Welding FAQs

1. Where did you go to school for welding?

• Cerritos College. It's one of the best welding programs on the West Coast. The majority of the instructors are really good, especially for tig welding. The teachers are very knowledgeable and can take a beginner and turn them into aerospace quality welders.
• As far as fabrication goes, I didn't go to school for it, I learned it all on my own from home. Math was a huge help when it came to learning fabrication.

• I started off taking the beginning/intro to TIG (gtaw) welding. Once I saw I was doing pretty good I took more welding related classes. In total I took intro, intermediate, advanced over the course of two years, and then finally got certified in aerospace TIG later that fall.

• Each semester you are taught multiple positions and types of joints needed to pass a certain weld test and you receive a certificate for that AWS test. Besides that I also took shop math, blueprint reading, beginning stick welding, and structural fabrication. Now I'm moving onto 3D engineering and related classes (SolidWorks).

• The welding classes cost me in total about $1500-2000, which is cheap. I do receive financial assistance via a fee waiver though.

• First, you have to learn how to MIG or TIG if you are doing automotive fab. Take a shop math class and blueprint reading. Cerritos does offer a fabrication class, but that's more for structural which doesn't apply to automotive. If you really wanna do this, I recommend buying your own equipment and learning/practicing on your own.

• Multiple, but my most recent one (and the highest one you can get) is in Aerospace TIG welding.