How to Choose the Right Welding Vocational School near South Thomaston Maine
Enrolling in the right welder trade school near South Thomaston ME is an essential first step to starting your new occupation as a professional welder. But since there are numerous schools to pick from, how do you know which ones to consider? And more notably, once you have fine tuned your options, how do you select the right one? Most prospective students start by checking out the schools that are closest to their residences. Once they have located those that are within driving distance, they gravitate toward the cheapest one. Yes, location and the cost of tuition are crucial considerations when evaluating welding trade schools, but they are not the only ones. Other concerns include such things as reputation, accreditation and job placement rates. So before starting your search for a vocational school to become a welder, it’s sensible to create a list of qualifications that your selected school must have. But before we examine our due diligence checklist, let’s talk a little bit about how to become a welder.
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Welding Certificate and Degree Training
There are several options available to obtain training as a welder in a trade or technical school. You can earn a a certificate, a diploma or an Associate Degree. Bachelor Degrees are available in Welding Engineering or Welding Technology, but are more advanced courses than most journeyman welders will need. Some programs are also offered in conjunction with an apprenticeship program. Below are brief explanations of the most common welding programs available in the South Thomaston ME area.
- Certificate and Diploma Programs are normally made available by technical and trade schools and take about 1 year to complete. They are more hands-on training in scope, fashioned primarily to develop welding skills. They can furnish a good foundation for a new journeyman or apprentice welder, or supplemental skills for working welders.
- Associate Degree Programs will take 2 years to finish and are usually offered by community colleges. An Associate Degree in Welding Technology provides a more well-rounded education than the certificate or diploma while still furnishing the foundation that readies students to enter the workforce.
Many states and municipalities do have licensing prerequisites for welders, so don’t forget to find out for your location of future employment. If required, the welder school you select should prepare you for any licensing examinations that you will have to pass in addition to furnishing the appropriate training to become a qualified welder.
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Welding Certification Alternatives
There are various institutions that offer welder certifications, which evaluate the skill level and knowledge of those applying. Numerous South Thomaston ME employers not only require a certificate or degree from an accredited welding program, but also certification from a highly regarded organization such as the American Welding Society (AWS). Different certifications are offered based on the type of work that the welder does. Just some of the things that certification can acknowledge are the welder’s ability to
- Operate in compliance with specific codes
- Work with specified metal thicknesses
- Work with specific kinds of welds
- Work according to contract specifications
As earlier stated, some cities, states or local municipalities have licensing requirements for welders. Of those requiring licensing, a number also require certification for various kinds of work. Certification is also a way to prove to employers that you are an exceptionally skilled and knowledgeable welder. So just as with licensing, look into the requirements for your local area and make sure that the welder technical school you select readies you for certification if needed.
Topics to Ask Welder Vocational Schools
As soon as you have chosen the credential you would like to attain, a degree, certificate or diploma, you can start to evaluate schools. As you are no doubt aware, there are numerous welder vocational and trade schools in the South Thomaston ME area. That’s why it’s important to decide up front what qualifications your school of choice must have. We have previously discussed 2 significant ones that most people consider first, which are location and tuition cost. As mentioned, although they are very important qualifications, they are not the only ones that need to be considered. After all, the school you pick is going to provide the education that will be the foundation of your new vocation as a welder. So below are more factors you might need to evaluate before picking a welder tech school.
Accreditation. It’s extremely important that the welding vocational school you pick is accredited by either a national or a regional organization. There are 2 standard types of accreditation. The school may receive Institutional Accreditation based on all of their programs. Programmatic Accreditation is based on an individual program the school offers, for instance Welding Technology. So make sure that the program you choose is accredited, not just the school itself. Additionally, the accreditation should be by a U.S. Department of Education acknowledged accrediting organization, such as the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology (ACCSCT). Besides helping ensure that you get a quality education, the accreditation may also help in securing financial assistance or student loans, which are in many cases unavailable in South Thomaston ME for non-accredited schools. Finally, for those states or municipalities that mandate licensing, they may require that the welding training program be accredited also.
Job Assistance and Apprenticeship Programs. Many welder degree or certificate programs are provided combined with an apprenticeship program. Other schools will assist in placing you in a job or an apprenticeship after graduation. Find out if the schools you are looking at help in placing students in apprenticeships or have a job placement program. The schools should have associations with local unions and other metal working businesses to which they can place their students. More established schools may have a larger network of graduates that they can utilize for placements. These programs can help students find employment and establish relationships within the South Thomaston ME welding community.
Completion and Job Placement Rates. The completion rate is the portion or percentage of students that start an instructional program and finish it. It’s crucial that the welding school you choose has a high completion rate. A lower rate could mean that the students who were in the program were dissatisfied with the training, the instructors, or the facilities, and quit. The job placement rate is also a good indicator of the caliber of training. A higher job placement rate will not only confirm that the school has an excellent reputation within the trade, but additionally that it has the network of South Thomaston ME employer relationships to help students secure employment or apprenticeships upon graduation.
Modern Facilities and Equipment. Once you have limited your selection of welder programs to 2 or 3 options, you should consider going to the campuses to inspect their facilities. Verify that both the equipment and the facilities that you will be trained on are modern. In particular, the training equipment should be similar to what you will be working with on the job. If you are unsure what to look for, and are already in an apprenticeship program, ask the master welder you are working under for guidance. If not, ask a local South Thomaston ME welding contractor if they can give you some suggestions.
School Location. Although we already briefly discussed the relevance of location, there are a few additional issues that we should deal with. You should bear in mind that unless you are able to move, the welder school you choose needs to be within driving distance of your South Thomaston ME home. If you do choose to enroll in an out-of-state school, apart from relocation costs there could be higher tuition fees for out-of-state residents. This is particularly the case for welding diploma programs offered by community colleges. Additionally, if the school provides an apprenticeship or job placement program, more than likely their placements are within the school’s regional community. So the location of the school should be in an area or state where you subsequently will wish to work.
Smaller Classes. One-on-one instruction is important for a manual trade such as welding. It’s easy to get overlooked in bigger classes and not receive much one-on-one training. Find out what the average class size is for the welding programs you are looking at. Inquire if you can sit in on a couple of classes so that you can witness how much personal attention the students are getting. While there, talk with some of the students and get their feedback. Also, talk to some of the instructors and ask what their welding experience has been and what certifications and credentials they hold.
Convenient Class Scheduling. Lots of folks learn a new trade while still working at their current job. Check to see that the class schedules for the schools you are looking at are convenient enough to meet your needs. If you can only go to classes at night or on weekends near South Thomaston ME, verify that the schools you are considering provide those alternatives. If you can only enroll part-time, verify that the school you choose offers part-time enrollment. Also, check to see what the protocol is to make up classes should you miss any due to work, illness or family circumstances.
Online Welder Schools
Welding is truly a manual kind of vocation, and therefore not extremely compatible with online training. Even so, there are a small number of online welding programs offered by certain community colleges and trade schools in the greater South Thomaston ME area that can count toward a degree or certificate program. These classes primarily deal with such topics as safety, reading blueprints, and metallurgy. They can help provide a beginner a foundation to initiate their education and training. However, the most significant point is that you can’t learn how to weld or handle welding materials unless you actually do it. Naturally that can’t be done online. These skills need to be learned in an on-campus environment or in an apprenticeship. Online or distance learning is more appropriate for experienced welders that would like to advance their knowledge or perhaps obtain a more advanced degree. So if you should find an online welding certificate or degree program, be very cautious and make certain that the greater part of the training is done on campus or in a workshop type of setting.
Top Part Time Schools for Welders South Thomaston ME
Choosing the right welding training program will undoubtedly be the most important decision you will make to launch your new trade. You originally stopped by our website because you had an interest in Top Part Time Schools for Welders and wanted more information on the topic Best Accelerated Schools for Welders. However, as we have discussed in this article, there are several things that you will need to evaluate and compare among the programs you are looking at. It’s a prerequisite that any welder training program that you are considering includes a good deal of hands-on instruction. Classes need to be smaller in size and each student must have their personal welding machine to train on. Classroom education needs to provide a real-world perspective, and the course of study should be current and conform with industry standards. Courses vary in length and the type of credential offered, so you will need to ascertain what length of program and credential will best fulfill your needs. Each program offers different possibilities for certification as well. Probably The ideal means to research your final list of schools is to go to each campus and speak with the students and instructors. Invest some time to sit in on a few classes. Tour the campus and facilities. Make sure that you are confident that the program you choose is the best one for you. With the proper training, hard work and commitment, the end outcome will be a new occupation as a professional welder in South Thomaston ME.
Other Maine Welder Locations
South Thomaston, Maine
Abenaki Indians called it Wessaweskeag, meaning "tidal creek" or "salt creek," a reference to what is now known as the Weskeag River. Thomas Lefebvre from Quebec, Canada owned a huge tract of land at the Weskeag River, where his stay began in 1704. He built a large gristmill, with a house on the shoreline. Although he would eventually return to Quebec, the area retained his name — Thomas' Town. But the adjacent St. George River was the uneasy dividing line between land controlled by New England and New France. Permanent settlement would be delayed by the French and Indian Wars, which ended with the 1763 Treaty of Paris.[4]
In 1767, Wessaweskeag was settled by Elisha Snow, who built a sawmill operated by tidal power. In 1773, Joseph Coombs arrived and built another sawmill nearby, and together they built a gristmill. The village of South Thomaston grew around the mills, which would include three granite polishing machines to process stone cut from the town's numerous quarries. On July 28, 1848, South Thomaston was set off from Thomaston and incorporated as a separate town.[5]Owl's Head would be set off from South Thomaston on July 9, 1921.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 17.97 square miles (46.54 km2), of which, 11.44 square miles (29.63 km2) of it is land and 6.53 square miles (16.91 km2) is water.[1] South Thomaston is located on the Weskeag River inlet.
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