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be in demand

Not every degree leads to a life behind a desk, wearing a tie and pushing paper. Some degrees involve lighting up blowtorches and slicing through metal. I speak, of course, of the Tulsa Welding School, which has a campus here in Jacksonville.

TWS is a respected welding institution because it’s been around for more than 50 years. It’s the largest accredited welding school in the country, with graduates numbering in the thousands. The school was founded by two pipeline welders who recognized the growing need for welders in the industry, and as the need for qualified welders grew, so did the school. The newest TWS branch campus was opened in Jacksonville in November 2001 to accommodate the area’s training needs. Wayne Gordin, School Director of Jacksonville’s Tulsa Welding School, says that “last year’s…rate of starting pay for graduates averaged $38,000.”

The degree of Master Welder is where the “big bang for the buck” is, since they’re qualified to do all types of welding. The maximum pay for a master welder willing to travel can be a whopping $100,000 a year. Not bad for a 7-month program.

According to some estimates, Gordin says that, “by the year 2010, we’re going to be short 200,000 welders. That’s a huge shortage. The pay’s good now, but it will only get better.” Demand for TWS grads in 2000-2002 exceeded graduates substantially, and employers during this three-year period requested 900 welders more than the school had graduates.

Because the demand is so high, professional welders can opt to work in nearly any geographic location, and graduates of the TWS do indeed work worldwide. The school even has an employment department staff, which assists graduates in preparing resumes, securing interviews and passing specific employer welding tests.

TWS in Tulsa started its Associate Degree program in Welding Technology in 1998. This two-academic-year program contains the Master Welder program for the first-seven months, with the next seven months devoted to course material for a Welding Inspector. This concentration of study is not yet available on the Jacksonville campus.

Available Degrees at the Jacksonville Branch of TWS:
Structural Welder- 3 ½ months, 16 credit hours
Master Welder- 7 months, 30 credit hours

Potential Employers:

Plumbers & Pipefitters Union
Fluor Global Services
Systems Contractors
Schueck SteelJV PipingNepco
TIMECCDK ContractorsShaw Constructors
Auto Crane

For more info on Tulsa Welding School, go to weldingschool.com/index.html or call (877) WELD-JAX.