There are several schools available for welding. Usually, a person will enter a college preparation program which would take four years to complete, but that would lead to certification as a welding inspector, else a person can sign up for a certificate in welding and spend most of his time doing welding, cutting, soldering, and brazing. The job market for these fields has been steadily increasing by about 4% per year.
Additional Training
Basic welding degrees can be extended by adding special 3-4-week classes and increase your value to the company you work for. There are thousands of jobs in the marketplace where welders are needed. Whether you want to do simple fabrication or aluminum welding on underwater pipelines in Alaska, there are always places that offer these welding degrees and companies that offer jobs with those degrees.
As long as there will be steel used to build things, there will be a place for good welders who have finished their welding school certification and have a desire to do the job that is a right fit for them, welding is an excellent profession. The range of income a welder can make depends upon the kind of job, and usually the risk in the job.
Timeline to be a Welder
After you graduate you will be eager to put your welding gloves on and get welding, but there is a timeline to follow in obtaining any welding school degree. To unlock all the good jobs, you need the fundamentals it can take as much as a few weeks for the least difficult jobs and up to four years for the major management jobs where the big money is earned in the welding profession.The history of welding goes back to 1000 B.C. and there have been some significant advances of over the centuries which won't take centuries to learn but at least 2-3 months each to master and practice before you can be good at them for your employee. Your 4-year undergraduate degree will sort these differently each semester so that every workshop you will practice will be a different technique.