tools besides a power drill so it was the ideal place for me to go to pick up all the skills I wanted with multiple processes to figure out what I'm best at and what welding I like best or want to go into. And the school I go to also partners with vigor which is maritime welding and that is where I want to end up- I'm pretty sure. Is it the answer for everybody absolutely not but for some people I think it can be quite helpful and with FASFA this is literally (at least for me at a community college) free. With having zero knowledge it gave me a place to pick up skills and make Honestly right now welding is really hard for me and I'm determined to be a good welder and I'm going to practice until I get it the way I want it. I just finished with all my state classes and now I'm doing my main classes and I'll tell you what vertical up is kicking my butt right now but if I was at a job I couldn't make mistakes like this. I had to do one project three different times that wouldn't have been ok at a job. Now if you have somebody at a job that's going to take you under their wing that knows you have no experience or no knowledge and have no idea what you're doing then maybe that's okay but at least for me I needed School to help me with this. I think it's an individual's choice some people it's going to help and other people it's not. But I'm glad I'm in school. They just don't have hours outside of class to practice and that's the only thing about the classes I don't like.

[sinisterace]

I got to go to school for 2 months on a crash course. Thankfully I took a intro class for like 250 bucks before it and learned a lot of the theory and safety. I got to go to the two month crash course for free on a government grant. Welded pretty much 81 hours in those 2 months, and didn't have basically any help unless I asked for advice from the teacher. It was a great experience, and because I took that SPECIFIC course, I got a job at the shipyard it was tied with. There's definitely a reason to go to school for it, if you've never done it before. But you're absolutely right, most jobs are gonna put a few weld tests in front if you, and if you pass, you're hired.

[majorpain]

My community college offers three different welding degrees/certification. One is just one semester for the basics, the other is one year and goes more in-depth with pipeline welds and the other is an associate degree that goes over everything I just mentioned and structural welding. I just want to know the basics so I could weld as a hobby like modding my grill instead of paying for a welder to do it

[MikeyDLooffy]

I learned welding through my job. I had class once a week for 3 months and I get paid $28 an hour, I work 6 sometimes 7 days a week.

[rbweldz]

It’s just basically like a school it teaches and prepares you. They have a shop at my community college it’s obvious it’s hands on.. how else would someone truly learn it.. it’s just a different way to get prepared to get certified. No reason to discourage people because you didn’t research before doing the video. Also, if you have that you can retire as a teacher at a school since it’s a diploma.

[eldiablo]

I don't see why someone without any welding experience shouldn't enroll in a community college welding program, especially if they do not have the opportunity to learn the trade from any other source in their area. Just saying.

[markchase]

My experience is that if you have the ability to learn any skill and learn academics for a professional role at the same time, that would be the best way to go and was practiced by Booker T Washington as he built Tuskegee Institute. He wanted the graduates to never be unemployed. If only our current "educational" institutions had followed his wisdom, neither student debt crisis nor non saleable ridiculous Studies degrees would exist.
I advocate to younger people talking about college to attend a community college and learn a skill as they educate themselves for service in a profession.
One other thing is that an Associates degree is a college degree and for many of us, whose parent didn't earn one, that's often a big for them. Accredited Community colleges often have matriculation programs with Universities, articulating their class descriptions in order to acquire acceptance for units earned.
Let's say you earn an Associates Degree and in so doing you take English 1A and other required courses. Those units are sealed under that degree so they never go stale and can be counted towards another higher degree. Here is a real CAUTION: You go to a 4 year University or college for 3 years and have to quit for a decade to meet the challenges of life and now all the coursework units you took are stale. That means they don't count as they aren't seal in a degree.

[jacobmiller]

I say be a welder helper. It will teach you more. And it gives you some old school skills which are forgotten. For me any welding school or degree in welding is a waist of money.

[musicgirl]

Having a degree or certificate in welding could be helpful to have as a backup because I know apprenticeships can lag in terms of getting an offer.

[RCRCustoms]

I know that here in Ontario Canada you can simply book a test through a CWB certified testing facility and challenge and do your weld tests. If you pass you get a ticket that's valid for 2 years then you need to re-test again to keep it current and valid. Through the Union halls we get paid to test and re-test (I'm a Union Ironworker Local 786 Sudbury Ontario Canada).
Now if I pull a slip to work in Alberta Canada I can't take a welding job because out there a welder is a registered Red Seal Trade (inter provincial) with I believe a 6500 hour apprenticeship, so even with well over 2 decades of welding experience I don't qualify as a welder in that province because I never went through the apprenticeship process and registered my time.

CWB is Canadian Welding Bureau and is one of the governing boards that regulate weld testing in Canada.

[whorider]

All i want to say is that, i ask my professor from highschool that i got learn from because a special class the offered. I asked how i could become a teacher as soon as possible with having to like 20+ years of experience. He said getting my associates would be the best to becom one. I mean like a professor who shows students at colleges, or a welding school. Also like he said in the video the associates would help in the engineering side.

[heliarc]

If you want to be a welding instructor one day, at particular colleges you need a degree. Some other schools do not require a degree just a set amount of experience.
I am an instructor

Experience varies between 3 to 7 years experience verifiable to work at some for-profit schools, and can make good money too. Anywhere from 60-100k depending how many classes/hours you work

[massa-blasta]

at a lot of these colleges, you can earn credits by taking courses in Harry Potter.

[christophercantrell]

I’m getting a degree in welding but it’s 5 classes of prerequisites and the rest is just welding. I of course want to be a instructor so that’s why I want the degree.

[DavidPopeOfficial]

Im sure a degree is used in lieu of on the job experience in some places. I got a basic introductory certificate, but learned all I know of my trade on the job. Started as a gopher and worked my way up.

[MRGOLD.]

I think there asking like they don't know how and do they need to take a class to learn faster properly so as to become a welder but idk