How to Find the Right Welder Trade School near New Castle Pennsylvania
Selecting the right welding technical school near New Castle PA is an essential first step to launching your new career as a professional welder. But since there are a lot of schools to pick from, how do you determine which ones to consider? And more importantly, once you have fine tuned your options, how do you pick the right one? A number of people begin by checking out the schools that are nearest to their homes. Once they have located those that are within commuting distance, they gravitate toward the least expensive one. Yes, location and the cost of tuition are necessary issues when reviewing welder trade schools, but they are not the only ones. Other concerns include such things as accreditation, reputation and job placement rates. So before beginning your search for a trade school to become a welder, it’s sensible to develop a list of qualifications that your selected school must have. But before we delve into our due diligence checklist, let’s cover a little bit about how to become a welder.
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Welder Certificate and Degree Programs
There are a number of options to receive training as a welder in a trade or technical school. You can receive a diploma, a certificate or an Associate Degree. Bachelor Degrees are offered in Welding Engineering or Welding Technology, but are more advanced courses than most journeyman welders will need. Some programs are also offered along with an apprenticeship program. Following are brief explanations of the most typical welding programs offered in the New Castle PA area.
- Certificate and Diploma Programs are generally made available by technical and trade schools and require about 1 year to finish. They are more hands-on training in nature, designed mainly to teach welding skills. They can furnish 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 offers a more extensive education than the diploma or certificate while still supplying the foundation that prepares students to enter the workforce.
Many states and municipalities do have licensing prerequisites for welders, so make sure to check for your location of future employment. If required, the welding school you choose should ready you for any licensing exams that you will have to pass in addition to furnishing the proper training to become a qualified welder.
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Welding Certification Choices
There are multiple institutions that provide welder certifications, which test the skill level and knowledge of those applying. Numerous New Castle PA employers not only demand a certificate or degree from an accredited welding school, but also certification from a respected agency like the American Welding Society (AWS). A variety of certifications are available dependent on the type of work that the welder does. A few of the skills that certification can acknowledge are the welder’s ability to
- Operate in compliance with specific codes
- Work with certain metal thicknesses
- Work with specific types of welds
- Work based on contract specifications
As earlier mentioned, many states, cities or local municipalities have licensing requirements for welders. Of those mandating licensing, some additionally require certification for various kinds of work. Certification is also a way to prove to employers that you are a highly skilled and qualified welder. So just as with licensing, check the requirements for your local area and make certain that the welder trade school you select preps you for certification if needed.
Points to Ask Welder Vocational Programs
Once you have decided on the credential you want to earn, a diploma, certificate or degree, you can begin to evaluate schools. As you probably know, there are numerous welder vocational and trade schools in the New Castle PA area. That’s why it’s essential to determine up front what qualifications your selected school must have. We have already covered 2 important ones that most people consider first, which are location and the cost of tuition. As stated, although they are essential qualifiers, they are not the only ones that should be considered. After all, the program you choose is going to provide the training that will be the foundation of your new profession as a welder. So below are more factors you might need to consider before choosing a welding trade school.
Accreditation. It’s very important that the welding tech school you select is accredited by either a national or a regional agency. There are 2 standard 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 has, for example Welding Technology. So make certain that the program you pick is accredited, not just the school itself. Additionally, the accreditation should be by a U.S. Department of Education recognized accrediting organization, for example the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology (ACCSCT). Besides helping make sure that you get an excellent education, the accreditation might also assist in securing financial assistance or student loans, which are frequently not available in New Castle PA for schools that are not accredited. Finally, for those states or municipalities that require licensing, they may require that the welder training program be accredited as well.
Apprenticeship and Job Placement Programs. Many welder degree or certificate programs are offered in conjunction with an apprenticeship program. Other schools will help place you in an apprenticeship or a job upon graduation. Find out if the schools you are looking at help in placing students in apprenticeships or have a job assistance program. These schools must have relationships with local unions and various 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 New Castle PA welding community.
Job Placement and Completion Rates. The completion rate is the portion or percentage of students that begin an instructional program and finish it. It’s essential that the welder program you choose has a higher completion rate. A lower rate could indicate that the students who were in the program were unhappy with the training, the instructors, or the facilities, and dropped out. The job placement rate is also a good indicator of the quality of training. A higher job placement rate will not only confirm that the program has an excellent reputation within the trade, but also that it has the network of New Castle PA contacts to assist students secure apprenticeships or employment upon graduation.
Up-to-date Facilities and Equipment. Once you have decreased your selection of welder schools to 2 or 3 possibilities, you should think out going to the campuses to look over their facilities. Confirm that both the equipment and the facilities that you will be trained on are modern. In particular, the training equipment should be comparable to what you will be using in the field. If you are not sure 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 New Castle PA welding professional if they can give you some tips.
School Location. Although we already briefly talked about the relevance of location, there are a few additional points that we need to address. You should remember that unless you can relocate, the welding program you choose needs to be within commuting distance of your New Castle PA home. If you do choose to attend 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 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 regional community. So the location of the school needs to be in a region or state where you ultimately will want to work.
Small Classes. One-on-one training is important for a manual trade such as welding. It’s possible to get overlooked in bigger classes and not obtain much personalized training. Find out what the average class size is for the welder programs you are looking at. Inquire if you can sit in on a couple of classes so that you can experience how much personal attention the students are receiving. While there, talk with several of the students and get their feedback. Similarly, speak with a couple of the instructors and find out what their welding experience has been and what credentials and certifications they hold.
Flexible Class Scheduling. Some people learn a new profession while still employed at their current job. Check to see that the class schedules for the schools you are looking at are flexible enough to meet your needs. If you can only attend classes at night or on weekends near New Castle PA, confirm that the schools you are looking at provide those alternatives. If you can only enroll on a part-time basis, confirm that the school you select offers part-time enrollment. Also, find out what the protocol is to make up classes if you you miss any due to work, illness or family responsibilities.
Online Welder Schools
Welding is very much a manual kind of trade, and therefore not very compatible with training online. Even so, there are a few online welding classes offered by various community colleges and trade schools in the greater New Castle PA area that can count toward a certificate or degree program. These classes primarily deal with such subjects as safety, reading blueprints, and metallurgy. They can help provide a novice a basis to start their training and education. Nevertheless, the most important point is that you can’t learn how to weld or handle welding materials until you actually do it. Clearly that can’t be done online. These skills must be learned in an on-campus setting or in an apprenticeship. Online or distance learning is more appropriate for seasoned welders that would like to advance their knowledge or perhaps earn a more advanced degree. So if you should discover an online welding certificate or degree program, be extremely cautious and make certain that the greater part of the training is done on campus or in a workshop type of setting.
Guide to Accredited Welding Training New Castle PA
Selecting the best welding school will probably be the most critical decision you will make to start your new career. You originally stopped by our website because you had an interest in Guide to Accredited Welding Training and wanted more information on the topic Guide to Weekend Welding Training. However, as we have addressed in this article, there are several things that you will need to assess and compare between the programs you are considering. It’s a necessity that any welding training program that you are examining includes a lot of hands-on training. Classes should be smaller in size and each student must have their own welding machine to train on. Classroom education needs to provide a real-world perspective, and the curriculum should be up-to-date and in-line with industry standards. Courses vary in duration and the kind of credential provided, so you will have to determine what length of program and degree or certificate will best satisfy your needs. Every training program offers different possibilities for certification also. Perhaps the best means to research your final list of schools is to go to each campus and talk with the teachers and students. Invest some time to sit in on a few classes. Inspect the campus and facilities. Make sure that you are confident that the program you select is the ideal one for you. With the proper training, effort and commitment, the final outcome will be a new occupation as a professional welder in New Castle PA.
Other Pennsylvania Welder Locations
New Castle, Pennsylvania
New Castle is a city in and the county seat of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States, 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Pittsburgh and near the Pennsylvania–Ohio border just 18 miles (29 km) east of Youngstown, Ohio. The population was 23,128 as of the 2010 census. It is the commercial center of a fertile agricultural region.[3]
New Castle is the principal city of the New Castle, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 91,108 in 2010. New Castle also anchors the northwestern part of the Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-WV-OH Combined Statistical Area.
In 1798, John Carlysle Stewart, a civil engineer, traveled to western Pennsylvania to resurvey the "donation lands," which had been reserved for veterans of the Revolutionary War. He discovered that the original survey had neglected to stake out approximately 50 acres (20 ha) at the confluence of the Shenango River and the Neshannock Creek, at that time a part of Allegheny County. The Indian town of Kuskusky was listed on early maps in this location [4]. Claiming the land for himself, he laid out what was to become the town of New Castle. Stewart laid out the town of New Castle in April 1798. It comprised approximately that same 50 acres (20 ha), in what was then part of Allegheny County.[citation needed]
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