"Distance" Learning - Any good?

[steviec_lj]

Enquired to 'Trade-Jobs' regarding the course they offer in welding. Seems stupid expensive at £135 a month, for 12 months if I remember correctly or just over £1600.

He tried to blag that all kit is supplied apart from boots, but that's the same for the college run course. Now, the question is, are the 'certificates' they're pushing out of any use?

Ripped straight from their site..

Qualifications:

The range of welding courses on offer, align themselves to the Weldability-Sif Foundation and the TWI Intermediate to Advanced Level Welding programme. The qualifications give the individual a detailed grounding in the welding principles needed and technologies - which will result in a number of valuable qualifications;
•EAL level 1 Award in Introductory Manual Metal Arc Welding Skills
•EAL level 1 Award in Introductory Oxy-Acetylene Welding Skills
•EAL level 2 NVQ Diploma in Fabrication and Welding Engineering Technology
•EAL level 2 NVQ Diploma in Positional Welding Technology
•EAL level 3 NVQ Diploma in Fabrication and Welding Engineering Technology
•Craftsman Welder International European Plate or Fillet Welder (to be taken when sufficient level of competency is acquired)

The qualifications are recognised throughout the industry and are in high demand by employers.

The same qualification will probably cost 1/3 of their price at the local college to be fair.

 

[dannyp]

level 1 welding skills, not sure what it consits of but we have a part time numpty at work who has done level 1 mig i think. his welding is so good we call him bluetac

i think level 1 consists of. here this is a welder, turn it on here, poke metal with this bit....

 

[rtbcomp]

Have a good search around the forum for "courses" and suchlike.

 

[zardoz]

The only welding courses that are any good are City & Guilds courses at local colleges. Of course there is proper welding coding. However Coding will not teach you anything. It is merely a test and you are expected to be up to speed before you get there.

I did several C&G courses at my local college and they are well worth it in the amount of welding hours alone. Not to mention someone with expertise to tell you how to do it and where you are going wrong.

I would be doing my level 3 C&G TIG right now if they hadn't put the price up to £800 (used to be £250) and no longer any reduction for unemployed.

But the level 1 courses are a lot cheaper.


No welding software, gazing at a weld on a screen, will ever make up for the feeling of a welding gun in your hand. No matter if its MIG, TIG, MMA or gas.

There are many pages on the interweb of people bemoaning how crap these distance learning courses are, and how they cant get there money back. Maybe for learning computing they are fine but for something as hands on as welding, absolutely no chance.

 

[steviec_lj]

Cheers for the information Zardoz.

Unfortunately the closest college that do the C&G training is Lincoln, which having done it before, is quite a commute, not impossible though.

The local college offer "Level 1 and Level 2 Certificate in Fabrication and Welding", makes no attempt to say what qualification you come out with, but I doubt it'll be much.

Shall be looking a little further afield, e.g Lincoln, for courses and training.

 

[steviec_lj]

Just found out, after many many emails to the pen pushers at the local college that the "Level 1 and Level 2 Certificate in Fabrication and Welding", is infact a C&G Course. Namely the 3268.

Changes everything does that bit of information..

 

[Richard07]

I was looking a welding courses, think it was trade jobs but cant remember. Website said from £15 a week. They sent an "advisor" round to my house to talk about the course with me, or should i say "sell" turns out the course was the equivalent to £30 a week wich would have been loaned to you and after doing the first 2 levels they would encourage you to look for employment in the given roll. Apparently there are 40,000 welding jobs currentlt waitiny to be filled in the uk and, in his words, at a starting rate of 24,000 a year 30 quid a week would be nothing. And a coded welder can earn on average £60,000 a year! So he left his card and gave me an info dvd and advised me to look for welding jobs to get an idea of whats about. Just as he was leaving i asked what the full cost of the course would come to, £6,000. I looked at employment options, all positions i could find were either time served or apprentice trained, so as im sure there is welding jobs out there for people with limmited experience, not as many as they would have you believe.
Any way, i went on to look at city and guilds and found a night course at my local college, 3 hourse a week for 15 weeks around £400. I also have the option of getting some experience in our mods department at work which i can get into once i have a welding qualification.

 

[milk]

i did a level 2 abc course a few years back and it was still hard to get a job.