By GWParker
Date 07-04-2008 09:49
Edited 07-06-2008 19:28
Hello All,
My name is Greg, Im a 22 year old metalworker for the army, currently deployed on my second tour in Iraq. I was curious if there are any welding engineers on this forum. My plan as it stands is to get out of the Army next summer and use my GI Bill to get a degree, and welding engineering looks very interesting to me. From what I've read, there seems to be only three schools in the country that offer welding engineering technology programs (Weber State, Ferris State, and Penn State), one that offers the materials joining degree (Letourneau?) and of course Ohio State offering welding engineering. From what I can tell, the program at Ohio doesn't include much if any hands on welding time, but is much more focused on math, science, and theory. I'm leaning towards this program, but am curious if anyone on this forum has been through any of the programs and had opinions, impressions, advice, etc. I've searched through this forum for old posts but haven't come up with much. Thank you in advance for your time.
Regards,
Greg
Greg, a big THANK YOU for your service to our great country. Rock On, and Happy Independance Day! Tell all of the other brothers and sisters serving over there the same.
I'm not a Welding Engineer. I am a CWI, and I can tell you that if you become a welding engineer, you will not go without a job, and a very handsome salary to boot. Go for it!
Thank you for your support, and happy independence day to you as well!
Hello Greg. Thank you for your service to our country.
You will get more responses come Monday.
I can't help with the college choice, just wanted to say thanks and think you are headed in a good direction.
thank you for your support, sir, and for your reply. I looked at your website and it looks like you guys have a pretty cool operation there! looks like fun.
Best regards,
Greg
I graduated from Weber State and the welding engineering technology program is a very hands on program. There is a semester each of stick and another of mig and tig. There is also an advanced fusion class dealing with plasma arc, sub arc, and various higher technology ways to weld material. At the same time, the program gets very technical into what happens to the metallurgy of the base metal and welded region. You still have your general education requirements of english, math, and sciences. I liked the program because it did not turn me into a book learned engineer, but one that can also weld and help trouble shoot problems that other welders are facing with the welds that they are performing. If you have any more questions about the program, let me know.
does the lack of abet accreditation concern you all who are currently enrolled in these programs, and if not, why? For those of you who have graduated from a non abet accredited program, have you found that it has been a hindrance in any way, or is there anywhere specifically important that looks for that difference? i know a welder on the hobart forum said nasa wont hire from anywhere except ohio state, but i read on weber state's page that they had graduates hired too. any comments?
best regards to all
Greg
This is an issue that I've personally talked about with the the faculty at my school as they are currently doing a curriculum review and are not accredited. The reason PCT and I believe a few other schools are not accredited is due to their hands on focus, Accreditation requires so many so called "core" credits: Math, science english etc. However in order to get there the only classes you could cut out would be the degree specific classes and hands on classes like welding. So really in order to become accredited you basically have to strip away a lot of the training needed to be a well practiced welder, or hands-on welding engineer. I know PCT has resisted accreditation for this very reason as we would have to cut a lot of welding classes in order to make room for additional science math and english classes. From what I've heard and seen of classmates hands on degrees are in extremely high demand as they are the type of students who can walk onto a jobsite and know what they're doing and engage welders as a welder, as opposed to someone who has only read about welding in a book. I'm guessing there would be a few jobs more skewed towards the metallurgical and theoretical side that would benefit from "core" skillsets and good research skills.
accreditation is not a hinderance at all for job placement in what I've seen. I suppose you could look up the graduate placement rates, however as of right now there's so such a need for welding engineers most schools are close to 100% placement
Hey Weber grad who is this? Send me a PM I graduated from USU
welcome!
I'm currently in my 4th year of welding engineering at Penn college of technology ( a division of Penn state, penn state doesn't have an undergrad welding engineering program) and I have an A.A.S in welding and fabrication from Washtenaw Community college. Originally I was going to goto Ferris state, but no one who applied from my school even got a rejection letter they more or less ignored us so I headed to PCT instead. PCT, Ferris, letourneau are known for their hands on degrees PCT especially. Ferris state also has a good program that's in tune with detroit auto and has a large amount of curriculum in automation. (which is big in the welding field). Ohio State is what I've always referred to as a "research" degree in which you research a topic heavily but never apply it. I'm a bit biased but I think a welding engineer who can't weld is at a major disadvantage, and gets a lot of backlash from welders who don't like being told how to do their job by someone who can't.
I don't want to bash the school too much but I'm not a big fan of the Ohio state program. Welding engineers are in high demand right now so you wouldn't have a problem getting a job out of any of those schools but the kids from the schools with hands on programs are very highly sought after and have proven their ability to apply the welding process.
hope that gives you more of an idea, I'm currently doing an internship and really like this field of work. My specialty is robotics but I enjoy the metallurgy and process control as well.
Greg,
It is great that you are considering pursuing welding engineering. I am a graduate of the Weber State program and can speak more closely of that program. However, I also work closely with graduates from both Ferris and Ohio State. Weber is a good program and in my opinion is very under rated and does not get the recognition it deserves. At Weber you will get a lot of hands on welding time which I think is very important. Both Ferris and Ohio are also good programs. The welding engineers that I work with from both of these programs are very competent.
an interesting piece of information, if there are any other veterans on this board who qualify for the new gi bill, the state of Ohio is offering in-state tuition rates to non-resident veterans. if anyone would like more info pm me.
Greg
Greg,
I would seriously check out Weber State. They do have a good program and the whole ABET accredited thing doesn't matter all that much in a field dying for WE's. There is a world of opprotunity out there for weld engineers and the job outlook is strong. I have had many, many offers although I am already employed.
redoggoose is a good friend of mine and he is right on the money. We both can't complain too much although we live half a country apart.
One of the most important things you will do and take with you from college is your friends, they last a lifetime.
Goose-em,
Thank you for the advice. I have been looking at the Weber program and would probably have decided on it, if i t weren't for the Ohio State program being fully funded for me. If I want to go to school in Utah, I would have to either live and work there for a year ( to apply for residency), or pay the difference between resident and non-resident tuition rates (which is about 10,000). Ohio State is wisely offering veterans in state rates, which means I can start school as soon as I get out. I am trying to learn everything I can about this particular engineering field, and it seems it will be a lot easier to get to the point of professional accreditation if I go to school in Ohio. The Weber state program does look very appealing to me, though. Plus, I love snowboarding. Utah would be a great state to be in for a few winters. Ohio not so much! hahaha!
Would you mind if I asked you where you work? Thank you for your time.
Best regards,
Greg
LeTourneau was not ABET accredited when I graduated, but it is now. That has never made a difference in my career or in my transfer credits to other schools though since it is/was accredited by the other big agencies. When I was there, the big rub with the ABET authorities was the fact that welding technology majors were in the same classes with the welding engineering majors.
Keep in mind there is no PE registration for welding engineers - yet. If you are seeking PE registration, you might want to seek strength in other courses besides welding. One of my classmates at LeTourneau was a double major WE/ME. He is now a PE in ME and was not ABET accredited.
The State of Ohio has PE registration in Welding Engineering. When I took it it was an 8-hour essay style exam not the multiple-choice that the balance of examinees now take. Each year there are only a handful of peole taking the exam. It is not uncommon that a PE (mechanical) will go back and take the WE PE exam. I work for a company that is building projects for EU customers that require either an IWE or a AWS CWEng or a PE in Welding Engineering.
First of all, thanks for your service to the USA.
As you are into metalwork currently, you should have a good hands-on background and any of the programs discussed will be of benefit to you. I am an Ohio State WE grad ('75) and our company has 20+ WE's from OSU, Ferris, LeTourneau and U of Alberta (Canada). All of the programs will give you the technical education that you need to start out and then depending on the field you go into you will still have a lot to learn. Before getting into the Offshore Oil & Gas Industry in 2000, if you told me we were going to weld 10" diameter x 1.50" wall pipe into mile long strings, roll it up on a shipboard spool, with tie-in welds to make 20-40000 foot long segments, take it out to the Gulf of Mexico and unroll it, I would have said you are nuts! Surprise, we do it every day.
As has been said here, the OSU program is ABET accredited and has BS, MS and PhD programs. There is plenty of opportunity for "hands on" work and summer jobs are a requirement of the program. Our Houston based company has 5 summer interns (4 from OSU and 1 from Ferris) this year and just had 2 past interns start as new WE's after graduation this year. Sounds like the financial picture for OSU would be hard to beat.
Anyway you go, best of luck.
