Hobart Institute Of Welding Technology?

By welding25 Date 05-04-2005 19:03

I recently posted a question about a two year technical college, and wether or not I should attend. I have decided not to because the welding and metal fab course was to heavy on the metal fab side and not enough on welding which is my prime interest. So now i'm looking elsewhere for schooling in welding. I've come across two schools i'm interested in. The first one being the Hobart school and there i'm thinking about taking there Combanation Structural & Pipe Welding program. The second school is Welder Training & Testing Institute in Allentown, Pa. The course there i'm interested in is called Welder Fitter. Anyway, Hobart's program is 1260 clock hours(36 weeks), covering SMAW, GMAW, FCAW, GTAW, print reading, and some other therory stuff. They appear to spend a lot of time on pipe welding with SMAW whis is a major plus. Cost? Try $13,500. The WTTI course pretty much covers the same material, a little less actually, (900 clock hours), but it's a little less than half of Hobarts cost, try $7,000. What I want is opinions on these schools, and people who have actuall attended the schools/courses to give me some feed back about what you thought while you were there. Anything would be helpful.

By jay72chevy (*)

Date 05-05-2005 00:18

Hi I attended and graduated WTTI in allentown in feburary. It was a great expierence and will place you with a great job!

By welding25 Date 05-05-2005 00:51

Thanks for the comment, may I ask what courses you took and were you found a job and what your welding. Also, did you gain AWS certification,what processes?

By jay72chevy (*)

Date 05-05-2005 01:19

I have a diploma in the welder fitter 900 hr course. I am certified in Fcaw vert, Smaw vert, and overhead on one inch bevel with a back up. I also have skills in innershield,Smaw pipe 2'' 4'' to 6'', Tig welding steel, pipe, aluminum, in all positions, Oxy - Acetylene Welding cutting. I know blue print, Testing and inspection, I+WQ, NDE.

By welding25 Date 05-05-2005 02:10

Excellent. Thanks for the info. I have two more questions. First being do they teach GTAW titanium. Second how much time do they spend on pipe welding using SMAW & GTAW aluminum. Thanks

By jay72chevy (*)

Date 05-05-2005 02:28

They have it all. Pipe welding you will get more than enough time at. It is up to you and your learning abilities. They have an advance training also. Let me know more if you have any more questions. I will be glad to answer. They also offered me a job at any place i want when i graduated.

By fbrieden (***)

Date 05-05-2005 13:30

The staff and instructors at WTTI are top notch professionals. Having dealt with them professionally and experienced graduates of their program, I highly recommend this school.

By jp2welder (**)

Date 09-08-2006 18:54

Not sure if it still happens, but the Marine Corps used to teach their welders with the Hobart Institute of Welding Technology videos.

If you really want something great, join the Marine Corps under the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) 1316: "Basic Metal Worker." Yes, that is their code name for a welder. You get free training, 4 years of great welding experience, and the GI Bill to get more training when you get out of the service.

By medicinehawk (**)

Date 09-08-2006 23:00

I went to a 1 Year VTI in ME which taught using the Hobart School of Welding Technology curriculum and I have to say it was worth the 5 grand I spent. This was back in the early 80's but that's alot of money even now. After I graduated, the school went to a 2 year course with more traing to become a pipe fitter and /or CWI. I guess we spent 2 months sraight on pipe using GTAW & SMAW and at the begining of the course (it was 10 months long) they taught MIG & FCAW. Got lucky as a new company was opening up which needed aluminum mig & tig welders snd offered to pay for the course if we took a job with them after school was done. 10 out of the class of 24 (myself included) took the crash crourse which was 60 hrs & 90 hrs respectively.
I end up working there for 3 years which really was great experience as all I welded was aluminum mostly tig. I went right into welding pipe after that whch was alot more money per hour. That was a community collage as well so I am sure you can't go wrong in your situation in PA whatever you choose to do.
Be well.

By Hooks2

Date 10-25-2006 17:23

Jay72chevy,

Do you feel that the training at WTTI is worth the extra cost as opposed to a tech school course ? I know it's alot more in depth, but are the job opportunities that you come across better with this indepth training instead of just taking a tech school course for $300.00 ?