BC Apprentice Program?

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Has anyone completed the new Level 3 Apprentice course in BC yet?I am asking because I am in the first one offered by my university and we have a week and a half left and have no idea if we will actually meet the requirements on time or not.  There just isn't enough time to go through all the practical.We are waiting for answers from the faculty and from the ITA, I would like input from others as I know that this program has been run on the Island and in the northern part of the province.Thanks!
Reply:Will you get a red seal when you finish the course?
Reply:We are supposed to, but since there isn't enough time in the program to do the practical that is supposedly required... I'm really not sure.  I'm hoping someone that has done this program will have some insight.Hobart Beta-Mig 200Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC
Reply:I wouldn't bother taking a welding class in Canada that doesn't lead to a red seal
Reply:The Red Seal was promised as the end result of this program.  I'm still waiting to hear what will actually happen.Hobart Beta-Mig 200Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC
Reply:A lot of politics involved in that change of program.  Initially they completely deleted any welding on pipe.  I was invited to help do written materials but after reading outline I declined.  to say it politely I was PISSED!  Does your level 3 actually have any pipe exercises?  Best would be to check with ITA and get EVERTHING in writing.  Civil servants have a habit of conveniently forgetting things.   Good luck getting an apprenticeship.  Working four years continuously welding is rare especially when starting out.  Longest job I had as a steel fabricator lasted 7 years until I retired.  Went through 4 employers to get my steel fab apprenticeship. Most jobs last months.  Because the steel trades work is short term I suggest that you keep all documentation of your work history including copies of record of employment when laid off, pay stubs, welding tickets issued and any upgrading time you bought at local schools.
Reply:There is still some pipe, 1g 2g and 5g smaw on 6". But only 8 smaw competencies. But now the gmaw and fcaw modules must be both done in entirety as well as gtaw.Hobart Beta-Mig 200Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC
Reply:Well get the most you can from the program and then continue from there...  It concerns me that ITA still has this idea that employers will train apprentices.  I notice Seaspan and Teck are the major interests in pushing this new program.  I can guarantee if you work for Seaspan you will be limited to three or four process and doors will close for you since your experience will be limited.  I gave up trying to explain to one welding lead hand why the bracing was incorrectly positioned.  Next shift a welder came up to me and told I was right and it had screwed up just as I predicted.  When you are in school you are exposed to processes that a regular employer will not be using.  They are not going to spend even a day showing you how to oxy-acetylene weld or braze up a broken casting.  In school at least you get a few days.  In most structural shops they are using large wire and high heats.  I made up a tool box on evening shift and tacked it all up.  I stitched and skipped around and at shift end I left the machine on short circuit transfer.  I came in the next evening to see a buckled mess and the welder telling me the box was a piece of ....... He had cranked the machine up into spray and went at it at full heat.  That is what happens when you only spend your time in one shop.  You only learn how to do something one way and if it is different then you are walking with a blindfold over your eyes.   I remember one instructor warning us not to work too long at one particular shop.  If you had on your resume that you had worked there for the last five years other shops would not want you.  Later in my career I saw guys who had done five plus years in that one shop.  They had a real problem adapting and learning new tricks.   Some guys don't mind standing at a set of horse pushing flux core flat and horizontal for days and months and years and decades.  There are so many ways of doing things and so many processes.  Things are continually changing also.  Young beginning welders should not close doors on themselves.
Reply:Another reason I picked up my own equipment. Most of the guys in my class want to pipe weld, and of course the new program has less pipe in it.  I want the broadest range of experience I can get. And I want a recognized and respected ticket.Hobart Beta-Mig 200Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC
Reply:snowviper....probably the same question you're asking, what's the minimum time till a person can test to PWP's...or if they are still significant?  Seemed it used to be that you did your 28 week all genre practical, prints, safety etc. and then finished the year with work experience to get a 'C' stamp.  Back to school for 8 or so weeks to do your 'B' practical but needed the rest of a year's experience to get the 'B' stamp.  Added up to 2 years to test to pwp 7.Always felt that the work experience breakups were more harmful than productive.  At the end of the first 28 weeks a newby would be putting in all position 6010 roots on plate.  Then it's 5 months of slave experience before you could learn pipe.  Find the opportunity to go back to school and do your pipe and then it's back on the streets for 10 months.  Maybe the intended benefit was that by the time you did test to pwp7, you would have rehashed the training three times and that would make you a better welder.  Down side is that work experience requirement holding back a potential pipe welder.  If he took all his training up to stick pipe in one course then although he may not know his way around a job site, at least he would be productive with a butt in front of him.
Reply:The new program is supposed to address some of those issues but it seems to be falling short.Hobart Beta-Mig 200Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC
Reply:Oh. And new rules are supposed to be coming in that would allow red seal to test for pwp's but they aren't in place yet. So level 3's are sol until that gets dealt with.Hobart Beta-Mig 200Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC