There is a nationally recognized program that we use for several crafts. In January our first welder training class will begin. The beauty is the student gets training that is recognized no matter where they go. They still have to pass certification tests, but the training is pretty good. The price of the program is not low, so you really need to think about it. We kicked the idea around for several years before deciding to give it a go in welding.
http://careers.nccer.org/index2.asp
Charles Hall
It depends on what the requirements might be from the governing standard for certification. One example might be AWS D1.1 which is so simple as to state (paraphrased) that anyone competent to perform the inspections might do it. None of the codes I am familiar with require "certified" people to certify the welder(s)....just a competent person. Also, if a non-certified lab certifies a welder or even if a certified lab does the certification, most employers will require an in-house welding test. The school offering the *certification* simply adds some value to the prospective employer to base their judgement on whether or not to offer a test and/or position (if they chose to accept the schools' cert's). Have I got you confused yet????