How to Select a Welding Technical School near Greenville Georgia
Choosing the right welding trade school near Greenville GA is an essential first step to starting your new career as a professional welder. But since there are numerous schools to select from, how do you determine which ones to consider? And more notably, once you have fine tuned your alternatives, how do you pick the best one? Many people start by looking at the schools that are nearest to their residences. Once they have identified those that are within commuting distance, they are drawn toward the cheapest one. Yes, location and the cost of tuition are crucial concerns when examining welder technical schools, but they are not the only ones. Other considerations include such things as accreditation, reputation and job placement rates. So before starting your search for a trade school to become a welder, it’s sensible to develop a list of qualifications that your chosen school must have. But before we examine our due diligence checklist, let’s cover a little bit about how to become a welder.
Welder Degree and Certificate Training Classes
There are a number of options to get training as a welder in a trade or vocational school. You can earn a diploma, a certificate or an Associate Degree. Bachelor Degrees are offered in Welding Technology or Welding Engineering, but are more advanced degrees than most journeyman welders will need. Some programs are also offered along with an apprenticeship program. Following are short descriptions of the most common welding programs offered in the Greenville GA.
- Certificate and Diploma Programs are generally made available by technical and trade schools and take about a year to complete. They are more hands-on training in scope, created primarily to teach welding skills. They can provide a good foundation for a new journeyman or apprentice welder, or additional skills for working welders.
- Associate Degree Programs will take 2 years to complete and are most often offered by community colleges. An Associate Degree in Welding Technology furnishes a more well-rounded education than the diploma or certificate while still furnishing the foundation that prepares students to enter the workforce.
Many municipalities and states do have licensing requirements for welders, therefore make sure to find out for your location of future employment. If needed, the welder school you select should ready you for any licensing exams that you will need to take in addition to providing the suitable training to become a professional welder.
Welding Certification Choices
There are a number of organizations that provide welding certifications, which test the knowledge and skill level of those applying. Numerous Greenville GA employers not only demand a certificate or degree from an accredited welding school, but also certification from a highly regarded agency such as the American Welding Society (AWS). A wide range of certifications are available based upon the kind of work that the welder performs. A few of the skills that certification can acknowledge are the welder’s ability to
- Work in compliance with specific codes
- Work with specific metal thicknesses
- Work with certain kinds of welds
- Work in compliance with contract specifications
As already mentioned, various states, cities or local municipalities have licensing mandates for welders. Of those calling for licensing, a number also require certification for different kinds of work. Certification is also a way to prove to employers that you are an extremely skilled and experienced welder. So just as with licensing, look into the requirements for your local area and make sure that the welder technical school you choose prepares you for certification as needed.
How to Choose a Welding Vocational School
When you have chosen the credential you want to earn, a diploma, certificate or degree, you can start to assess schools. As you are no doubt aware, there are many welding vocational and trade schools in the Greenville GA area. That’s why it’s essential to decide up front what qualifications your selected school must have. We have previously covered a couple of important ones that many people look at first, which are location and the cost of tuition. As mentioned, although they are very important qualifications, they are not the only ones that should be considered. After all, the school you decide on is going to furnish the education that will be the foundation of your new vocation as a welder. So following are some additional factors you may need to consider before selecting a welder trade school.
Accreditation. It’s essential that the welding technical school you pick is accredited by either a national or a regional organization. There are two basic kinds of accreditation. The school may attain Institutional Accreditation based on all of their programs. Programmatic Accreditation is based on a specific program the school offers, for example Welding Technology. So make certain that the program you select is accredited, not just the school itself. Additionally, the accreditation should be by a U.S. Department of Education recognized accrediting agency, such as the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology (ACCSCT). Besides helping ensure that you obtain a superior education, the accreditation might also assist in acquiring financial aid or student loans, which are in many cases not offered in Greenville GA for schools that are not accredited. Also, for those states or local governments that mandate licensing, they may require that the welding training program be accredited as well.
Apprenticeship and Job Assistance Programs. Many welder diploma or degree programs are provided combined with an apprenticeship program. Other schools will help place you in a job or an apprenticeship upon graduation. Ask if the schools you are reviewing help in placing students in apprenticeships or have a job placement program. These schools should have relationships with local unions and other metal working businesses to which they can place their students. More established schools may have a more substantial network of graduates that they can utilize for placements. These programs can help students find employment and develop associations within the Greenville GA welding community.
Completion and Job Placement Rates. The completion rate is the percentage of students that start an academic program and complete it. It’s essential that the welding program you pick has a higher completion rate. A lower rate could signify that the students who joined the program were dissatisfied with the instruction, the instructors, or the facilities, and quit. The job placement rate is also an indication of the caliber of training. A high job placement rate will not only confirm that the program has an excellent reputation within the field, but also that it has the network of Greenville GA contacts to help students secure apprenticeships or employment after graduation.
Up-to-date Equipment and Facilities. After you have narrowed down your choice of welder schools to two or three options, you should consider visiting the campuses to look over their facilities. Confirm that both the facilities and the equipment that you will be trained on are up-to-date. In particular, the training equipment should be comparable to what you will be using in the field. If you are unsure what to look for, and are currently in an apprenticeship program, ask the master welder you are working under for guidance. If not, ask a local Greenville GA welding professional if they can give you a few pointers.
School Location. Even though we previously briefly covered the relevance of location, there are a few additional points that we need to address. You should keep in mind that unless you are able to relocate, the welding program you pick needs to be within driving distance of your Greenville GA home. If you do decide to attend an out-of-state school, in addition to moving costs there might be higher tuition fees for out-of-state residents. This is especially the case for welder certificate programs offered by community colleges. Also, if the school provides an apprenticeship or job placement program, most likely their placements are within the school’s local community. So the location of the school should be in an area or state where you ultimately will desire to work.
Smaller Classes. Personalized instruction is important for a hands-on trade such as welding. It’s possible to get overlooked in larger classes and not obtain much personalized instruction. Find out what the typical class size is for the welder schools you are reviewing. Ask if you can sit in on a few classes so that you can experience how much personal attention the students are getting. While there, speak with a few of the students and get their feedback. Similarly, speak with a few of the teachers and find out what their welding experience has been and what certifications and credentials they hold.
Convenient Class Schedules. Lots of folks learn a new trade while still working at their present job. Make sure that the class schedules for the programs you are reviewing are convenient enough to fulfill your needs. If you can only go to classes in the evenings or on weekends near Greenville GA, verify that the schools you are looking at offer those options. If you can only enroll part-time, make certain that the school you select offers part-time enrollment. Also, ask what the protocol is to make up classes should you miss any due to work, sickness or family circumstances.
Will You Be Attending Welding School Near Greenville GA?
Perhaps you live in the Greenville Georgia area, or have decided to enroll in a Welding Program that has a campus near there. In either case, you may find this bit of history both interesting and informative.
Greenville, Georgia
Greenville is a city in Meriwether County, Georgia, United States. The population was 946 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Meriwether County[4] and is located 54.9 miles (88.4 km) southwest of Atlanta. It is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area (Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area).
As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 946 people, 354 households, and 236 families residing in the city. The population density was 520.8 people per square mile (200.7/km²). There were 432 housing units at an average density of 237.8 per square mile (91.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 26.43% White, 73.15% African American, 0.11% Native American, 0.11% Pacific Islander, and 0.21% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.32% of the population.
There were 354 households out of which 29.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.5% were married couples living together, 29.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.1% were non-families. 28.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.35.
Online Welding Training
Welding is very much a manual kind of vocation, and for that reason not very compatible with online training. However, there are a small number of online welding courses offered by various community colleges and vocational schools in the greater Greenville GA area that may be credited toward a degree or certificate program. These courses mainly cover such subjects as safety, reading blueprints, and metallurgy. They can help give a novice a basis to initiate their education and training. However, the most important point is that you can’t learn how to weld or work with welding materials unless you actually do it. Obviously that can’t be performed online. These skills need to be learned in an on-campus setting or in an apprenticeship. Online or distance learning is better suited for seasoned welders that would like to advance their knowledge or possibly attain a more advanced degree. So if you should discover an online welding degree or certificate program, be very careful and make sure that the greater part of the training is done on campus or in a workshop type of environment.
Find the Right Welding Technical Program Greenville GA
Picking the right welding training program will probably be the most critical decision you will make to launch your new profession. As we have covered in this article, there are many things that you will need to assess and compare among the schools you are considering. It’s a necessity that any welder school that you are evaluating includes a good deal of hands-on instruction. Classes need to be small in size and each student must have their personal welding machine to train on. Classroom education needs to offer a real-world context, and the curriculum should be current and in-line with industry standards. Courses vary in duration and the type of credential provided, so you will need to ascertain what length of program and credential will best serve your needs. Every training program offers different options for certification also. Perhaps the best approach to research your final list of schools is to visit each campus and speak with the teachers and students. Invest some time to attend a few classes. Inspect the campus and facilities. Make sure that you are confident that the school you choose is the right one for you. With the right training, effort and dedication, the final result will be a new trade as a professional welder in Greenville GA.
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