Doing my first AWS cert. D1.1 3G SMAW vert up.

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So I'm in my junior year of high school and In my first year of welding school. From what both the teacher's at my school say that we are the only high school level trade school in New York that offer's Legit AWS certification. Other trade schools give you a "certification" (card that say's you have passed the test non officially). It makes me feel good I can have some of these under my belt before I graduate high school. I will be the only kid in my class taking the test next week because I am the only person that has gotten this far in the curriculum. I will be posting picture's of my test whether I pass or fail so all of you can see. I have pretty good confidence as I have done one test plate as a practice and bent the coupons and only had a couple little lines that technically wouldn't pass. I just wanted too see what you guy's think about having some cert's under your belt when your only 16 and 17 years old.
Reply:Being certified is great, but it only takes you so far. If you want to go somewhere with welding, I think you should try to find a job in the summer where you can get some experience.IW Local 580 NY, NY
Reply:That's what I want to do. But being 16 year's old until august 2014, it's very hard to find a job with anything to do with welding. If i could even sweep the floors I would be pleased. I would love an apprenticeship, or even non payed work just for me to be in a shop around a welder. If i could get some tips on where to look I would definitely love that.
Reply:For us, we couldn't be dispatched out of the union hall unless we were certified. Sometimes we would go to the job site, sometimes right to the testing facility to take the company's tests. Certs open doors, but your day to day, if not hour to hour abilities keep you on the job site.Don’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:I just took a d1.1 Thursday and passed. 1/8" rod at 120amps all the way out. walk in the parkR.T. Welding LLCOn Site ServiceColumbus, NJ