AWS d1.1 Certification question

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Hello, The local career center offers Beginner, Intermediate, and advanced welding courses 600 each. That would make it 1800 for me to take all. At the end for an additional 100 you can take the test for the AWS d1.1 certification. I need the classes anyway, I am not a great welder but is it worth almost 2k for this cert? I would like to possibly start a business going around to farms and logging landing welding here some day, or possibly just do it on the side.So basically... Is it worth 2k? How valuable of a cert is the d1.1?Will I find the test extremely hard after the classes? ( I am very good with my hands and have a good understanding of metal working.)Thanks
Reply:Also, could someone send me a link to where I see what I can really expect to learn from these classes and certs? I have a hard time knowing what sticks, and what temps to run them at on what material. Will this answer this?
Reply:The answers to this would depend mostly on how good you are. Price wise that's roughly what the tech school I help out at charges. It's uncommon to have someone start from zero and be able to get thru all positions with stick in only 2 classes. 3 is usually the minimum for flat plate. However I have seen one or two exceptions to this rule, usually guys who could already weld say mig, and could already read the puddle and understand it. Most schools work with the students and let them go at their own pace. My guess is if you are ready for the test sooner, they won't have issues letting you test.As far as value of the cert, that really depends. It will allow you to state you are "certified" and that has selling points for some people even if they don't understand it. It also proves to you if no one else, that you are capable of solid, safe welds, at least given the conditions tested for. If you start doing work where the safety of others is involved and liability starts to become an issue, it's certainly a point in your favor, especially if you should ever have to go to court. To me the test would be worth the $100 . Note that a cert doesn't last forever. You need to stay constant in your use of it to remain current or you need to retest. That said there are a lot of guys in the business who have never taken a cert test in their life and do just fine.As far as how hard the test is when you are done, that depends on the school. Where I'm at the students basically do the test as their final "project" for each position, even though the plates aren't actually tested, only visually inspected. With a bit of practice it's not hard at all to pass if you do your part. You've already done all the work in the past. Other schools may differ however. Since they offer the test at the end however, I'd guess they are set up so that this won't be a big deal. Back to the question of is it worth the cost in general, If you are serious about doing this as a business, I'd say yes. A class will usually get you where you want to go faster than just blindly going at it on your own. It's a lot easier to learn when there is someone who can watch you weld and make suggestions on how to improve. Once you get the basics down, you can go on and continue on your own. If you have access to your own machine and can practice in between classes, you can often shorten your learning curve somewhat. You can spend class time working on new stuff and working out problems and issues, and spend time at home doing all the repetitious welds that are needed for practice to develop muscle memory and train yourself to read the puddle. When you sit down and add up what materials, rod, electric and so on would cost you to do it yourself, not to mention the instruction, a class is usually stupid cheap.As far as what you would learn, that depends on the school and instructor. Some are just "mechanics" classes where you simply learn to weld. Other places add more theory to the basic weld skills. we mostly just teach the mechanics, but are more than willing to help with other information is asked. Mos guys really want to just lean to weld. They can pick up the other stuff as needed.Last edited by DSW; 08-23-2013 at 08:35 AM..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Thank you that's a very informative reply,Yes, I basically just want to learn to weld well. And yes I do have access to a mig at home. I was thinking that I could practice on weekends, ... at least in summer months... and nice days this winter. I do not have a tig welder though.  I want to walk away from these classes confident that I can look at something and know what temps and sticks I should use as well as be confident that I can make a good solid weld that will hold. I don't plan to do a lot of welding where it is a safty issue, Mostly broken equipment, replating skidders and dozers, and things like that....
Reply:No matter how much you learn chances are you'll never simply be able to look at everything and know how to weld it. Newer equipment makes more and more use of high strength steels. Weld specifications vary depending on what material was used. Lots of manufacturers tend to keep this information tight, forcing you to have to go to the dealer for repairs or simply buy new parts. Older equipment is much more forgiving on this.When you mentioned D1.1 I was thinking stick, as that's typically the process used. Mig is actually often easier to learn. Most students can do a credible job by the end of the semester in all plate positions.Equipment repairs is most often done with stick for several reasons. #1 you have to work outdoors typically. 2nd stick gives you a bigger variety of options. You can weld up a bucket with 6010/11 root then 7018, then switch to a hard facing rod and hard face the new part. I wouldn't worry too much about tig if you want to work on equipment. It's not generally used for these sorts of repairs. On the other hand if you are in say dairy country, sanitary tig might be a useful skill to have for doing repairs on stainless equipment....No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Also most people forget, ya your "certified" but depending on where your at and what compay your trying to hire for certs are totally useless unless your going into business for yourself. Because when people test for big gas companies they REQUIRE that you take their test following their procedures, and get certified by them. I have my gmaw and smaw 1 & 2 and advanced pipe welding certs they are useless when I go onto jobsites. Just remember that when looking for places to get hired. I literally could test at one place work there for a month and go to a new job they make us retest everytime. Its an insurance pretty much that covers the companies ***. Now if your trying for a shop position having certs will nenwfit you with increased pay and usually a guaranteed spot if the company will honor the certs. I suggest go straight to pipe welding classes.