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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employers often prefer to hire entry-level welders with technical training. Although these candidates still require on-the-job training, they're already familiar with blueprint reading, shop math and more.
If you’ve been thinking about pursuing a career in welding, you might already know that the first step is finding the right school. But what should you be looking for when choosing a welding school?
In this blog post, we'll walk you through five key things you can do to ensure you choose the best school for you and your goals.
1. Research Welding Schools’ Reputations
Accredited welding schools with enduring industry relationships are often a good place to start your search. Both suggest a solid reputation within the trades they train students to enter.
Accreditation
Accreditation is crucial in ensuring that students receive a quality education. It validates that a welding school’s learning environment and curriculum meet or exceed specified criteria established by a separate governing body.
Universal Technical School (UTI) is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC). As an agency dedicated to promoting quality education, the ACCSC works tirelessly to ensure that post-secondary education programs provide quality education to help enhance student success in the workforce.
Industry Relationships
If a welding school has strong industry relationships, it’s a good sign that they teach students the skills leading brands often value.
Strong industry relationships also provide students the opportunity to network with leading brands before they even graduate, potentially opening doors for them early on in their journey.
UTI works closely with manufacturers, employers and aftermarket companies to provide relevant training.1 These relationships also assist UTI in maintaining hands-on labs outfitted with industry-standard tools and technologies that can help increase students’ confidence before they begin pursuing entry-level welding careers.
2. Ask About Career Services
Welding school is an investment. Make sure the school you attend helps you receive a return on it by offering more than just a quality education. A reasonable way to gauge a school’s ability to do this is by asking what career services they offer.
Career services can range from interview training to helping students find job opportunities after they graduate.
UTI’s Career Services department invites students to link arms with them from the moment they enroll to after they graduate. Here are a few ways our Career Services specialists help students journey toward their career paths:
- Assisting students in finding part-time work that covers their living expenses while in school
- Resume development
- Career coaching
- Interview training
- Career development classes
- On-campus interviews
- Maintaining relationships with employers nationwide to help graduates find potential job opportunities.
- Helping alumni find potential career opportunities.
3. Evaluate the Curriculum
Welding training programs with an industry-aligned curriculum will help students develop the entry-level skills employers typically seek in new welders.
UTI’s hands-on welding courses were crafted with help from manufacturing and design leader, Lincoln Electric. The objective of the program is to teach students the four types of arc welding: gas metal arc (GMAW), shielded metal arc (SMAW), flux-cored arc (FCAW), and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW).
From aerospace to motorsports, these processes are utilized across multiple industries, preparing students to pursue entry-level welding jobs doing something exciting. In addition to the welding processes, students are taught inspection and defect testing, code interpretation, blueprint reading, project planning and more.
The 36-week program consists of the following welding courses:
- Introduction to Welding, Safety & Careers
- Principles of Welding
- Gas Metal Arc Welding I and II
- Shielded Metal Arc Welding I and II
- Engineering and Fabrication
- Flux-Cored Arc Welding
- Gas Tungsten Arc Welding
- Pipe Welding
- Welding Applications I and II
Throughout their welding classes, students practice with Lincoln Electric's VRTX® welders –virtual welding machines that simulate scenarios welders encounter in the professional world.
4. Read Testimonials
Don’t take the staff’s word for it. Find testimonials from graduates and employers as proof the welding school can provide the education it markets.
UTI graduate Kyle Sabers now works as a professional welder for Empire Caterpillar. He shared, “I believe 100% that UTI gave me an advantage. They do a good job of teaching you how to weld, but they also give you the knowledge behind it and why we’re doing things.”
John Esquibel, the service lead manager at Empire Caterpillar, shared, “UTI has actually been more accommodating to what we’re looking for in the field. Our experience with them is the professionalism that they put out with each individual student makes us want to go for that type of person.”
5. Visit the Campus
Sometimes visiting the campus is the best way to judge if a welding school is the right fit for you. Campus tours allow you to observe the learning model, feel out the learning environment, and meet instructors.
It may even prompt you to ask higher-level questions, like “Will I need to supply my own tools?” or “How many hours a week will I spend in the lab?”
Scheduling a campus tour is especially beneficial if you’re planning on relocating for school, as it provides an opportunity to familiarize yourself with the surrounding area.
UTI offers welding training at 12 locations:
- Avondale, AZ
- Long Beach, CA
- Rancho Cucamonga, CA
- Sacramento, CA
- Miramar, FL
- Lisle, IL
- Bloomfield, NJ
- Mooresville, NC
- Exton, PA
- Austin, TX
- Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
- Houston, TX
You can schedule a tour at any one of the 12 before enrolling.
Welding School FAQ
What Is An Essential Way To Learn Welding?
A welding career training program led by professionals is an essential way to learn. Industry experts lead UTI’s welding training classes and teach students proper form, safety standards, how to adjust their process as necessary, and more.
Are Welding Skills in Demand?
Welding skills are in demand across the nation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects total welding employment to exceed 463,000 in the U.S. by 2033.42
What Do I Need To Know to Become a Welder?
While entry-level welders undergo continued on-the-job training, they should have a basic understanding of metals, welding processes, welding positions, blueprinting, math, measurement, geometry and planning. Welding training programs like the one at UTI can equip students with these fundamentals.
Attend Welding School at UTI
By following the five steps covered in this guide, you can make an informed decision that will help prepare you for your future.
To summarize: Make sure the welding school you enroll in has a good reputation in the industry, is committed to helping students find career opportunities, teaches an industry-aligned curriculum, can be vouched for by graduates and employers, and has a training environment you’d be comfortable learning in.
If you think that might be UTI, request more info, sign up for a campus tour, or fill out a welding school application!
Universal Technical Institute of Illinois, Inc. is approved by the Division of Private Business and Vocational Schools of the Illinois Board of Higher Education.