Welding & Fabrication Technology

48 Weeks / 1200 Clock Hours

Welders Wanted, Skilled Trades are in High Demand! According to the American Welding Society (AWS), the U.S. welder shortage will reach a deficit of 400,000 workers by 2024, while other industry watchers worry it will climb even higher. Researchers at AWS point to several different factors behind the shortage of welders.

Get Your Degree! As a graduate of this Associate of Applied Science Degree program, you’ll enter the industry with the confidence of obtaining a career degree after receiving personal guidance from Ohio Technical College instructors who are all industry-experienced professionals.

Graduate Success

Skyler Fullington came to OTC’s welding program via Grand Gorge, NY. She decided to pursue welding after high school because she loved to weld, she knew there was a demand for welders and she knew she would be able to support herself and make a long-term career out of it. She was one of about a dozen female welders in OTC’s welding program (2019) and wanted to make a difference in the advancement of females who pursue non-traditional career paths. “I want to be known as a great welder, not ‘the female welder’ as that implies I’m only there as a woman, and not a serious welder.” She passed two very challenging welding certs, 3F stainless steel and 2F aluminum. Fullington credits her grandfather and father for supporting her decision to pursue a trade, more specifically welding. “They both were welders and offered me support and encouraged me to go after what I wanted. Ever since I was little I always watched them weld and cut. The day I got my hands on a welder I knew that’s what I wanted to do. When I’m under my hood running beads that’s who I am. It makes me feel like I am my own person.”

- Skyler Fullington Welding Fabrication

While visiting Sroka Incorporated in Strongsville, Ohio we talked with 2018 welding graduate William Mone (WT-59) on his success after graduation. We caught up with him while he was working on the beginnings of a custom piece of equipment eventually headed to Singapore. “During my welding training and even after graduation I was with another company. It was a great place to get started as a welder and taught me a lot,” says Mone. It was through an email sent by OTC Career Services that Mone saw a position at Sroka was open. “Sroka was a place I had heard great things about and wanted to work. When I saw the opportunity I knew I had to go for it.” Mone says working at Sroka is never the same every day. “These pieces are all custom. What I do during the fabrication process effects everyone after me that works on this piece. It really is a team effort from start to finish in making sure it is exactly what the customer ordered and is expecting when it arrives.”

- William Mone Welding Fabrication

Facts 4 day school week, creating more time for you to receive additional help in your program of study as well as giving you time for employment

Highlights Ohio is ranked #4 wih the highest employment level in welders, cutters, solderers and brazers (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Facts 25:1 Student Instructor ratio creating in-depth hands on personal training

Highlights Northern Ohio is ranked #2 and #3 for the highest emploment in automotive and related disciplines (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Overview

This comprehensive program will give students a solid foundation and background in basic and advanced principles, theory, practices, and application of welding. The course will enable students to develop the manipulative skills necessary to become entry-level combination welders, fitters, general fabricators, job shop, and steel construction workers. In addition, the advanced training portion of the program will provide students with the information, knowledge, and skills needed to achieve certifications through a number of recognized professional organizations. Supplementing the technology and skill development needed for successful welding will be the study of practical mathematics problems for welders, technical drawing reading for welders including the interpretation of welding symbols required to interpret working sketches and technical drawings common to the welding and metal-working fields.