If you love to work with stainless steel, iron, and other metals, welding is the perfect career path for you. You can enroll into a good welding school and become a certified welder in no time if you know everything about it.
So today, we’re here to talk about how to become a welder and the 5 best welding schools in Los Angeles, California where you can study to become a certified welder!
How Do I Become a Welder?
To become a welder in Los Angeles, you have to the follow some common instruction.
1. Choose a Good Welding School
There are several trade schools in Los Angeles that offer courses or programs in welding. You have to choose a good one among them that has welding courses accredited by the American Welding Society. Such schools will provide you hands-on welding experience to help your emphasis on career.
After that, visit the administrative offices and get as much information as you can about the school and the program. Get the course curriculum for students and study it properly. If needed, talk to certified welding inspectors and see if the course materials cover everything you need to become a certified welder.
When you’re done with studying the course materials, pay a visit to the school’s campus and the laboratory. Good welding schools come with a high-quality lab that has all the welding equipment you’d need gain the key skills of welding engineering.
The welding industry requires vast hands-on skills and knowledge about welding engineering that you can gather from well-equipped welding classes.
2. Find Out If You’re Eligible for All the Criteria
The best welding class would ask for a lot of requirements for enrolling into their courses. A high school diploma is the basic requirement to have.
To know about the art of welding, you should have some prior knowledge on dry welding, TIG and MIG welding, about the welding industry itself, and the future in welding.
Some schools will ask you to sit for an admission test where they’ll test your eligibility to enroll into their welding courses based on your prior knowledge. To get their full-time student status, you must pass the course first.
3. Find Out about the Courses and Choose the One You Need
To follow the lucrative career opportunity in the welding industry, you’ll need multi skill training rather than training on single skill. To do so, you have to choose a specialized course that’ll teach you everything about welding.
The course you choose will depend on the exciting careers you have in mind. If you want to be a traveling welder, you have to know about pipeline welding, underwater welding, manual welding, etc.
4. Pay Up!
The next requirement is the payment. You’ll be asked to pay a certain portion of the whole tuition fee prior to your admission. If the career school has scholarship options and you’ve cut a good score in the test, talk to the admission office to see if they can give you a discount.
How Much Does Welding School Cost?
Completing a degree from a welding school in Los Angeles would depend on the school itself and the program you pursue.
But, on an average, the cost would range from $15,000 to $25,000. There are courses with duration longer than usual. Such courses might cost a bit more than the other ones.
How Long is Welding Schools in California?
Schools have different durations based on the welding program and their own rules. You might need to complete 40-45 credit hours on an average to complete a welding program in California.
To complete this credit hour, it’ll take a year or two depending on the amount of credit hours. Some schools also offer specialized short courses that may last for 6-8 months. You can try those out if you don’t want a long course.
How Much Does a Certified Welder Make in Los Angeles, California?
The amount of money welders make depend on the tasks, their skills and experiences, and how long they’re working for. If you have multi skill training instead of training on a single skill, you’ll make much more money.
On an average, welders get $20.96 per hour in Los Angeles, California. The salary will increase if you work at an independent testing facility, or fabricate sheet metal components.
How to Find Best Welding School?
It can be difficult to find the best welding school for you because there are so many options out there. One way to start narrowing down your choices is by looking at the reputation of the school, or what other people have said about them. It’s also helpful to talk to people who have gone to that particular school and see what it was like for them.
The 5 Best Welding Schools
After discussing everything you need to know about becoming a welder in Los Angeles, let’s talk about the best welding schools where you can enroll.
1. El Camino College
About the School
With a vast campus of 126 acres, El Camino College is one of the most prominent schools for welding. The welding degree at El Camino College is enough to guide you through your way to becoming a certified welder in Los Angeles.
Prerequisites
You need to have a high school diploma to enroll into the welding course at El Camino College. After you pass their admission test, you can choose your specialized course and enroll.
Program
The welding program at El Camino College everything about TIG welding, MIG welding, pipeline welding, flux core metal, plasma arc, and everything else that you need to know.
It will take around 2 years to complete their course on welding. And the whole program will cost you around $20,000 excluding residence and other added costs.
Address: 16007 Crenshaw Blvd Torrance, Los Angeles, CA 90506
2. Long Beach City College
With two large campuses, Long Beach City College is a prominent college in Los Angeles to pursue a degree in welding. They provide job placement assistance to excellent students offer guidance to students to pursue an affordable career in welding.
Prerequisite
Just like all other welding schools, you need to have a high school diploma and additional citizenship papers to provide to the admission office. They’ll contact you whether you’re eligible for enrolling into their course or not.
Program
The excellent welding program offered by Long Beach City College will help you become a certified welder with hands-on welding experience. Other than teaching you about industrial welding, they’ll also teach you all about safety measures of welding.
The program will take around two years to complete and it will cost you around $18,000.
Address: 4901 E. Carson St. Long Beach, Los Angeles, CA 90808
3. Fullerton College
This is one of the oldest schools that provide technical degree on welding. Their primary goal is to help their students choose and follow certain career paths based on their vision.
Prerequisite
You have to submit transcripts of your high school diploma, social security card, and other documents asked by the admission office. They’ll let you know through phone or email about the admission process.
Program
The welding program at Fullerton College is more than adequate to make you a certified welder in Los Angeles. Other than the basics about welding, you’ll also learn about common welding methods and applicable welding code.
The 2-year course will cost you around $15,000 excluding the cost of books and other materials.
Address: 321 E Chapman Avenue Fullerton, Los Angeles, CA 92832
4. Pasadena City College
With 90 different academic programs, Pasadena City College is one of the good welding schools in Los Angeles where you can enroll to become a welder. They offer scholarships to student who are in need.
Prerequisites
After you submit a copy of your high school diploma and other documents, you have to sit for a test to be eligible into their welding program.
Program
The welding course at Pasadena City College covers all the welding processes from TIG and MIG welding to pipeline welding. Their amazing welding program will help you become a skilled and efficient welder.
To pursue the 1-year welding program at Pasadena City College, you’ll have to pay around $8,000.
Address: 1570 E Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, Los Angeles, CA 91106
5. Santa Ana College
Established in 1915, Santa Ana college is renowned for providing an enjoyable learning experience for students. Their instructor to student ratio is adequate to improve the overall quality of the programs.
Prerequisites
You have to sit for a test to prove your eligibility after you submit all the documents with your high school diploma. After you pass, you can choose the welding course you desire.
Program
The 1-year welding program at Santa Ana college will teach you everything about welding and provide you guidance to become a certified welder. You’ll know about gas metal, metal scrap, and everything else to apply for entry level positions. It’ll cost you around $15,000 to complete the program.
Address: 1530 W. 17th Street Santa Ana, Los Angeles, CA 92706
Conclusion
Becoming a welder is easier than you think if you know which schools are the best. To become an entry level construction welder, you need to have hands-on welding skills that only good welding schools provide. So, choose from the 5 schools in Los Angeles that we talked about and follow your desired career in welding!
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