Courses for electric and gas welders: features of welding training, cost and time frame for obtaining the profession of a welder

A welder is a metal specialist who joins metal parts into complex structures using electric welding. By the way, in 2022, the ProfGid career guidance center developed an accurate career guidance test. He himself will tell you which professions are suitable for you, and give an opinion about your personality type and intelligence.

Welder is a working specialty and involves working in welding production. The specialist is engaged in connecting metal structures, parts, products, containers and pipelines of various types, composition, purpose and level of complexity. The quality of work and welding seams depends on a professional welder. In his work, mistakes are not made that could lead to catastrophic consequences. The profession of a welder is divided into several specialties: gas welder, manual arc welder, operator of automatic welding machines.

Welder exams after 9th grade: what to prepare for?

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If you like exact sciences and want to quickly get a job that is in demand, pay attention to welding. Every year, thousands of schoolchildren decide to become a welder after the 9th or 11th grade, and we consider this choice to be rational. Welders are in demand both here and abroad.

In this article we will tell you what subjects you need to take to become a welder, how many years to study and what you need to take into account in order to obtain the sought-after profession of a welder.

general information

Welder is one of the most in-demand working professions at the moment. Professional welders easily find work, receive decent pay and additional benefits for health risks.

Yes, welding is not the easiest job. Sometimes you have to work in difficult conditions that negatively affect your health. In addition, welders often experience vision problems, despite the use of a protective mask.

However, with full compliance with safety precautions and the Labor Code, such work causes minimal harm and at the same time provides a stable income in any country. There are more and more cases when our compatriots move abroad and get jobs there in welding production.

Education

If you are interested in this profession, the main question will probably arise: “How to apply and what exams do you need to pass for admission?”

The answer to these questions depends on the school you choose. Now welders are trained in schools (vocational schools), colleges and technical schools. There are even universities that train welders.

If you plan to enroll after 9th grade, then vocational schools, colleges and technical schools are your choice. In most cases there are no exams required. It is necessary to pass the in-school OGE in any subjects and have a certificate with an average score of 3 or higher. For free training you need to have a certificate of 3.7-4 points.

Some colleges require internal exams, but this is rare. However, we recommend checking this information with your chosen educational institution.

Career

A welder can have career growth, and quite a lot. It all depends on the aspirations and skills of the master. The higher your rank in welding, the better the salary and the more in demand your candidacy is.

Graduates of vocational schools, colleges and technical schools do not have to look for work for long. And all because welders are needed in many industries. At first, your earnings will be small, but as your career develops, you can achieve a very good financial position. Especially if you work abroad.

The lowest salaries are for welders in the housing and communal services sector, the highest are for craftsmen in private industries, where highly qualified workers are required.

To begin with, you can get a job in the housing and communal services or construction. This is a dusty job, low paid and often not the most comfortable. But over time, you can gain higher qualifications and get a job in modern production.

How many days vacation

Each welder can count on an annual leave of 24 working days. But there is an opportunity to get more - everything will depend on the certification of the welder and the place of his work, or rather the danger of the production in which he works.

The amount of additional leave is calculated on the basis of lists of industries, professions, positions and indicators that give the right to preferential pension provision. There are two of these lists, each of them contains a list of professions and categories by which they are divided into groups. Welders are found there several times, and in both lists, they simply have clarifications. For example, in the second list there are electric welders who perform manual welding, and in the first there are electric and gas welders engaged in underground construction.

If your position is in Schedule 1, you can expect an additional 2-4 weeks on top of the 24 days already provided. List 2 will allow you to stay on vacation for only 6–12 days.

Where to go to become a welder?

In the last decade, a tendency has emerged to choose specialties related to mental work. Demand for blue-collar professions has fallen among applicants; many consider them “unpresentable.” But labor is always needed, there are fewer specialists in these areas and they become more valuable, i.e. wages rise. The profession of a welder is one of the workers, which is difficult to overestimate in the modern world, where everything, literally, rests on metal structures.

Courses

Training to become a welder is carried out in groups in specialized classes with demonstration models of technological equipment.

To obtain a welder's education, it is necessary to master a curriculum that provides practical skills and theoretical knowledge in handling welding.

To train as a welder with subsequent employment, internships are required in construction and industrial enterprises, factories for the production of metal structures.

The curriculum includes the following topics:

1. Basics of welding technologies. Students gain knowledge of the theoretical fundamentals of arc welding; when changing the direction of study, the plan also includes basic topics on argon welding.
2. RDS - technology of work production, fundamentals of processes.
3. Electric arc welding.
4. Training to be a welder working with semi-automatic machines.
5. Gas welding and cutting.
6. Argon arc (TIG) welding – training of argon workers. Cold welding, submerged arc welding, carbon dioxide protective environment and other media.
7. Studying defects and producing quality control.
8. Basics of safety during welding work.

(semi-automatic welding)

Now we will talk about how to make welds using a semi-automatic machine if you are welding critical structures or are going to submit them under control for NAKS certification.

Here's how this is done using the example of two workpieces (plates) 12 mm thick, butt welded in a vertical position using a SKYWAY 330 inverter.

The plates need to be prepared: cut using a plasma cutter or grinder.

Also, for the correct progress of work you will need: • lead strips (2 pcs.) - necessary for starting and finishing welding, since it is difficult to obtain a high-quality seam at these stages. The strips are technological and subsequently cut off;

• devices that prevent reverse bending of our blanks (2 pcs.);

• a template for controlling the gap (any piece of hardware that allows you to set the gap, in our case 2 mm).

In order to properly prepare our connection for further welding work, you need to familiarize yourself with the requirements of GOST 5264-80 (click to download page with text). Look for the compound you will be working with, in our version it is C17. GOST specifies how to prepare this connection: you need to bevel the edges at an angle of 30° and blunt them. The plates must be cleaned of oxides, dirt and rust at a distance of at least 10 mm from the boundaries of the future weld.

For proper assembly, it is convenient to use a magnetic square. It will align the plates relative to each other and prevent them from moving during the process of tack placement.

Magnetic square

We control the two-millimeter gap with a template, the role of which can be played by any suitable piece of metal. Attach the template to the place where you intend to start welding and set the gap exactly according to it. At the end of the weld, the gap needs to be slightly increased, due to the fact that the plates will be pulled together during the crystallization of the deposited metal.

Next, a device is installed to prevent bending and tightening of the workpieces. They grab one device, then control the displacement and set the gap, as was said, a little more than 2 mm, for example, 2.2 ... 2.3 mm. Then they place spot tacks on the second “fixture”.

Prisp-I, preventing deformation of plates, stuck points

After you have installed the tacks, you need to see if the plates have moved. To do this, you can use the same template to set the gap. If it has a smooth edge, it can be used to control how evenly the plates being welded are aligned relative to each other - simply apply the smooth edge to the joint and see that there are no gaps.

Checking the offset with a template

If such are found, at this stage you can always straighten it with a hammer or other special tools. devices.

Now you can weld a continuous seam. We put on gloves, a mask, and arm ourselves with a semi-automatic burner. You don’t need to scald it too much, because the devices against bending of the workpieces perform a technological role and they will need to be knocked out.

Welding lead strips

The preparation of the planks is the same as for the base metal. The edges are beveled; their thickness must also correspond to the thickness of the structure being welded. They are installed on tacks.

Lead strip tacked to the base metal

In order to increase the level of complexity of the task, it is better for the welder to perform a vertical seam of the connection, this will allow him to fully test his skills and abilities. It is also necessary to correctly set the welding parameters on the SKYWAY 330 power source. The parameters can be adjusted through trial and error. In our case, for a workpiece thickness of 12 mm, the following welding mode was selected: U = 17V; Vfeed = 3 meters; Uadjusted=-5; L=0, where L is inductance. Consumables (they are optimal for the given case): Electrode wire Ø1 mm; Gas mixture 82% Ar+18% CO2.

According to the rules, in order to avoid hydrogenation of the weld, which leads to the appearance of pores, the plates must be heated to T = 100 ... 120 °C. Rules are just rules, to be circumvented. Undoubtedly, pores represent seam defects and are a rejection sign. However, it should be assumed that during the passage of the seam, the moisture present on the surface of the metal will immediately evaporate. After all, no one thinks of preheating the wire before welding. However, if you are taking the NAKS certification exam, you should know about the existence of such an operation - this is a mandatory requirement. In industrial conditions, the operation can be performed in an oven, in other cases - using an oxy-acetylene torch or torch.

Training course program

The welding training program is based on the student's step-by-step and gradual acquisition of cutting and welding skills.

To train as a welder, they first take a theory course, and then practice, which takes up about 70% of the hours of the educational process..

Welding training also involves studying:

• rules and regulations of industrial safety at facilities subject to control by RosPotrebNadzor;
• providing first aid to victims;
• study of all types of devices - transformers, inverters, generators;
• electrical safety and electrical engineering course.

Description of the course. What is included in the theoretical and practical parts?

Welding training is provided in colleges and specialized courses. Having completed welding school, the student receives the necessary knowledge. The cost of training depends on the region, the prestige of the institution, and the rank received. There are also advanced training courses for welders who have already received rank and experience.

Upon completion of the training course as a gas or electric welder, exams are taken on the theoretical and practical parts of the profession. If the test is successfully passed, the student receives a standard diploma.

Vacancies for electric welders on the labor market, average salary

All the difficulties in obtaining permits to work as an electric welder more than pay off when finding a job. There are a great many options and vacancies for such specialists. The most profitable, of course, are in the north and the construction of large facilities. It is extremely difficult to get into them - it requires experience and great practical skills. Working conditions are often very difficult, and the work itself is most often rotating with 12-hour shifts.

However, the employer offers official employment and a full benefits package, as well as a salary from 60 to 100 thousand rubles per month. The salary, of course, depends on the qualifications and experience of the employee.

Directions

Training of masters in the field of welding is carried out with the obligatory development of professional knowledge among students in the areas of:

• planning and management of technological processes;
• organization of welding work in industrial enterprises;
• development of equipment and technological equipment and others.

The objects of future activities when training a welding specialist are:

• technical processes for the manufacture, installation and maintenance of welded structures and products;
• development and reading of technological maps and processes;
• rules for working with specialized equipment and materials.

Who is a welder and what does he do?

Many people understand what welding is. This is a method of joining metal objects to each other using special welding equipment. The metals are heated to the point that they can be fastened together, and then, after cooling the seam, a solid part can be obtained.

A welder is a person who has sufficient skills to do welding. You can weld most metal parts, structures, pipes, various containers, etc.

The welder is required to have knowledge of metals, their properties, skills in working with special equipment, and the ability to use this equipment in different conditions, since the seams are different and therefore require different processing.

The work of a welder requires physical strength, patience, the ability to concentrate in any conditions and solve problems, complete precision of movements, and sometimes even ingenuity. And it’s better to make mistakes here as little as possible, since poor welding can ruin the entire structure, and fixing everything is not easy. Therefore, the responsibility is very great.

The profession code consists of several parts. The first 5 numbers are the OKPDTR code, after which the check digit is noted, then the codes according to ETKS, OKZ. Next - the code according to the tariff schedule, category, form of remuneration, codes to indicate the danger of work, as well as their mechanization. There are 18 numbers in total in the code.

Accelerated courses for welders 1-6 categories

Accelerated courses are also in demand, allowing one to study to become a welder using a “short” program and presupposing that the student has a certain rank, qualifications and knowledge.

Welders are assigned a certain rank, indicating how much knowledge the worker has in a certain area:

1. Master in welding plastic products. His responsibilities include installation and disassembly of structures, performing preparatory work, and welding plastic elements.
2. Master of thermite welding, proficient in reading blueprints, arc and plasma technologies.
3. Master of RDS.
4. Master of arc and plasma welding.
5. Specialist in connecting complex elements and assemblies - vacuum structures.
6. A general master who knows all welding methods at a high level.

A 6th category specialist can work in any industry, including the gas and oil industries.

What does an electric welder do?

To begin with, it should be noted that welder is the general name of the specialty. Well, an electric welder is, accordingly, a worker who has the skills of welding metal using an electric arc.

The main working tool of an electric welder is a welding machine with a high-power electric generator. Thanks to it, an electric arc is supplied through a special electrode at high voltage. Under its action (about 7000 degrees Celsius), the metal surface melts and, as it cools, is sintered into a monolithic seam.

Electric welding is actually the most ancient method of welding steel and metal parts. Now it is also widely used in various variations. The main advantage is low cost and performance. True, learning to be an electric welder and gaining the necessary experience is not so easy.

In addition, labor legislation clearly distinguishes between two narrow specializations of electric welders. Some have the skills of manual and semi-automatic (mechanical) welding, others have automatic welding skills, that is, they operate special automatic welding machines.

One way or another, the responsibilities of an electric welder come down to several actions:

1. welding products in various positions and at specified angles;
2. cleaning of welds;
3. reading product drawings;
4. plasma cutting of various products (both simple and complex).

About training

Welding is a fairly popular and profitable profession. To get a job as a welder, you need to have a specialized secondary education or complete courses. You can get a profession in technical schools, colleges, schools, specialized schools, and training centers.

Training to become a welder after 11th grade takes 21 months . If you enroll after 9th grade, you will need to study for a year more. The training program consists of theoretical and practical parts. At the end, a person must pass an exam.

The following topics are covered during the training:

• Basics of welding processes.
• Gas welding and cutting.
• Electric arc, argon-arc, cold, gas-electric welding.
• Working with semi-automatic machines.
• Manual arc welding technology.
• Quality control of work performed.
• Possible errors, defects.
• Safety precautions when working with welding equipment.

The list of topics depends on the chosen specialization.

How many years can you work as a welder?

upon reaching the ages of 50 and 55 years; employment in jobs with difficult or dangerous working conditions for at least 10 years and 12.5 years; the total insurance period of the person must correspond to 20 and 25 years; having a minimum number of pension points.

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Types of services

Depending on the number of hours, training is:

Intensive training is more expensive.

The following training groups are distinguished:

Evening courses usually cost more due to higher demand.

From the place of provision of the service:

• In an educational institution.
• Remote.

Training can be carried out with the aim of obtaining the following specialization:

1. Manual arc welder.
2. Electric welder.
3. Plasma welder.
4. Gas welder.
5. Electric and gas welder.

The most in demand qualification is that of an electric welder. The most expensive specialty is considered to be an argon engineer.

Depending on the goals, there are the following types of training:

• From scratch.
• Retraining.
• Increase in rank.

In the latter case, training will cost less.

You can train to become a welder:

• In private.
• In a government institution.

Services from private institutions are more expensive.

Estimated cost

Approximate prices for studying to become a welder in educational institutions after graduation are given below:

• In college - 38,000-62,000 rubles per year .
• At a vocational school - about 45,000 rubles per year .
• At the training center - 9800-18000 for the entire course .

The approximate cost of courses depending on the specialization and number of hours is shown in the table below.

Buying a welding diploma will cost about 18,000-24,000 rubles . This service is usually used by people who cannot get the desired profession or who already have an engineering specialty, but are dissatisfied with the level of their wages.

Where and how best to study?

There are many institutions in Russia where a person can learn to become a welder. After grades 9-11, you should go to colleges and vocational schools. People who want to change their specialization or improve their qualifications should enroll in courses at training centers. Learning goes faster here.

It is not recommended to buy a diploma . For high-quality and safe work, a person needs a certain level of knowledge and practice. All this can be obtained only through the learning process.

It is better to give preference to government institutions. Here the training costs less and is carried out at a high level. When contacting a private training center, you need to make sure of the following:

• The organization provides the necessary level of knowledge.
• After completing the educational process, a diploma or certificate is issued, confirming the knowledge acquired and allowing you to get a job.
• The center employs qualified specialists.
• The company has a license and certificates.
• The school conducts practical classes.
• The training center has a positive reputation.

Moscow colleges specializing in “Welder (electric welding and gas welding)”

University College

State diploma. Based on 9th and 11th grades. All forms of training. No exams or Unified State Examination.

College of Information Technology IT HUB

Specialties of the future. Internships in large IT companies. Admission without OGE/USE. State diploma. In-person and online training.

MAP under the Moscow Government

Without exams and Unified State Examination based on grades 9 and 11. State diploma, 9 directions, all forms of training. College-university program.

• State
• With budget places